Tokyo Olympics 2020 Football match for bronze: Mexico U-23 vs Japan U-23. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats and more
Japan will play against Mexico for third place in the Olympic tournament. The match for bronze takes place in Saitama on 6 August at 14:30 IST.
Mexico and Japan will compete for the bronze medals of the Olympic football tournament. Both teams fought brightly but lacked the class to overcome the main favourites in their semi-finals.
The Mexicans lost to Brazil in a penalty shoot-out, while Japan lost to Spain in extra time. Remarkably, both semi-finals ended without goals in regulation time.
What will the upcoming match be like? Let’s try to find out.
Mexico U23 News & Current Form:
The Mexicans were one of the discoveries of the Olympic football tournament – the team showed good football, even though all the players of this national team play in their domestic championships.
Mexico showed their intentions in the opening game by thrashing France with four goals. In addition, at the group stage, the Mexican side confidently defeated South Africa 3-0.
In the quarterfinals, Mexico staged a real festival, beating South Korea 6-3.
In the semi-finals, the Mexican team was just a step away from a major sensation. Everything was decided in the penalty shoot-out against Brazil. The goalkeeper of South Americans became a hero, denying two shots. But overall, Mexico’s performance looked very decent against Brazil, the most powerful football team in the Tokyo Olympics.
Japan U23 News & Current Form:
The Japanese also have a very classy tournament, and they were certainly very keen to win gold medals at their home Olympics. However, it didn’t work out that well.
In the semi-finals, Japan lost to Spain. The only goal of the game was scored by Marco Asensio with five minutes left in overtime. A very disappointing defeat.
Before that, in the quarter-final, the Japanese players got past New Zealand. It was not easy here as well; the rivals were beaten only in a penalty shoot-out.
Also worth noting is that Japan have won all their matches in the group stage, including 3-0 against France.
The tournament hosts still have a chance to win a bronze medal
Mexico U23 vs Japan U23 Head-To-Head Record:
Mexico beat Japan 3-1 at the 2012 London Olympics. Then, at the next Olympics, Japan took revenge with a 2-1 win.
Mexico U23 last matches (all competitions): W-W-L-W-W-L
Japan U23 last matches (all competitions): D-W-W-W-W-L
Mexico U23 vs Japan U23 Predicted XI:
Mexico U23 (4-3-3): Guillermo Ochoa; Jorge Sanchez, Cesar Montes, Johan Vasquez, Alberto Angulo; Luis Romo, Carlos Rodriguez, Sebastian Cordova; Uriel Antuna, Henry Martin, Alexis Vega.
Japan U23 (4-2-3-1): Kosei Tani; Hiroki Sakai, Maya Yoshida, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Reo Hatate; Wataru Endo, Ao Tanaka; Ritsu Doan, Takefusa Kubo, Yuki Soma; Daichi Hayashi.
Mexico U23 vs Japan U23 Prediction:
As we can see, both the Mexicans and Japanese were considered as underdogs at the semi-final stage, and this resulted in quite tough low scoring games. The bookmakers consider the odds of the rivals in the battle for bronze to be roughly equal, and we can agree with them.
An Olympic medal is a great thing, but in the game of football often the matches for third place are played without any defence – whichever tournament it may be. Teams that have lost their chances of playing in the final are less motivated by the result in these types of matches. Here, more often than not, it’s the attack that comes first. It should be the case this time as well. Especially as the Mexicans are more used to playing offensive, as we have seen in this tournament. The Japanese are not against open football either, and they must be active in front of their own stands.
ParimatchNews staff prediction:
We say: Overall Total more than 2.5 (Parimatch offers 1.79 for this scenario).