Interesting statistics help Japan Olympic dream of a 'miracle' against Spain

Japan is strong enough to block Spain in the quarter-finals of the men's football event at the Paris Olympics, in a match taking place at 2:00 a.m. on August 3.

Favorable statistics

The match between Japan and Spain was one of the most interesting matches in the quarterfinals of the men's football at the Paris Olympics. While Spain was the defending runner-up, Japan also won all three group stage matches with impressive form. Despite bringing a purely U.23 squad (no overage players) to the Paris Olympics, Japan still showed impressive strength when defeating Paraguay (5-0), Mali (1-0) and Israel (1-0) to top Group D with 9 full points. On the other hand, Spain unexpectedly lost to Egypt in the final round with a score of 1-2, so they only finished second in the group.

Japan wins all group stage of Olympic men's football

REUTERS

According to statistics from the Japanese press, although the team nicknamed "Samurai in Blue" is rated lower, it has a historical advantage over Spain. Specifically, since the 1980 Moscow Olympics, when men's football had 16 participating teams (as in the current format), there have been 10 teams that passed the group stage with a perfect record and all went straight to the semi-finals. 9 out of 10 of these teams later won Olympic medals, with only one exception, which was... Japan at the Tokyo Olympics. Three years ago, Japan won all three group stage matches, reached the semi-finals, but lost to Spain, then lost the third-place match. For teams that both won and kept a clean sheet in the group stage, Olympic history has only recorded three cases, all of which went on to win medals. They were Spain (gold) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Argentina (gold) at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Brazil (bronze) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Japan (blue shirt) has no overage players in the squad

AFP

At the Paris Olympics, there are two teams that have won all their group games without conceding a goal: Japan and France. If history continues, Japan will beat Spain to reach the semi-finals.

Japanese coach confident

According to coach Tsuyoshi Oiwa, the concentration and determination in all three matches helped Japan win all 9 points, thereby qualifying for the group stage. "The players played with a clear understanding of the meaning of this match. I want to praise their spirit and concentration," Mr. Oiwa affirmed after Japan's 1-0 victory over Israel in the final match. At the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Japan lost to Spain 0-1 after 120 minutes. The only goal of "La Furia Roja" was scored in extra time by Marco Asensio, an overage Olympic player. However, coach Oiwa did not falter in the past, but affirmed that Japan will demonstrate its own style of play when meeting Spain again. "Japan will analyze the tactics and find a suitable way to play for this match. Spain is very strong, there is no doubt about that. This match will be very difficult for Japan, but we will show our own style of play," Mr. Oiwa emphasized.

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