Japan and Croatia face off Monday at Al Janoub Stadium. Kickoff is at 10 a.m. ET (FOX). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Japan vs. Croatia odds, and make our best World Cup bets, picks and predictions.
Japan won Group E outright. It toppled Germany and Spain, beating them both 2-1. However, they also lost to last placed Costa Rica 1-0. Now it takes on Croatia who has yet to lose in the World Cup.
Croatia drew with the eventual Group F winner Morocco 0-0 to open its group play and then drew 0-0 again against a desperate Belgium team to knock it out of the group stage. Croatia’s one surge in offense came against Canada where it netted 4 in a 4-1 victory.
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Japan vs. Croatia odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Sunday at 7:20 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline: Japan +300 (bet $100 to win $300) | Croatia +105 (bet $100 to win $105) | Draw +230
- Over/Under: 2.5 (O: +140 | U: -160)
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Prediction
Croatia 1 Japan 0
Moneyline (ML)
Japan has made most of its opportunities in this World Cup. It turned 10 shots on target into 4 goals in the group stage, although it only had 5 successful crosses (last place Costa Rica had 3). Croatia has conceded just 1 goal in Group F and just 7 shots on goal.
Croatia comes into this match with an 85% passing accuracy versus 78.6% for Japan.
BET CROATIA (+105).
Over/Under (O/U)
As mentioned above, Croatia’s defense has been quite good. If you have a feeling Japan could steal this game there may be value in the Over but as long as Croatia can control this game you won’t see much scoring.
Japan has yet to score a goal in the first half giving more reason to pick the Under, however, because the line is so steep at -160 it’s best to PASS.
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