Japan vs Mali Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Men’s Football | Group Stage
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After the opening round of fixtures in Group D, Japan now have the chance to move into the last eight of the 2024 Summer Olympics if they defeat a Malian side that began their group stage campaign with a respectable 1-1 draw against Israel the other day.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 27th July, 2024, UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ON TV: UK – BBC is the main broadcaster while some event will be televised on Eurosport / US – NBC is the main broadcaster while some events will be shown on NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & Eurosport Player / US – Events can be streamed on the relevant streaming platforms of NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
JAPAN PREVIEW: AN IMPRESSIVE JAPANESE SIDE
With Japan’s U23 coach, Go Oiwa, in charge of their Olympic journey and a squad with no overage players, there is a lot of attacking cohesion that the Japanese have shown in their opening game of the tournament.
Benefitting from Paraguay going down to ten men mid-way through the first-half, albeit with the score already at 1-0 to Japan, the east Asian side then ran riot in the second-half to run out as 5-0 winners and set up a probable quarter-final.
MALI PREVIEW: UNDERWHELMING MALIANS
Mali began their 2024 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament group stage campaign with a 1-1 draw against Israel at the Parc des Princes in Paris the other day. Hamidou Diallo’s 53rd minute own goal was cancelled out by Cheickna Doumbia to ensure Mali begin with a point.
The Malians will be relatively content with that draw given the fact Israel, coached by Guy Luzon, have some really interesting and impressive attacking talents such as Oscar Gloukh and Liel Abada. However, this is probably now a step up in quality.
JAPAN VS MALI PREDICTION
There is a major mitigating factor about Japan’s hammering of Mali. As mentioned, Paraguay went down to ten men early on but even with that, Japan really took advantage of that with their very impressive and slick style of football. They now face a Malian side that have a lot of energy themselves that managed to contain the Israelis but, despite that, a comfortable Japan victory remains the likeliest outcome, once again.
JAPAN VS MALI TIP: JAPAN TO WIN
