Japan vs Nigeria Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Women’s Football | Group Stage
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It is a crucial final round of fixtures in Group C with all three of Japan, Brazil and Nigeria fighting to make the quarter-finals alongside Spain. Japan are in pole position ahead of the matchday but things can change very quickly in football.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 31st July, 2024, UK – 4:00pm / US ET – 11:00am / US PT – 8:00am
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: LAST-GASP ESCAPE
It has been a competitive and dramatic Olympic campaign for the Japanese thus far. Aoba Fujino scored an excellent free-kick to give Japan the lead against world champions Spain before they eventually succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.
In their second match, though, Japan produced their own comeback. Trailing the Brazilians by a goal to nil as they went into second-half stoppage-time, a penalty by Saki Kumagai and then a 96th minute winner from Momoko Tanikawa secured all three points.
NIGERIA PREVIEW: PLAYING WITH STUBBORN PRIDE
Nigeria are, alongside their continental rivals Zambia, one of the two weakest sides in the competition according to the FIFA rankings. They have put in two stubborn performances, though, to leave the games with a lot of pride.
They suffered a 1-0 defeat to Brazil in their opening match with Gabi Nunes scoring the only goal of the game in the 37th minute of that match before then losing 1-0 to Spain due to a late strike from Alexia Putellas.
JAPAN VS NIGERIA PREDICTION
Japan have played some enterprising football at this tournament and yet they were seconds away from suffering back-to-back losses at the games. They now have the chance to join Spain in the quarter-finals. Nigeria, though, have made things extremely difficult for two strong sides already so, whilst Japan are favourites to win and go through, it is expected to be yet another hard-fought encounter.
JAPAN VS NIGERIA TIP: JAPAN TO WIN & UNDER 3.5 GOALS
