Our prediction for this match:
Japan
Match Time & Date:
02/06/2022
12:00
Prediction: 1-0
Paraguay
Sapporo Dome will host Thursday’s friendly between Japan and Paraguay, the two teams who met at the 2010 World Cup finals. Back then Paraguay defeated Japan on penalties, but the Samurai Blue are seen as favourites to beat the South American outfit this time out. A man to keep an eye on in the home team will be Liverpool ace Takumi Minamino, who is likely to prove a handful for the opposition back-line.
Anyhow, Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu will use June friendlies to test as many players as possible. La Albirroja, on the other hand, missed out on a spot at the showpiece tournament in Qatar. Since Paraguay are not regarded as good travelers, we are tempted to put our money on Japan, who proved their worth in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The Blue Samurai defenders should have Newcastle United star Miguel Almiron, who is eyeing his 45 cap for the national team.
Highlighted Player (Hiroki Sakai):
Hiroki Sakai is a product of Kashiwa Reysol football academy and, as expected, he made his first-team debut with the Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium outfit. Sakai played his first ever match for Kashiwa against Kofu (1-1) on May 5, 2010 and during the 2011 season he established himself as a first-team regular.
The pacey right back made 27 appearances for Kashiva in the 2011 season and he remained at the club until the summer of 2012. Hiroki Sakai then played for Hannover (2012-2016) and he scored two goals in 92 appearances in the league for the Bundesliga club. In 2016 he joined Marseille and he played regularly for OM in the 2016/2017 Ligue 1 campaign (35 appearances).
Sakai was born in Kashiva on April 12, 1990 and 22 years later he made his senior debut for Japan, playing 45 minutes in a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan. It has to be noted that the Marseille footballer has 17 caps for Japan U23 team as well.
Highlighted Team (Paraguay):
Los Guaranies are the part of CONMEBOL confederation vying for glory at the international scene since 1919 and their debut loss to Argentina 5-1. Paraguay are regular participants at the Copa America winning the tournament on two occasions thus far, most recently in 1979.
They came close to glory in recent editions of the tournament as they fell short in the final of 2011 to Uruguay, while they finished fourth in 2015. The most successful period of the Paraguay national team came under Argentine coach Gerardo Martino, who took Paraguay to the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup for the first time in history. Following the 2010 success, Paraguay failed to qualify for their fourth successive FIFA World Cup finals as they have also missed out on the third consecutive global championship held inside their own continent.
Toluca FC centre back Paulo da Silva is the most capped player of the Paraguay national team, while former Bayern Munich and Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz is the team’s top scorer with 32 goals to his name.
Aston Villa 
Juventus 
Celtic
Club Brugge
Dinamo Zagreb
Borussia Dortmund 
Liverpool
Real Madrid 
Monaco 
Benfica
PSV 
Shakhtar Donetsk
