Netherlands v Denmark Japan v Cameroon Italy v Paraguay
Monday, June 14
Netherlands v Denmark
Verdict: One of the dark horses to go all the way, the Netherlands will look to get off to the perfect start when they face Denmark. The Danes have had an injury stricken build up to this tournament with key players Bendtner, Kjaer, and Sorensen out injured. The Oranje have also had their fare share of injury problems, most notably Arjen Robben, but it is hoped that his hamstring strain would of recovered sufficiently in time for this game.
Denmark impressed during the qualification phase, topping notable opposition in Portugal and Sweden. Holland qualified through their group (including Norway and Scotland) with a perfect record, 8 wins from 8. The Netherlands are on a run of 19 games without defeat, including impressive wins against Ghana and Hungry last week. In addition to the Dutch having the better team, their preparations have gone perfectly and I can only see one result here.
Verdict: Both nations enter this tournament on the back of some poor results, winless in their 4 respective friendly matches. These warm up matches though should be taken with a pinch of salt. Despite their run of poor results, Japan did put in a spirited performance in their 2-1 loss to England. The Blue Samurai led for the majority of the game against a full strength England side, only to come unstuck in the final quarter of an hour through two unfortunate own goals. Cameroon lost their last warm up match to Serbia by a 4-3 margin. Veteran keeper, Souleymanou Hamidou, was at fault for at least one of those goals and surprisingly, the talk is that Le Guen will play him in this encounter.
Ofcourse, Cameroon has the better team on paper with the like of Eto’o and Webo in their ranks but we cannot underestimate Japan’s team work ethic. With the talented Honda spearheading the underdogs, I give them every chance of causing their more celebrated African opponents some problems.
Pick: Japan +0.25AH @2.12 (stanjames, 5 units) Japan 1 – 0 Cameroon
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