Japan and Vietnam draw the curtain on their World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign when they go head to head at the Saitama Stadium on Tuesday.

The Samurai Blue, who are currently top of the standings, will be seeking a seventh consecutive victory, while the visitors have failed to pick up any point away from home so far.

Match preview

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Japan maintained their sensational run of results last Thursday when they claimed a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Australia at the Stadium Australia.

With nothing separating the sides heading into the final minutes of the game, substitute Kaoru Mitoma came up clutch for the visitors as he netted twice to hand them all three points.

Japan have now won each of their last six games in the qualifiers, scoring 10 goals and keeping five clean sheets since a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia back in October.

Hajime Moriyasu's men have now won seven and lost two of their nine qualification games to sit top of the standings, one point above second-placed Saudi Arabia.

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In stark contrast, Vietnam are currently rooted to the bottom of the qualifiers standings after managing just three points from nine games so far.

Park Hang-seo's side were denied their first consecutive win of the campaign last time out when they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of a resilient Oman side.

Following a drab first half at the My Dinh National Stadium, 28-year-old forward Khalid Khalifa Al Hajri came up trumps for the visitors as he broke the deadlock five minutes after the hour mark to end their three-game winless run.

Prior to that, Vietnam picked up their first points and win of the qualifiers courtesy of a 3-1 victory over China back in February which saw their eight-game losing streak come to an end.

While the Golden Star Warriors will be looking to return to winning ways and end their qualifying campaign on a high, next up is the daunting task of facing a rampant opposing side who have won each of the last four meetings between the teams since 2007.

Team News

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Mitoma put on a clinic off the bench in the game against Australia last time out, scoring twice in the closing stages of the game, and the 24-year-old could be rewarded with a starting role on Tuesday.

Should that be the case, he could join Liverpool man Takumi Minamino and 29-year-old Junya Ito all standing behind Takuma Asano at the attacking end of the pitch.

Japan have been utterly dominant defensively, keeping clean sheets in each of their last five outings, and we expect to see a centre-back pairing of skipper Maya Yoshida and Ko Itakura shielding Shimizu S-Pulse goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda between the sticks.

Meanwhile, Vietnam will once again be without several key players down the spine of the team, as the likes of defender Do Duy Manh, midfielder Nguyen Trong Hoang and goalkeeper Dang Van Lam are all recuperating from injuries.

Twenty-four-year-old forward Nguyen Tien Linh was hauled off the pitch in the 54th minute through injury in the game against Oman last time out and is a major doubt for Tuesday's game.

Should he fail to shake off his injury, Nguyen Van Toan could come into the fold, teaming up with Tuan Hai Pham and Quang Hai Nguyen in the final third.

German-born defender Adriano Schmidt, who turns out for Binh Dinh, could come in for his debut appearance after being called up to the senior squad by Hang-seo.

Japan possible starting lineup:
Gonda; Nagatomo, Itakura, Yoshida, Yamane; Morita, Endo; Mitoma, Ito, Minamino; Asano

Vietnam possible starting lineup:
Tran; Hai, Schmidt, Chung; Tai, Anh, Do, Vu; Toan, Pham, Nguyen

We say: Japan 3-0 Vietnam

Tuesday's game sees two sides at opposite ends of the table square off, with Japan being the clear superior side heading into the game. Looking at the gulf in quality and experience between the sides, we are backing Japan to come away with all three points unscathed.

Written by
Joshua Ojele

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