International Soccer Betting for June 2, 2014

International soccer friendlies in preparation for the World Cup will continue on Monday and throughout the week. In this post we’ll look at a Monday game between Japan and Costa Rica:

COSTA RICA VS. JAPAN:

Game will be played in Tampa, Florida. Both teams have qualified for the World Cup but not much is expected of either due to their brutal seedings. Costa Rica will be in a group with England, Italy and Uruguay while Japan is seeded with Colombia, Ivory Coast and Greece. It would be a huge shock for Costa Rica to advance out of group stage and only a slightly less monumental upset for Japan to move to the knockout stage with all three of their rivals seeded significantly higher in the FIFA World Rankings.

Costa Rica is dealing with a huge injury issue as their best player, Alvaro Saborio, is highly doubtful for the World Cup with a foot fracture. He definitely won’t play here and his absence is huge–he’s the leading goal scorer on a team that often struggles offensively. The likely loss of Saborio for the World Cup and facing such a nasty group of teams is also a mental issue that coach Jorge Luis Pinto will have a hard time dealing with.

Japan’s soccer program may not yet be among the world’s best but they’re heading in the right direction. Since qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 1998 they’ve since been in the field for five straight tournaments. Coach Alberto Zaccheroni is highly confident that his team can be competitive in the group stage and advance to the knockout rounds–Japan has done so in two of their previous four World Cup appearances. Simply put, Japan is the healthier team and is in a good mindspace heading in to the tournament. Just don’t know where the Costa Rica offense will come from with Saborio sidelined. They’re not a bad technical team but Saborio was really the only scorer on a team without any other playmakers. We’ll look for Japan to win this game and take them on the three way line. We’ll also play this one ‘Under’ the total.

BET JAPAN +110 OVER COSTA RICA
BET JAPAN/COSTA RICA UNDER 2.5 -145