Ecuador vs Japan 25/06/19

25 June 2019

Ecuador and Peru go head-to-head at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte in a match that could send one of the two nations to the Copa America knockout stage.

Although the South Americans lost both of their previous games at the tournament, they can still advance to the quarter-finals should they manage to pull off a triumph here. But, Ecuador’s poor run of form has seen them rack up a six-game winless streak (D2, L4), with La Tricolor conceding over 1.5 match goals in their last three outings. Another potential worry for Hernán Darío Gómez is his team’s lack of creativity in the final third that has seen them score just one goal at the competition and produce barely three shots on target. Additionally, due to their slow start to the game, Ecuador have failed to score before the halftime in ten of their last 11 games over the past ten months.

Meanwhile, the Asian side bounced back from a disastrous 4-0 loss to Chile on the opening matchday to pick up a 2-2 draw against Uruguay. However, just like their rivals, the Samurai Blue must wrap up all three points here to secure their place in the knockout stage. Interestingly, four of Japan’s warm-up games ahead of Copa America have featured under 2.5 goals, and none of them has seen both teams score (W2, D1, L1). Also, Hajime Moriyasu can’t be impressed by his team’s attacking output lately, considering Japan struggled to find the net in three of their previous six outings, scoring 2+ goals per match twice in the remaining three though.