Japan vs Venezuela 19/11/19

19 November 2019

Japan welcome Venezuela to the Suita City Football Stadium in an international friendly match, looking to maintain winning momentum.

The hosts have racked up a seven-game unbeaten run, securing five consecutive triumphs ahead of this clash (W5, D2). Notably, all of those victories have been accompanied by a clean sheet, with three of them coming via the same 2-0 scoreline. Keeping a blank sheet has proved crucial for Japan in 2019, as 11 of their 13 triumphs since the turn of the year saw them shut out their opponents. Also, Hajime Moriyasu’s men are undefeated in three of their previous H2H meetings with the South American nations (W1, D2), opening the scoring inside the first 25 minutes in each of those matches. Interestingly, three of the last five goals the Samurai Blue have scored have arrived in the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Meanwhile, the visitors have put together three straight matches without a loss since exiting the 2019 Copa America (W2, D1), keeping a clean sheet twice along the way. Curiously, both of those triumphs have witnessed Venezuela take a 2-0 lead into halftime. But, goals have been in short supply for La Vinotinto on the road lately, as they’ve netted one goal or less in five of their last seven away matches. Still, Rafael Dudamel’s players are looking to snap Venezuela’s four-game winless away streak in H2Hs with Japan (D4), and so stretch their unbeaten away run to three games (W1, D1).