Holland vs Japan – teams announced
Published:Both Holland and Japan have stuck with winning formulas by naming the same starting XIs which played the opening games. Their match kicks off at 12.30pm.
It means there is no place for Dutch winger Arjen Robben, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury, although the Bayern Munich player could feature from the bench.
Japan’s match-winner Keisuke Honda starts once again and is a tempting 12/1 to score first in this match too.
Bert Van Marwijk will be hoping Dirk Kuyt can repeat his scoring trick and the tireless Liverpool man is a decent 5/1 to score last again.
Holland keep faith with the defence which kept out Denmark and they are 8/13 get another clean sheet against Japan.
A sparkling cameo from young winger Eljero Elia (12/5 to score at any time) in the last game is not enough to earn him a starting spot here and Rafael Van de Vaart (also 12/5) once again begins on the left.
Holland’s 2-0 win over Denmark was their fifth victory on the bounce and extended their run of games unbeaten to 20. They are 2/5 to beat Japan, while it’s a 5/1 shot for the same score to register.
Expect Robin Van Persie to improve on his performance and he is the 3/1 favourite to score first here.
Teams in full:
Holland
Stekelenburg, Van Der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst (Captain), Van Bommel, De Jong, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Kuyt, Van Persie
Japan
Eiji Kawashima, Komano, Tanaka, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Abe, Endo, Matsui, Hasebe (Captain), Honda, Okubo
How do you see the game going? Japan are a generous 7/1 to beat the Dutch and 12/1 to get a repeat 1-0 win. See the full Holland v Japan match betting market.
