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Olympics tips

Japan v Great Britain women's Olympic football predictions & free betting tips

Team GB can see their way past hosts for second Olympics victory

Ellen White scored both goals in Team GB's 2-0 win over Chile at the Tokyo Olympics
Ellen White scored both goals in Team GB's 2-0 win over Chile at the Tokyo OlympicsCredit: Getty Images

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Japan v Great Britain in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics women's football tournament on Saturday.

Where to watch

BBC1, 11.30am, Saturday

Best bet

Great Britain
2pts 13-10 BoyleSports

Team news

Japan
Yuika Sugasawa is expected to keep her place in the team despite being replaced at half-time during Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Canada.

Great Britain
Forward Fran Kirby is expected to have recovered from a knock after missing the 2-0 win over Chile on Wednesday

Match preview

Great Britain coach Hege Riise will have been delighted with her team's 2-0 victory over Chile in their opening game at the Tokyo Olympics and while medal talk will have intensified following the USA's 3-0 defeat to Sweden, Team GB should have nothing to fear against hosts Japan in Sapporo on Saturday.

Two goals from Manchester City's Ellen White were enough to gain a winning start and while this is admittedly a tougher game on paper, Riise has plenty of strength in depth among her charges.

History is on their side as well.

It is of course difficult to make comparisons between the Olympic outfit and the England team who reached the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.

However, it has to bode well that the Lionesses beat Japan on the way to their eventual fourth spot in France and also in last year's SheBelieves Cup, where White scored the only goal.

And if there are few changes from the team that beat Chile then the line-up will arguably be stronger with the Scottish pair of Arsenal's Kim Little and Manchester City's Caroline Weir offering plenty of drive from midfield.

The potential availability of a great impact player in Chelsea's Fran Kirby will also provide another attacking option for Riise, which could also be a significant boost.

They could have too much for Japan who will have been disappointed with their opening draw with Canada.

At least they recovered from conceding an early Christine Sinclair goal but they missed the opportunity to take three points when Mina Tanaka missed a penalty.

They lost all three of their games in the SheBelieves Cup - Spain and the USA both saw them off 3-1 - and it is questionable whether they can do the business against top-class opposition.

They needed a penalty to beat Australia in a 1-0 friendly win but their other warm-up games were easy clashes against mediocre opposition, so it would be no surprise if they find Team GB too strong.

Key stat

Japan have won just two of their last ten games against European opposition


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Ian WilkersonRacing Post Sport

Published on 23 July 2021inOlympics tips

Last updated 16:46, 23 July 2021

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