Japan U23 vs Spain U23: Can hosts secure their spot in the finals?

Topics: TV Schedules, Japan U23, Spain U23, 2020 Olympics

Japan will look to take one step closer towards the men's Olympics football finals as they take on Spain on August 3rd.

Preview: Japan vs Spain

They had to do it the hard way, but after 120 tense minutes and a grueling penalty shootout, hosts Japan were able to get past a tough New Zealand side and book their spot in the final four. So far, the Olympic hosts have been in imperious form as they are now just 90 minutes (or possibly more) away from booking what would be a deserved spot in the finals.

Hajime Moriyasu's men successfully took down France, Mexico, and South Africa to finish top of their quartet with all nine points. Indeed, Japan, who conceded just once during their group stage campaign, were the only team to complete that juncture with a perfect three wins out of three, so certainly, many had figured their clash with New Zealand, who won just one of their three matches and finished second in Group B with four points should have been a bit more smooth sailing. However, part of football being the beautiful game is certainly its unpredictability, and now, having survived that, Japan will definitely be on their guard when they take on Spain.

Although Spain weren't impressive in the group stages, they did manage to beat the Ivory Coast during a seven-goal thriller, with three of those goals coming in extra time. In short, they've shown clearly they know how to dig deep to get a result. Substitute Rafa Mir ended up stealing the show as he scored a hat-trick, with all three of his goals coming at the 90th minute or later, it's pretty safe to say that he'll be featuring in the starting XI in this crunch clash.

Team news: Japan vs Spain

Japan: Takehiro Tomiyasu is banned from this game after picking up back to back bookings, but his teammate Hiroki Sakai will return from his own suspension and thus can feature in Japan's defense.

Spain: Dani Ceballos is still struggling with an ankle injury and so may not be able to feature here. Meanwhile, Oscar Mingueza was subbed off early during Spain's last game with a thigh injury so is a major doubt, meaning that Oscar Gil, who was banned for the last match, could feature in his stead.