International Friendly: Germany Under Pressure to Find Form During the Break

Germany vs Japan

Germany are set to host Japan in the Volkswagen Arena, home of Bundesliga team VfL Wolfsburg, this weekend for their first game of the international break.

This upcoming International Friendly pits two sides who are already familiar with each other because it wasn’t too long ago when they last faced off, which was during the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.

Japan were responsible for cutting Germany’s World Cup campaign short, so there will be no love lost for these two nations despite this being an exhibition game.

Will Germany get its revenge? Or will Japan continue to torment Germany by adding to their woes?

Talking Points

Muller and Musiala back in the mix for Germany

Because they’re the hosts of Euro 2024, Germany don’t have to worry about qualification, although they need to use these exhibition games to figure several things out while getting the right results.

Germany enter this contest in lacklustre form, as since their World Cup elimination, they’ve lost three of their last five matches (against Belgium, Poland, and Colombia), putting head coach Hansi Flick under pressure.

So, Flick will look to mix things up in this international break, and he just recalled Thomas Muller and Jamal Musiala back into the squad.

This is Muller’s first call-up since the World Cup, and he’s said to be replacing Niclas Fullkrug, who’s sidelined due to a strained tendon.

On the other hand, Musiala has been out for a while at Bayern Munich, but he has returned to training, and the 20-year-old wunderkind plans to make his comeback via the national team. As of this writing, he’s listed as questionable to play against Japan.

Muller and Musiala give much-needed firepower to Germany, especially Muller, who still has a lot to offer despite approaching the twilight of his career.

Moreover, their returns add to Germany’s vaunted midfield, which already has the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Joshua Kimmich, Florian Wirtz, Pascal Groß, Felix Nmecha, and Julian Brandt.

Mitoma will lead Japan’s retooled squad

Japan will play in four friendlies before going into the World Cup Asian qualifiers in November. After this matchup against Germany, the Samurai Blue will take on Turkey, Canada, and Tunisia.

Like Hansi Flick, Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu just named his 26-man squad with a couple of changes. In these set of friendlies, he recalled Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ao Tanaka in exchange of out-of-form Takumi Minamino and Yuya Osako, who is the leading scorer of the JLeague.

Some of Moriyasu’s notable returnees are Kaoru Mitoma, Wataru Endo, Takefusa Kubo, Ritsu Doan, Takuma Asano, Ko Itakura, and Hiroki Ito. All of them are playing in Europe, which boosts Japan’s overall quality.

Mitoma is certainly the man to watch out for if you’re Germany, as he is off to a great start in the 2023-24 campaign. Four Premier League games in, and the Brighton winger has already notched one goal and three assists.

History

Saturday marks the fourth-ever meeting between these two proud nations across all competitions. Prior to this weekend, Germany had recorded one win, one loss, and one draw against Japan.

The first win by Die Mannschaft came in a 2004 friendly, which they won 3-0. Two years later, they were held to a 2-2 draw by the Samurai Blue.

And then, these two teams met in the 2022 World Cup group stage, where Japan secured a 2-1 victory as Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano scored two late goals to nullify Ilkay Gundogan’s first-half penalty.

Two games later, Japan would advance to the knockout stages in similar fashion, as they successfully mounted another 2-1 comeback to beat Spain with the help of VAR. Croatia eventually eliminated Japan in the Round of 16.

Germany, on the other hand, didn’t even manage to get out of Group E due to having an inferior goal difference compared to Spain.

Betting Tip

The SBOTOP International Friendly 2023 odds like Germany’s chances to win, probably because they’re playing at home. Die Mannschaft have 1.50 odds to win, whereas a Japan victory is priced at 4.90 and a draw is pegged at 3.95 in the 1X2 market.

Despite this, we believe that Japan should at least make it competitive against Germany, especially because they’ve been in much better form recently compared to their hosts.

Furthermore, we also think that fans will get their share of International Friendly 2023 highlights from this contest, making either Total Goals 2-3 at 1.84 or Over 2.50 at 1.60 viable betting alternatives.

 

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