The Tokyo Olympics 2020 football tournament is now in the knockout stage, with just eight countries remaining to fight it out in the quarter-finals.
Favourites Spain and Brazil are still alive and will expect to move on against African opposition. Meanwhile, hosts Japan will also fancy their chances of claiming a semi-final spot against New Zealand.
Before the knockout round kicks off this weekend, read on below for SBOTOP’s preview of all four quarter-final matches.
Japan vs New Zealand
Japan were arguably the most impressive team in the group stage. They won all three games, which included their 4-0 demolition of France which knocked the favourites out.
Real Madrid youngster Takefusa Kubo has been a revelation with three goals thus far, while the Japanese defence – led by experienced captain Maya Yoshida – has surrendered just one goal.
Yoshida will face a tough test against New Zealand’s star man, Chris Wood. The Burnley striker has scored two of the team’s three goals, including the winner in their 1-0 win over South Korea in their opening game.
But they could not build off that result as they lost to Honduras 3-2 and played out a goalless draw against Romania in their next two matches.
The OlyWhites will certainly not make things easy for the hosts, but with Kubo in smashing form, the Samurai Blue have the quality to slice through New Zealand’s defence.
Spain vs Ivory Coast
Tournament favourites Spain have not been all that convincing thus far in this tournament. They won just one of their three group games, while scoring a mere two goals, which were scored by the Real Sociedad duo of Mikel Oyarzabal and Mikel Merino.
With so many members of the Spanish squad also part of their successful Euro 2020 campaign – breakout star Pedri, Dani Olmo, and Oyarzabal to name just three – their lacklustre performances could be a sign that the physical and mental stress of the last few months are finally taking their toll.
If that is indeed the case, then the Ivory Coast could cause La Roja real problems. The Elephants have already caused some significant surprises in the group stage. They beat Saudi Arabia in their opener before drawing with group favourites Brazil and Germany, which saw the latter knocked out.
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 odds will still be overwhelmingly in Spain’s favour, but do not be surprised if the Elephants pull off the enormous upset.
South Korea vs Mexico
South Korea suffered a shock defeat to New Zealand in their opening match, but they recovered in amazing fashion after that setback. They thrashed Romania 4-0 and hammered Honduras 6-0 in their next two matches to finish the group stage as the top scorers in the tournament with 10 goals.
The duo of Lee Kang-in of La Liga side Valencia and Hwang Ui-jo of Ligue 1 side Bordeaux have been brilliant with three goals apiece.
With the firepower they have with those two up front, the Koreans should be reasonably confident they can overcome the challenge of Mexico.
Although, El Tri have the talent to compete with the Koreans despite not having a number of their top stars due to the Gold Cup. They thrashed France 4-1 in their opening contest, and their eight group-stage goals were second only to South Korea.
Brazil vs Egypt
It has been business as usual for Brazil, who went undefeated in the group stage. They were held to a goalless draw by Ivory Coast, but they thumped Germany 4-2 and took care of Saudi Arabia 3-1 in their other two group games to top Group D.
Everton striker Richarlison has been one of the stars of the tournament and has produced the majority of his team’s Tokyo Olympics 2020 highlights. He is currently the competition’s leading scorer with five goals, three of which came in a terrific half-hour hat-trick against Germany.
The Selecao, who came unstuck against the Ivory Coast, will now face another plucky African nation in Egypt, who shockingly finished above Brazil’s great rivals Argentina in Group C. The young Pharaohs lost in their matchup against the Argentines but drew against Spain and beat Australia to book their spot in the quarters.
The Egyptians, who have only scored twice and conceded just once, will look to make things as tough as possible for the Brazilians. But it would still be a significant shock if they managed to knock the Selecao out at this stage.
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