Uruguay vs Japan 21/06/19

21 June 2019

Uruguay and Japan go head-to-head at the Arena do Grêmio in Porto Alegre in the second round of Copa America fixtures. It will be the sixth H2H meeting between these two nations in the 21st century, although it will be their first encounter in a competitive match, with the South Americans looking to post their fourth triumph over the Asian side (W3, D1, L1).

Uruguay hammered Ecuador 4-0 on the opening matchday, stretching their winning streak to four games. Interestingly, it was La Celeste’s fourth consecutive triumph in which they’ve netted over 2.5 goals and prevented their opponents from scoring. What’s more, Óscar Tabárez’s men have bagged over 1.5 goals before the half-time whistle three times during the run while scoring the opener inside the opening 15 minutes on three occasions too. The Uruguayans will now look for revenge on a 4-3 defeat to Japan in a friendly game back in October 2018, which was one of their four losses in the post-World Cup period (W5, L4).

Meanwhile, the Samurai Blue started their third Copa America campaign off on the wrong foot, having suffered a disastrous 4-0 loss to Chile in their first match in Group C. It was Japan’s fifth straight game that has not seen both teams score, but it was the only one that has produced over 2.5 goals in the same period (W2, D1, L2). Hajime Moriyasu’s men will now face a South American nation in a competitive atmosphere for the first time since a 2-1 win over Colombia in Copa America. Japan have played against five South American sides since returning from Russia, enduring partial success across those encounters (W2, D1, L2).