Japan vs Peru

Panasonic Stadium Suita is the venue as Japan and Peru meet in an international friendly.

Japan destroyed El Salvador 6-0 in a friendly last week after taking a 4-0 halftime lead to post their first win in 2023 after back-to-back winless outings in March (D1, L1). It was also the Japanese’s first victory since a 2-1 triumph over Spain in the 2022 World Cup group stages, but more importantly, their first shutout since a scoreless friendly draw against Ecuador in September 2022. That result forms part of Japan’s underwhelming three-game winless run against South American rivals (D2, L1) since a 4-1 thumping of Paraguay in June last year, with all those three matches featuring under 2.5 goals. Another low-scoring contest is on the cards as each of Japan’s four most recent meetings with Peru has seen one or both teams fail to score in matches garnering under 2.5 goals.

Speaking of low-scoring themes, all of Peru’s three internationals this calendar year have followed the same pattern, with one or both sides drawing a blank in games producing two or fewer goals (W1, D1, L1). Therefore, breaking the deadlock could be determine the winner in Suita, especially considering Peru’s last four matches (won/lost) have seen the victor keep a clean sheet (W3, L1). While the Peruvians come into proceedings off the back of a narrow 1-0 win over South Korea, they don’t have fond memories of their recent encounters against countries from the AFC confederation. Indeed, Australia ousted ‘Los Incas’ in the 2022 World Cup inter-confederation playoffs in June last year. But they can still draw confidence from only losing twice in their seven matches since (W4, D1).