Belgium v Japan

We know an awful lot about Belgium - their first team is packed full of superstars, and this is the time they really must grasp if they are going to acheive on an international stage what the sum of their parts are capable of.

From Hazard and De Bruyne, to Lukaku and Mertens, and back to Courtois thorugh Vertongen and Alderweireld. The first XI scored eight against Tunisia and Panama, and whilst Japan should represent a step up from that, it might not be a tremendous change.

Belgium are rated 4th on the International Elo ratings, with 2001 pts. That's 38 places above Japan (42nd with 1708 points). Tunisia are 47th (1662 pts) and Panama are 61st (1596 pts). The gulf between Japan remains sizable therefore, and the Asian side should consider themselves very fortunate to still be in the competition - each of the other four Asian sides have been eliminated.

Japan beat Colombia in the opening match 2-1, but played against ten men for 87 minutes of that one, and still failed to exert any significant superiority.Imagine how that match might otherwise have worked out, and you get the feeling Japan have ridden their luck already as far as they might reasonably expect to.

With a nice extended rest period, we should see Lukaku, Hazard and De Bruyne back in the Belgium side, and the stats we posted ahead of the Tunisia game remain relevant (and improved) for Lukaku.

His overall record now reads 43 goals in 71 games for his country, but more recently it's 29 goals in his last 29, and 17 in his last 11!

We backed him to score braces against both Tunisia and Panama, and see no reason to change a winning strategy. He's 10/11 to score anytime with a range of firms, and 5/1 with Betfair to net a brace. Both look decent ways to approach this match.

3,3pts Lukaku to score at anytime at 10/11 (General)

1pt Lukaku to score 2+ at 5/1 (Betfair)

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