Japan vs. North Korea Prediction on March 21, 2024

Match info

In the third round of the men’s football 2026 FIFA World Cup AFC Asian Qualifiers, Japan will host North Korea (Korea DPR) at the 68,000-seat New National Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday, March 21 at 7:23 PM local time. The home side is 2-0 and sits atop Group B, whereas their next rival is 1-1 and ranked second in the group.

Meeting statistics

The current form of Japan The hosts, who defeated Syria and Myanmar 5-0 each in November, have won all of their qualifying matches for the event which will be held in two years in three North American nations. Five of the 10 goals in those games were scored by Ayase Ueda. For the first time since their 1-2 loss to Iran in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup quarter-final in February, the “Samurai Blue” will participate in an international match.

After getting knocked out of the top 8 of the continental championship earlier this year, Japan will try to get back to their winning ways. Due to injuries, the head coach Hajime Moriyasu will be missing Kyogo Furuhashi and Daichi Kamada from the squad, as well as Kaoru Mitoma, Reo Hatate, and Yuta Nakayama. Despite all that, bookmakers with Android apps have absolutely no dilemma about the match victor – it’s Japan.

The current form of North Korea

In their two qualifying matches so far, the visitors have experienced each a victory and defeat. North Korea defeated Myanmar 6-1 thanks to hat-trick of Il-Gwan Jong after opening the campaign with a 0-1 loss to Syria. In 2024, they’ll perform for the first time.

Next week, the two teams will square off in Pyongyang for a rematch, capping off their international break.

Head-to-head key stats

Thus far, the two teams have faced off 20 times across all competitions, with 10 of those encounters being during the FIFA World Cup qualifying stages. With eight victories apiece and four ties in their confrontations, they’ve been evenly matched.
Japan prevailed 1-0 in their most recent meeting, which took place in the 2017 EAFF East Asian Cup.
There have been fewer than 2.5 goals scored in six of the previous seven games between the two sides, with both keeping two clean sheets.
In the World Cup qualifying round, just one of the 10 meetings has resulted in a draw. Japan leads these meetings 6-3 in victories.
In their eight road games against Japan, Korea DPR had six losses and one victory. In that time, they’ve only managed to score five goals.
In its last nine World Cup qualifying matches, Japan hasn’t lost and has kept seven clean sheets.

Match analytics

In their four home encounters during the FIFA World Cup qualifying round, the “Samurai Blue” have defeated North Korea and enjoy an undefeated record against them at home. They will want to continue their recent 14-game winning streak at home in the World Cup qualifying series. In November, “Chollima” participated in their first World Cup qualifying match in four years. They won one game and lost the other, as we stressed. They'll try to build on an away scoring run they’ve started against Myanmar.

Nevertheless, Japan is anticipated to win easily given the disparity in the two national teams’ records and Japan’s superiority at home versus the rival.

Betting tip: “Total & Both Teams To Score – Under 2.5 And No” with odds of 2.75 on Parasino.

Results of the forecast

Successful forecast. Japan vs. North Korea 1:0