Belgium vs Japan in numbers

July 2, 2018 6:57 PM

Belgium will take on Japan at 6:00pm Ghanaian time in the round of 16

Belgium are trailing Japan in head to head meetings, having won just one in five clashes (D2, L2).

However, Belgium won by a goal to nil in their last meeting, which came in November, 2017, with Lukaku scoring the only goal of the game.

Japan’s only World Cup tie against Belgium came in the group stage of the 2002 Mundial- it ended two all.

Belgium and Japan have both faced penalty shoot-outs at the World Cup once before. Japan lost to Paraguay at this stage in 2010, while Belgium beat Spain in the 1986 quarter-finals.

Belgium have reached the knockout stage of the World Cup for the sixth time in their last seven participations, the only exception coming in 1998. They are aiming to reach the quarter-finals for only the third time in their history after 1986 and 2014, while, Japan are yet to win a game in the knockout stage of the World Cup- they were eliminated in the last 16 in both 2002 and 2010.

Belgium were the best scoring side in the group stage, bagging nine goal and also secured all the nine points involved, topping group G, while Japan booked their place via fewer yellow cards than Senegal to break the tie.

Belgium have kept two clean sheets in their last three World Cup matches, as many as they recorded in their previous 11 combined.

But they have never kept a clean sheet in their 11 knockout games at the World Cup, losing eight of them (W2, D1).

Japan's two previous knockout games at the World Cup have produced only one goal, for Turkey in 2002 (0-1). The other game ended 0-0 after extra time against Paraguay in 2010 with Japan losing 5-3 on penalties.

They have won just two of their nine World Cup games against European opposition.