Kirin Cup Betting: Japan v Ivory Coast

Internationals / Dan Fitch / 23 May 2008 / 1 Comments

The picture you can see is extremely rare, being as it is of the Scottish football team parading a trophy. It's the 2006 Kirin Cup, which this year will go to either Paraguay, Japan or the Ivory Coast. Dan Fitch has a look at Saturday morning's game between the African guests and the Asian hosts.

Most of us spend the best part of our Saturday mornings sleeping off the drink from the night before. With Holly Willoughby no longer appearing on Saturday morning kids TV, there's very little incentive to peel your face off that half eaten kebab you've been using as a pillow all night. Why bother to get up until all the pubs are open again anyway?

But this Saturday, Betfair Live Video presents a reason to be conscious before noon. There's no need to get hysterical and actually get out of bed. As long as you've got a laptop and some money in your Betfair account, you could be enjoying a bet on the football without leaving the comforts of your A-Team duvet.

If you thought that any meaningful football was over after last week's FA Cup Final and the unexpectedly thrilling Champions League Final, then you were betting without this top notch international fixture. The waiting is over and finally the age old debate will be settled... Who's better at football? Japan or the Ivory Coast?

Yes, these footballing behemoths will finally brought together as part of Japan's illustrious Kirin Cup competition, which we all so firmly remember Scotland winning in 2006.

OK, so I might be guilty of building things up a bit, but with just the play-offs between now and Euro 2008, we should be accepting these meaningless international friendlies as if they were sweet drops of nectar upon our swollen, parched tongues.

Ivory Coast kicked off their Kirin Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Paraguay on Wesnesday. The African's were playing their first game under their new Bosnian coach Vahid Halihodzic and took the lead in the 73rd minute when Kandia Traore struck home an Emmanuel Eboue cross. But their lead was to last just three minutes, as Paraguay equalised through a brilliant goal from Cristian Bogado.

The Kirin Cup is played in a round robin format between the three competing teams, so if they have aspirations to follow in Scotland's footsteps, then Ivory Coast will need a win in their game against Japan. A more likely scenario though, is that they won't really be bothered one way or the other, with this tournament really only serving as a warm-up for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Whether they'll really need to warm up for the scheduled summer games against Mozambique, Madagascar and Botswana, is another matter. Despite their failings in the recent African Nations Cup, Ivory Coast have the most talented group of players on the continent and at [46.0] to win the 2010 World Cup, are the best priced side from Africa.

Their progress will depend on how successful Halidhodzic is in organising the side and channelling the talents of Didier Drogba. The Chelsea forward was too busy making an idiot of himself in the Champions League Final to report for international duty this week, but on the evidence of the African Nations, he won't be missed. Drogba seemed every inch the prima donna in the tournament, with his petulance shining through more than his talent.

The Japanese come into this game in a rich vein of form. In the last year they have remained unbeaten in friendlies against Bosnia-Hervegovina, Chile, Egypt, Switzerland, Austria and Cameroon. The Japanese have a strong record in the Kirin Cup, which is one of the many benefits of playing a tournament on home soil against hand-picked opponents that don't really care if they win or lose.

Japan are the very narrow [2.52] favourites over Ivory Coast at [2.54], with the draw at [3.25]. Whilst Ivory Coast miss the likes of Drogba and Kalou, Celtic's Nakamura will not join the Japanese squad until their game against Paraguay. With both sides missing their big guns and likely to field plenty of substitutes, the draw looks a tempting proposition.

Comments (1)

1. Justin Gough | 29 May 2008

   Just a comment about your anicdote about Scotland. Is it a rarer sight than an England shirt holding a trophy? The lesser spotted England captain hasnt been seen for over 40 years.