Japan vs Croatia preview: How to stream, start time, predictions and latest news ahead of World Cup

Publish date: 2024-06-23

Japan and Croatia face each other in the fifth last-16 tie of the World Cup on Monday, December 5.

The match will be played at Al-Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah.

Ismail Elfath has been appointed as the referee for the game. It will be his third game of the tournament after taking charge of the Group H game between Portugal and Ghana and then the Brazil’s shock defeat to Cameroon in Group G.

In those matches, he showed 11 yellow cards and one red card as well as awarding a penalty. This was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo in the first game.

What time is Japan vs Croatia?

The match kicks off at 6pm local time, which means it will start at 3pm in the UK and the coverage will be shown on the BBC.

In the US, FOX and Telemundo will be showing the match — and kick off is at 10am EST and 7am PT.

In Japan, the game will kick off at 12am on Tuesday, December 6 while it is 4pm in Croatia.

Team news

Hajime Moriyasu has established a reputation of making plenty of changes already at this World Cup. Before he worries about anything else though, he will have to replace Ko Itakura, who is suspended after being shown two yellow cards during the group stage.

Takefusa Kubo may also have to sit out this one after dealing with a muscular problem over the last couple of days. Plenty of players are in contention for a starting berth in attack so it will be intriguing to see how the Blue Samurai line up.

Ritsu Doan has been one of the stand-out players for Japan (Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Croatia have a full complement of players available for this one. Dejan Lovren and Luka Modric are at risk of quarter-final suspension after being booked during the group stage but they should both be involved in the starting XI.

Like his opposite number, Zlatko Dalic has a number of options in the forward areas.

Predicted line-ups

Japan (3-4-2-1): Gonda, Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Taniguchi; Ito, Endo, Morita, Nagatomo; Doan, Kamada; Maeda.

Croatia (4-3-3): Livakovic, Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Brozovic, Kovacic, Modric; Kramaric, Livaja, Perisic.

The story so far

Japan sprung two of the big shocks at this World Cup. Pitted in Group E alongside Spain, Germany and Costa Rica, there wasn’t much hope for Moriyasu’s side.

They went about their business in the complete opposite way they were expected to. They managed two victories from behind against Germany and Spain with a surprising, narrow defeat to Costa Rica sandwiched in between. Two wins from three meant they did enough to top the group.

Croatia were one of just five teams to finish the group stage unbeaten as they picked up five points in Group F. The most important result came in their second game as they beat Canada 4-1 in between goalless draws against Morocco and Belgium.

They were fortunate to come through the latter without conceding as Romelu Lukaku squandered a handful of gilt-edged chances in a second half where Croatia were clinging on for a vital point.

There was a mixture of euphoria and relief for Croatia when they got over the line against Belgium (Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images)

Suspensions

Japan: Ko Itakura.

Croatia: None.

Players carrying yellow cards

Japan: Miki Yamane, Wataru Endo, Shogo Taniguchi, Maya Yoshida.

Croatia: Dejan Lovren, Luka Modric.

What’s at stake?

A place in the quarter-final.

Despite making it to the last-16 in three World Cups, Japan have never reached the last eight and would become the first side from the country to do so with victory against Croatia. They will go into the match as underdogs which, given their tournament so far, suits them down to the ground.

Croatia, on the other hand, have a habit of all or nothing at the World Cup. In their five previous appearances on the biggest stage, they have been knocked out during the group stage three times with second-place and third-place finishes in the other two.

They will be hoping that this tournament will replicate the latter pattern rather than the former.

Prediction

Croatia to beat Japan.

Japan to win: 28 per cent. Croatia to win: 43 per cent. Draw: 29 per cent.

To progress to the quarter-final: Croatia: 58 per cent, Japan 42 per cent.

All of our predictions for the 2022 World Cup are powered by Nielsen’s Gracenote, who have used a proprietary football ranking system to estimate the chances of different results for every possible match through extensive simulations, to assess the chances for each team to reach different stages of the tournament.

Who is likely to await in the next round?

The winner of this match will face the winner of the last-16 tie between Brazil and South Korea.

As Tite’s side went into the World Cup as favourites to lift the trophy, it would be fair to assume that they will make it into the quarter-final but South Korea are no mugs.

While it was a weakened team they faced, Paulo Bento’s side managed a victory against his native Portugal in their final group game to qualify for the knockouts.

Wider reading

Japan have announced themselves as dark horses at this World Cup with wins against Germany and Spain while Josko Gvardiol’s stocks have only risen over the last couple of weeks.

Follow the latest Qatar World Cup news, analysis, tables, fixtures and more here.

(Top photo: Getty Images)

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