The fifth match of the World Cup 2022 knockout phase takes place on Monday 5 December at the Al Janoub Stadium, as Japan and Croatia fight for a quarter-final spot. Kick-off is at 15:00 GMT.
Shock wins over Spain and Germany meant the Samurai Blue topped a difficult Group E, whilst still finding time for a 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica. They’re now up against the 2018 runners-up, one of only five teams to end the group stage unbeaten.
The most-owned FIFA Fantasy player from these nations – Borna Sosa ($3.5m) – misses out completely due to a virus, so Rangers’ Borna Barisic ($4.0m) steps in at left-back. Croatia’s other change takes place up front, where Bruno Petkovic ($5.5m) replaces Marko Livaja ($5.0m).
A trio of Japanese starters didn’t do so against Spain, as Takehiro Tomiyasu ($4.5m), Wataru Endo ($5.0m) and Ritsu Doan ($6.0m) enter the starting XI. Out go Ao Tanaka ($5.0m), Takefusa Kubo ($5.5m) and the suspended Ko Itakura ($4.5m).
Popular assets like Ivan Perisic ($7.5m), Luka Modric ($8.5m) and goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda ($4.0m) all start.
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Japan XI: Gonda, Taniguchi, Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Nagatomo, Morita, Endo, Ito, Kamada, Doan, Maeda
Croatia XI: Livakovic, Juranovic, Gvardiol, Lovren, Barisic, Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric, Kramaric, Petkovic, Perisic
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