Dugout Discussion
29 June 2026 180 comments
Skonto Rigga Skonto Rigga
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The first of the day’s Round of 32 matches takes place in Houston, and it’s an intriguing-looking clash we’ve got in store: Brazil v Japan.

Kick-off is at 18:00 BST.

The bookies unsurprisingly make Brazil the favourites, giving them approximately a 70% chance of making it through this potentially tricky encounter.

But the Blue Samurai emerged from their group undefeated, and indeed haven’t lost a game since last September. They’ve even defeated the Selecao in that time, winning 3-2 back in October.

TEAM NEWS

The team news is straightforward for Brazil, as Carlo Ancelotti keeps the same starting XI that beat Scotland 3-0.

Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu does make alterations, however.

There are four changes from the 1-1 draw with Sweden.

Takehiro Tomiyasu ($4.9m) and Shogo Taniguchi ($3.9m) come in for Ayumu Seko ($3.8m) and Ko Itakura ($4.5m) at the rear, while Kaishu Sano ($4.9m) is preferred to Ao Tanaka ($5.0m) in central midfield.

The other tweak sees Junya Ito ($5.0m) replace Yukinari Sugawara ($4.4m), which presumably means Ritsu Doan ($5.1m) moves from right wing to right wing-back.

LINE-UPS

Brazil XI: Alisson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Douglas Santos; Guimaraes, Casemiro, Paqueta; Rayan, Cunha, Vinicius Jr.

Japan XI: Zion Suzuki; Tomiyasu, Taniguchi, Hiroki Ito; Doan, Sano, Kamada, Nakamura; Junya Ito, Maeda; Ueda.


180 Comments Login to Post a Comment
  1. Jafooli
    • 14 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    FT - Brazil into R16…

  2. Thanos
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Japan should have been more brave.

    Played well but sunk into a hole.

    1. jacob1989
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Yes. Especially 2nd half

      1. Thanos
        • 4 Years
        1 day, 1 hour ago

        Exactly. Even after Brazil scored, Japan were quite timid.

        Invited too much pressure from such a quality side.

  3. Jafooli
    • 14 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Japanese fans have a hella of a job ahead of them, clearing up after all those party hard Brazilians….

    1. PartyTime
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Hahahahaha

  4. PartyTime
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Well done Japan! My condolences

  5. jacob1989
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    No 7 of japan basically gifted the win to brazil. What a terrible player with a horrible error at the most critical time.

  6. Thanos
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Damn it Musiala benched 🙁

    1. jacob1989
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Thats good. Hasnt been great

      1. Thanos
        • 4 Years
        1 day, 1 hour ago

        Not good. Was my punt.

        1. PartyTime
          • 4 Years
          1 day, 1 hour ago

          Tbh he has been poor bar the first game against Curacao. I had a bad feeling he could get benched but all prediction sites had him in the xi

          1. Thanos
            • 4 Years
            1 day, 1 hour ago

            Tbf, he's been better than Sane who starts!

            Germany should win but not sure if that's the right tactics for them when they'll very likely face France next.

            1. PartyTime
              • 4 Years
              1 day, 1 hour ago

              Bambi fresh for France might not be a bad tactic. He can still grab a goal tonight. I hope he does for your team. Just hard luck he didn't start.

    2. PartyTime
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Damnnn. I had him in the team. bullet dodged there

  7. CoracAld2831
    • 5 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Brazil advances as expected.

    Commiserations to Japan.

    1. jacob1989
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Yup. Very poor performance by japan outside the goal. No 7 gifted the win in 95th minute after all the good defending but then mostly only defending

  8. Jafooli
    • 14 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Moves armband onto Nmecha, sigh…

    1. Thanos
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Moves to Tah now that Musiala is benched

  9. jacob1989
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Japan just cant win knockout wc games

  10. PartyTime
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Vini junior you flop. Waste of $10m. Qualification bonus pts wasted there.

  11. jacob1989
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Asian teams all knocked out now except australia who are not actually in Asia. Meanwhile 9/10 African teams made r32. Gotta reduce asian spots to 5 at most and give 3 or 4 more to europe.
    Slots should depend on performance

    1. Gommy
      • 16 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      By this logic, how would those respective Continents ever regain those spots?

    2. AAAFootball
      • 1 Year
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Fact bro, and to think Nigeria and Cameroon could have been here with Denmark and Italy instead of teams like Jordan or Uzbekistan and Iraq.

  12. CoracAld2831
    • 5 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Germany XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer - Kimmich, Tah, Rüdiger, Brown - Nmecha, Pavlovic - Sané, Havertz, Wirtz - Undav.

    Paraguay XI (5-4-1): Gill - Caceres, Gomez, Alonso, Canale - Almiron, Bobadilla, Cubas, Galarza, Enciso - Avalos

  13. The Bandit
    • 15 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Best moment for me, was when the Japanese fan having a meltdown, was comforted by someone draping a Brazilian flag around him. Priceless 😆

  14. jacob1989
    • 4 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Who is scoring the last minute winner for Germany vs paraguay?. Undav? Woltenmade? Musiala?

    1. Travel Notes
      • 3 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Paraguay own goal.

      1. AAAFootball
        • 1 Year
        1 day, 1 hour ago

        I second this

  15. Lallana's Bananas
    • 10 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Anyone else having trouble changing their captain from Brazil to Germany players (Brown in this case)? Button’s just appearing greyed out, can change to other players fine

    1. Thanos
      • 4 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Was able to change mine.

      Not sure if reopening in a new window helps but worth a shot.

    2. ALIVE AND KICKING
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Have you got vc on the player you want to c ?

      1. Lallana's Bananas
        • 10 Years
        1 day, 1 hour ago

        Yes, this was the problem, thanks both!

        1. ALIVE AND KICKING
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 14 Years
          1 day, 1 hour ago

          No worries pal

    3. Travel Notes
      • 3 Years
      1 day, 1 hour ago

      Brown to score?

  16. CoracAld2831
    • 5 Years
    1 day, 1 hour ago

    Germany v Paraguay 5-0