2.
16:03
It’s starting well! The Japanese are awarded a free kick in the left half field. Dōan brings the cross to the six-yard box. His sharp flank turns out to be treacherous. No defender gets a foot between them and Maeda misses by inches at the far post.
1.
16:01
Here we go! The ball rolls and the Croatians start with a lot of pressure. Perišić drives the game up the left and tries a cross towards the penalty spot. But Yoshida, the experienced central defender, is able to clear in time before Petković.
15:56
The referee of the match, Ismail Elfath, leads the protagonists onto the pitch at Al Janoub Stadium. The national anthems sound and it can start right away. Who will draw the next ticket to the quarterfinals, Japan or Croatia? We look forward to an exciting 90 minutes or even more!
3:50 p.m
For the third time, both teams meet at a World Cup. So far, the Japanese have not managed to beat Croatia in a World Cup or even score a goal. In 1998 the game went 1-0 to the Croatians and in 2006 it was 0-0 in the group phase. However, things look different in the KO phase and at least a goalless encounter can’t happen this afternoon.
15:43
In Croatia there are two changes compared to the encounter with Belgium. Sosa has contracted a flu and is therefore not available to the squad. Barišić is making his World Cup debut for him. In addition, head coach Zlatko Dalić is counting on Petković again in attack. Livaja remains on the bench for the time being. In addition, Stanišić is also unavailable. The full-back from FC Bayern is struggling with a muscle injury and therefore has to watch.
15:32
Let’s look at the lineups of both teams. Japan have made three changes to their starting lineup since their success against Spain. Ko Itakura, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s central defender, is out due to a yellow card suspension and will be replaced by Tomiyasu. Tanaka, on the other hand, gets a break and Endo from VFB Stuttgart moves into the starting eleven for him. In addition, Kubo is missing from the squad, which was recently ailing. He is replaced by Freiburg’s Ritsu Dōan in the starting line-up, who caused fire, especially against Spain after he was substituted on.
15:23
The Croatians took second place in their group. The Checkers went unbeaten, conceding just one goal in the early stages against Canada. There were goalless draws against Morocco and Belgium. The latter was enough to keep the favorite Belgians in third place and secure a place in the round of 16. Defensively, the Croatians are difficult to crack, but offensively they sometimes lack the necessary penetrating power. Nevertheless, the quality of the Croatian national team is undisputed and the checkered team are going into this match as favourites.
15:11
In the group stage, Japan proved that they can shock the big nations. The Japanese convinced above all with a lot of ambition and courageous pressing. 20 powerful minutes against Germany in the second half were enough to turn the game around and against Spain they also turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 lead within five minutes after the half-time break. The Japanese never seem to give up and could be dangerous for Croatia with their style of play.
15:00
Japan meets the Vice World Champion. At the beginning of this tournament only very few would have expected that the Japanese would be able to assert themselves in this difficult group with Germany and Spain. But that’s not all. The blue samurai collected three points against both Germany and Spain and were therefore not only able to establish themselves at the top of group E, but also sealed the re-group elimination for the German national team. Today, the Japanese, who are in a World Cup round of 16 for the third time, want to achieve historic success and move into a quarter-finals for the first time in history against runners-up Croatia.
14:44
Hello and welcome to the Round of 16 encounter between Japan and Croatia. This Monday, the surprise winner of Group E meets the vice world champion of the last World Cup and second in Group F. The ball rolls at 4:00 p.m. The live ticker for this game starts right before kick-off.