England team players receive welcome to basecamp at World Cup
Japan face Croatia in the Qatar World Cup last 16 after their breathtaking victory over Spain in the Group E finale last week.
Luka Modric and Croatia held off Belgium to ease through Group F behind Morocco and will hope to continue what they hope will be a journey back to the World Cup final after defeat to France four years ago. It is likely to be Modric’s final World Cup as Zlatko Dalić looks to find the balance between generations.
The winner of this tie will face either Brazil or South Korea in the quarter-finals.
Follow all the action from Al Janoub Stadium with our live blog below:
Where to watch Japan vs Croatia?
The match will kick off at 3pm GMT on Monday 5 December and will be played at the Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar.
It will be shown live on BBC One, with coverage starting at 2:30pm, as well as on the BBC iPlayer.
Michael Jones5 December 2022 13:30
Japan vs Croatia early team news and predicted line-ups
Ritsu Doan and Kaoru Mitoma have surely done enough to stay in the team following their impact off the bench at half-time against Germany. Defender Ko Itakura is suspended, so Takehiro Tomiyasu should come in from the start. Takefusa Kubo is also an injury doubt.
Croatia do not have any reported injury concerns, although they looked exhausted at the end of the 0-0 draw against Belgium. Luka Modric and Dejan Lovren are a yellow card away from missing the quarter-finals if Croatia advance.
Japan XI: Gonda; Tomiyasu, Taniguchi, Yoshida; Ito; Morita, Tanaka, Nagatomo; Doan, Maeda, Kamada
Croatia XI: Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric; Kramaric, Livaja, Perisic
Michael Jones5 December 2022 13:25
Japan vs Croatia
Japan have been the fairytale story of the World Cup so far but against Croatia they will face a team who are gnarly and experienced enough to cut those dreams short.
Zlatko Dalic’s side have an impressive record of delivering on the big stage and Luka Modric can steer them to another milestone victory here, with Brazil or South Korea waiting in the quarter-finals.
Michael Jones5 December 2022 10:43
Thanks
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