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In these matches, the teams that lost their first matches will meet: Japan 1-3 lost to Australia, Croatia 0-1 lost to Brazil. Both teams are desperate to continue the fight for advancing to the next stage of the championship with a victory being essential.
Group F
Japan - Croatia
Time: 16:00 Lithuania time
Location: Nuremberg Franken-Stadion (36 thousand spectators)
After losing their first matches, these teams have nowhere to go: a loss would practically block further competition for advancing to the next stage of the tournament. Japanese are in a particularly difficult position, as their next match will be against the world champions Brazil. Therefore, Nuremberg awaits an uncompromising battle.
Good news for Croatian team supporters: despite bruised ribs, Niko Kovac did not finish the first match, he will be ready for Sunday's match against Japan. Meanwhile, among the Japanese, after minor injuries, Shunsuke Nakamura and Akira Kaji have managed to recover.
Japan's team captain, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, said before the match that the match against Croatia would be the biggest test for his team. He added that the Japanese need to trust their strengths and play as a team.
Croatia's coach Zlatko Kranjcar, talking about the match against Japan, said: "I hope for a quick goal, we all saw the mistakes the Japanese defense made at the end of the match, but I wouldn't want to wait so long for our first goal."
Head-to-head meetings
Japan and Croatia have played against each other twice, each team winning once: in 1997 Japan won 4-3, a year later Croatia won 1-0.
Predicted line-ups
Japan: Kawaguchi, Kaji, Miyamoto, Nakazawa, Santos, Ogasawara, Nakata, Fukunishi, Nakamura, Takahara, Yanagisawa.
Croatia: Pletikosa, Simic, Kovac, Simunic, Srna, Tudor, Kovac, Babic, Kranjcar, Klasnic, Prso.
