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On June 12, the F group matches will begin, with the first match scheduled for 16:00 Lithuanian time between the national teams of Australia and Japan. As Brazil is considered not only the favorite of this group but also of the entire tournament, the remaining teams will likely have to fight only for the second place, making this match between Australia and Japan especially important.
Group F
Australia Japan
Location: Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern
Referee: Abd El Fatah Essam (Egypt)
This championship has been awaited by Australia for 32 years, as they participated in the World Cup only once in 1974 when they were eliminated after the group stage. However, this year, led by coach Guus Hiddink, the Australians defeated Uruguay in the playoff match and made it to the top 32 strongest teams in the world.
Meanwhile, this will be Japan's third World Cup, and four years ago, they made it to the quarterfinals, losing 0-1 to Turkey. This year, Japan hopes to go even further. Interestingly, this country of the rising sun has had a professional football league only since 1993.
In the qualifying tournament for the World Cup, Japan collected 15 out of 18 possible points and finished first in their group.
Previous meetings
These two national teams have never played each other in the final stages of the World Cup. Their last meeting took place in 2001 in the Confederations Cup, where Japan celebrated a 1-0 victory. In total, these teams have played 14 matches against each other: Japan won 5 times, Australia won 5 times, and 4 matches ended in draws.
Preparation for the championship
Preparing for the World Cup, Australia played three friendly matches: they defeated Liechtenstein 3-1, Greece 1-0, and drew 1-1 with the Netherlands.
Japan played 6 friendly matches: they won against Ecuador 1-0, against Malta 1-0, drew 2-2 with Germany, 0-0 with Scotland, 2-2 with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and lost to Bulgaria 1-2.
By the way, Japan planned to play a friendly match with the Lithuanian national team, but later chose the much weaker Maltese team.
Match predictions
In this match, Mark Viduka, who recovered from a calf injury, and Tim Cahill, who has recovered from a knee injury, are expected to play for Australia. Japan will be without defender Akira Kaji due to an ankle injury.
Japan's strongest line may be their midfielders: Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Takashi Fukunishi. However, their defense lacks tall and physically strong defenders, with Yuji Nakazawa being the only defender in the main lineup taller than 180 cm.
On the other hand, Australia's main weapon could be their attacking players: midfielder T. Cahill (who scored 7 goals in 6 matches in the qualifiers for the Germany tournament) and forwards M. Viduka and Harry Kewell.
Both teams in this match will aim for nothing less than a victory, as a team that loses would significantly complicate their chances of continuing the fight for advancement to the next stage.
Predicted lineups
Australia: Schwarzer; Emerton, Neil, Moore, Chipperfield; Grella, Culina, Cahill, Bresciano; Kewell, Viduka
Japan: Kawaguchi; Miyamoto, Nakazawa, Tsuboi, Komano; Nakata, Fukunishi, Nakamura, Alex; Takahara, Yanagisawa
