Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu introduced Takehiro Tomiyasu into his defence instead of the suspended Ko Itakura as considered one of three adjustments to his facet for the World Cup last-16 recreation towards Croatia on Monday.
Itakura obtained a second yellow card of the match in Japan’s beautiful upset of Spain of their remaining group match, so Tomiyasu, who has made two appearances off the bench as he struggles to shake off an damage, begins.
Moriyasu additionally introduced Wataru Endo and Ritsu Doan again into his midfield on the expense of Takefusa Kubo and Ao Tanaka, who scored towards Spain.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic made two adjustments to his largely settled beginning line-up, bringing in Borna Barisic for Borna Sosa at left-back and Bruno Petkovic for Marko Livaja in midfield.
The groups: Japan: Shuichi Gonda, Shogo Taniguchi, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Maya Yoshida, Yuto Nagatomo, Wataru Endo, Ritsu Doan, Hidemasa Morita, Junya Ito, Daichi Kamada, Daizen Maeda.
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic, Borna Barisic, Ivan Perisic, Dejan Lovren, Mateo Kovacic, Andrej Kramaric, Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Bruno Petkovic, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Juranovic.