Before: Belgium – Japan – Japan – Asia

Japan reached the eighth final with the lowest possible margin. Two fewer yellow cards than Senegal meant Japan's 0-1 defeat against Poland was second in the group.

Akira Nishino chose before the match to rest several players. In addition, he ordered the team not to attack without holding the ball just ten minutes from the match. A risky decision that would have meant Japan missed the playoffs over Senegal or Poland had scored goals in the final minutes. Now, a match is waiting for Belgium and in the pot is a quarter-final against Brazil.

Nothing speaks for Japan in this match, Belgium won all three matches in the group game while Japan won one, played an equal and lost one. Belgium is ranked 3rd, while Japan is in 61st place. The feeling after the match against Poland is not good either, but anything can happen and Japan is able to play against Belgium which can be exciting tonight, otherwise it will not be fun. The team was met no later than November 2017 when Belgium formed a solid team and beat a Japan that missed a number of players from 1 to 0.

Shinji Okazaki is injured and is individually trained. tonight. But the players who are against Poland are ready and, hopefully, their extra rest can provide extra energy to the team. Gen Shoji, Makoto Hasebe, Shinji Kagawa, Takashi Inui and Yuya Osako are certainly back on the starting line and probably also in the Genki Haraguchi area. Can Hasebe and Gaku Shibasaki stop and cover the surfaces while controlling the game, so that Kagawa, Inui and Osako can create the track safely. However, much depends on Maya Yoshida 's ability to manage Romelu Lukako and the Belgian offensive. Hope that Eiji Kawashima in Japan's goal will not make more losses. It's true, everything will be fine anyway!

Strangely enough, today 's Domar Trio comes from Senegal, since Japan joined the game in a group, but that will certainly not affect the match, but something will happen. ..

Start of the match at 20:00 in SVT.