Japan could recall Leicester’s Shinji Okazaki, who has featured in both of their previous games as a substitute. Veteran goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima has made costly errors in consecutive matches and may be replaced by 23-year-old Kosuke Nakamura.
Already eliminated Poland could make changes for their final game. Experienced defender Kamil Glik made his comeback from a shoulder injury as a substitute against Colombia and may return to the starting line-up.
JAPAN LINE UP
1 Eiji Kawashima (Goalkeeper)
21 Gotoku Sakai (Defender)
19 Hiroki Sakai (Defender)
22 Maya Yoshida (Defender)
20 Tomoaki Makino (Defender)
5 Yuto Nagatomo (Defender)
13 Yoshinori Muto (Forward)
16 Hotaru Yamaguchi (Midfielder)
7 Gaku Shibasaki (Midfielder)
11 Takashi Usami (Midfielder)
9 Shinji Okazaki (Forward)
POLAND LINE UP
22 Łukasz Fabiański (Goalkeeper)
18 Bartosz Bereszyński (Defender)
15 Kamil Glik (Defender)
5 Jan Bednarek (Defender)
3 Artur Jędrzejczyk (Defender)
10 Grzegorz Krychowiak (Midfielder)
6 Jacek Góralski (Midfielder)
11 Kamil Grosicki (Midfielder)
19 Piotr Zieliński (Midfielder)
21 Rafał Kurzawa (Forward)
9 Robert Lewandowski (Forward)
VIEW FROM BOTH CAMPS
Japan captain Makoto Hasebe: “Japan are not the kind of team that can aim for a point and go and carry [a negative] plan out.
“I think we have to focus on getting three points rather than make calculations. We have four points after two games but we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski: “We realise we didn’t do well enough but that is something we cannot overcome.
“We fought as much as we could but that was all we could do, bearing in mind the problems we had before the World Cup in terms of injuries and form.”
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
This group has proved the most difficult to call so far, and Japan have surprised me the most.
They only need a point to be sure of going through – but if Poland play the way they can, then they should win.
Prediction: 0-2
Source: BBC News
