Colombia and Japan will clash tonight at Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba, with the second qualifying spot up for grabs. Japan though will definitely need to raise their game if they are to match their formidable opponents who have been one of the dark horses of this summer's World Cup.
The Samurai Blue have been rather poor in the tournament up to now, they did narrowly loose to Ivory Coast 2-1. In their next match they could have picked up a vital three points after Greece went down to ten men but they couldn't take advantage as they drew 0-0.
To surpass the group stage, Japan will need to triumph over Colombia but only if Ivory Coast loose to Greece, meaning that Japan, Greece and Ivory Coast al still have a chance of gettiing to the coveted last 16.
Keisuke Honda: "Even though Colombia have already qualified, for us the game will be like a final and we'll be playing for our lives."
Colombia on the other hand have already got through the group stage after impressive victories over Greece and Ivory Coast.
José Pékerman: "We still have to face Japan, who are a team who are going to grow in their game and are capable of fighting for qualification. We will see how we deal with it as we move on."
Japan may start Shinji Kagawa after he was dropped to the bench in their last match against Greece while Yasuhito Endo may also start in this crucial tie.
Colombia may make a host of changes as they will not want to risk any of their key players for the next round. Colombia coach, José Pékerman may start Jackson Martinez (Porto) and Carlos Bacca (Sevilla) , the two were prolific for their clubs side this season. Bacca though may not play a part in the game as he strained a leg muscle in training before their game agianst Ivory Coast. Mario Yepes and Juan Cuadrado are both going to be given a rest.
Possible starting lineups :
Colombia: Ospina; Armero, Arias, Zapata, Aguilar; Guarin, Sanchez, Vargas, Bacca, Martinez, Rodriguez
Japan: Kawashima, Konno, Uchida, Yoshida, Nagatomo; Hasebe, Honda, Yamaguchi, Kagawa, Okubo, Osako
Prediction: Japan 0 - 1 Colombia
