WORLD CUP - ROUND OF 16 Belgium 19:00 Japan Venue: Rostov Arena, Russia

WORLD CUP - ROUND OF 16

Belgium19:00Japan

Venue: Rostov Arena, Russia

World Cup 2018: Belgium v Japan

Belgium's Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne will return to the starting line-up

Line Up

Belgium

• 1Courtois
• 2Alderweireld
• 4Kompany
• 5Vertonghen
• 15Meunier
• 7De Bruyne
• 6Witsel
• 11Carrasco
• 14Mertens
• 10E Hazard
• 9Lukaku

Substitutes

• 3Vermaelen
• 8Fellaini
• 12Mignolet
• 13Casteels
• 16T Hazard
• 17Tielemans
• 18Januzaj
• 19Dembélé
• 20Boyata
• 21Batshuayi
• 22Chadli
• 23Dendoncker

Japan

• 1Kawashima
• 19H Sakai
• 22Yoshida
• 3Shoji
• 5Nagatomo
• 17Hasebe
• 7Shibasaki
• 8Haraguchi
• 10Kagawa
• 14Inui
• 15Osako

Substitutes

• 2Ueda
• 4Honda
• 6Endo
• 9Okazaki
• 11Usami
• 12Higashiguchi
• 13Muto
• 16Yamaguchi
• 18Oshima
• 20Makino
• 21G Sakai
• 23Nakamura

Referee:

Malang Diedhiou

Belgium coach Roberto Martinez has declared Romelu Lukaku "fully fit" after an ankle injury ruled the striker out of the win over England.

Thomas Vermaelen and Vincent Kompany are vying to take Dedryck Boyata's place at centre-back.Japan captain Makoto Hasebe is set to return in midfield, while winger Takashi Inui and centre-forward Yuya Osako may also earn recalls.Striker Shinji Okazaki is a doubt with an ankle injury.

OVERVIEW

Belgium and Japan set up this last 16 clash in differing, but equally odd, circumstances. Belgium's second string beat England's second string in a game that no one was entirely sure they wanted to win. Roberto Martinez's side emerged victorious and now find themselves in the potentially unfavourable side of the draw alongside Brazil and France.

The last 10 minutes of Japan's final group game against Poland were nothing short of farcical. Coach Akira Nishino ordered his side to shut up shop and not give away any bookings in the hope that a 1-0 defeat would be enough to see them qualify.

It was, and they became the first team in World Cup history to progress because of fair play, having accrued fewer yellow cards than Senegal. It did little to endear the Japanese to neutral football fans who watched a game concluded at walking pace to a chorus of cat calls and boos.

This is only the third time the Blue Samurai have reached the knockout stage of the World Cup, after 2002 and 2010. They now face a Belgium side who scored more goals than any other team in the group stage.

VIEW FROM BOTH CAMPS

Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez: "I think there is a belief; we've been undefeated for a long long time."

"There is a real understanding among the players and it's an opportunity to face the best teams in the world... I think we've done everything we can as a group to prepare ourselves."

Japan head coach Akira Nishino on his decision to make his side play defensively against Poland: "In that moment, I had to make a decision on our tactical direction.

"[Spectators] were short-changed 10 minutes, and they probably got a little less mileage than usual out of the first 80 minutes. So I want to pay people back [against Belgium]."

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Belgium have won only one of their five encounters with Japan (D2, L2), although that came in their last meeting in November 2017 when they won 1-0 thanks to a Romelu Lukaku goal.
• Their only previous World Cup match was in the group stage of the 2002 tournament and ended 2-2.
• Belgium and Japan have both faced penalty shoot-outs at the World Cup once before. Japan lost to Paraguay at this stage in 2010, while Belgium beat Spain in the 1986 quarter-finals.

Belgium

• Belgium have reached the knockout stage of the World Cup for the sixth time in their last seven participations, the only exception coming in 1998. They are aiming to reach the quarter-finals for only the third time in their history after 1986 and 2014.
• The Red Devils scored nine goals in the group stage, more than any other team.
• They were also one of three teams to win all of their games, along with Croatia and Uruguay.
• Belgium have kept two clean sheets in their last three World Cup matches, as many as they recorded in their previous 11 combined.
• But they have never kept a clean sheet in their 11 knockout games at the World Cup, losing eight of them (W2, D1).

Japan

• Japan have never won a World Cup knockout game - they were eliminated in the last 16 in both 2002 and 2010.
• Since making their World Cup debut in 1998, Japan have alternated between getting knocked out in the group stage (1998, 2006, 2014) and reaching the round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018).
• Japan's two previous knockout games at the World Cup have produced only one goal, for Turkey in 2002 (0-1). The other game ended 0-0 after extra time against Paraguay in 2010 with Japan losing 5-3 on penalties.
• They have won just two of their nine World Cup games against European opposition.