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We could have cooling breaks during today’s match, according to Clive Tyldesley. Could be a long old match.
There are plenty of empty seats inside the stadium but that should not be a surprise by this stage of the tournament.
Kubo, Tomiyasu, Mitoma and Minamino on the bench. That’s some decent strength in depth on offer to Japan.
Kári Tulinius emails: “Not to diminish Danny Mills brilliant long-range bomb against Everton, but surely his finest moment was playing in the Champions League semi-final against Valencia in 2001. Incidentally, there he faced Didier Deschamps in the latter’s last ever match. That said, the goal is probably his most remembered moment, and we’ll be lucky if today’s match is graced with its equal.”
ITV’s Angus Scott shows that is possible to attend four games in a day in Doha. Good to see there are a few positives at this World Cup.
The Costa Rican tourist board are putting ads out on TV. It does look a lot more inviting than a trip to Qatar.
I’d probably just text her, mate.
What else is happening today? Our World Cup briefing will tell you.
In the ITV studio is the Guardian’s very own Karen Carney (wahey) and the Telegraph’s Joe Cole (booooooo).
When I think of early Sunday kick-offs, attending Manchester City v Everton in 2005 was my earliest start time: 11.15 kick-off. Admittedly, I did see the best moment of Danny Mills’ career, so it was worth it.
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Starting lineups
Japan (4-2-3-1): Gonda; Yamane, Itakura, Yoshida, Nagatomo; Endo, Morita; Doan, Kamada, Soma; Ueda
Costa Rica (4-2–2-2): Navas; Watson, Calvo, Duarte, Oviedo; Tejeda, Borges; Fuller, Torres; Campbell, Contreras
For those interested … Michael Oliver is the referee for today’s big match.
Japan to make history?
The Costa Rican fans have not been subdued by their opening day 7-0 loss.
What do you think of when someone mentions Costa Rican football? There is only one answer. Courtesy of Michael Butler.
Barney Ronay and Tom Jenkins went for a wander around Lusail. It seems interesting …
Preamble
Japan shocked Germany in the opening game, while Costa Rica were roundly thrashed 7-0 by Spain. There is surely only one outcome here today. Costa Rica beating Japan at this stage would arguably be a bigger surprise than what was dished out to the Germans.
By the end of the day, Japan could be into the knockout stages of the tournament and Germany plotting an early return home to please their club managers. Costa Rica, however, have a point to prove and will not want to succumb to another bewildering defeat. They rarely make it to this stage, so will want to make some good memories to go with the ones that involve Gavi and Dani Olmo.
Japan thoroughly deserved their victory last time out and will be keen to build on that today. Their squad is incredibly talented and they will be confident they can do the business.
Let’s hope for a Sunday morning (UK time) cracker.
Kick-off: 10am GMT.
