Soccer-Brazil unchanged, Japan opt for five-man defence


Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Round of 32 - Brazil v Japan - Houston Stadium, Houston, Texas, U.S. - June 29, 2026 Brazil's Alisson Becker during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

HOUSTON, June 29 (Reuters) - ⁠Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti named an unchanged side ⁠for Monday's World Cup round-of-32 match against ‌Japan, keeping faith with the team who beat Scotland 3-0 in their final Group C game. Japan made four changes as ​they tryto beat the five-time ⁠champions at a World ⁠Cup for the first time.

• Forward Rayan, 19, makes ⁠his ‌second start for Brazil in place of the injured Raphinha alongside Matheus Cunha and ⁠Vinicius Jr.

• Neymar to start on the ​bench again ‌as he continues recovery from calf injury.

• Japan ⁠coach Hajime ​Moriyasu makes four changes to his team that drew 1-1 against Sweden in their final Group F game.

• ⁠Japan's Yukinari Sugawara, Ko Itakura, Ayumu ​Seko and Ao Tanaka are dropped as they play a five-man defence, with Shogo Taniguchi, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Junya ⁠Ito and Kaishu Sano in the starting side.

• Takefusa Kubo on the bench as he nurses ankle injury.

Lineups:

Brazil: Alisson; Danilo, Gabriel Magalhaes, Marquinhos, Douglas Santos; ​Casemiro, Bruno Guimaraes, Lucas Paqueta; ⁠Matheus Cunha, Rayan, Vinicius Jr.

Japan: Zion Suzuki; Hiroki Ito, ​Shogo Taniguchi, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Ritsu ‌Doan, Daizen Maeda, Keito Nakamura, ​Junya Ito, Daichi Kamada, Kaishu Sano; Ayase Ueda.

(Reporting by Fernando Kallas, editing by Ed Osmond)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Others Also Read