Japan play Costa Rica in World Cup Group E in Al-Rayyan on Sunday.
When: Sunday, Nov. 27, 4pm BST
Where: Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
KEY STATS
* Japan stunned Germany 2-1 in their opening game, registering their first win over the four-times world champions, while Costa Rica were hammered 7-0 by Spain.
* Japan are playing in their seventh successive World Cup, having started that run at France in 1998.
* Costa Rica are playing at a third successive World Cup for the first time.
* Japan's Eiji Kawashima and Yuto Nagatomo are both appearing at their fourth World Cup. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and Seigo Narazaki were the only two Japanese players who had previously appeared at four.
* The teams have met five times, all in international friendlies, with Japan winning four games and the other ending in a draw.
PREVIEW
Few would have given Japan much chance of getting out of a group that included Germany and Spain when the World Cup draw was made but a win over Costa Rica on Sunday would leave Hajime Moriyasu's side on the brink of the last 16.
The Japanese came from behind to beat four-times champions Germany on Wednesday and will face a Costa Rica side reeling from their 7-0 thrashing by Spain in their Group E opener.
For Costa Rica coach Luis Fernando Suarez, rebuilding his side's shattered confidence is the priority.
"I'm worried that mentally the team won't get out of this slump, this bad result," he said after the defeat. "Logically, that's the first thing I have to try to solve.
"We have to take responsibility for what happened but once we all talk about it, we need to forget about it."
To help him lift the side, the coach will turn to the few veterans from their 2014 campaign when they reached the quarter-finals after topping a group that also featured England, Italy and Uruguay.
Things look much more promising for Japan, who produced the second major shock of the 2022 World Cup so far with their 2-1 comeback win over Germany.
The Japanese were helped by six Bundesliga players and one more playing in Germany's second tier, as strikes from Freiburg's Ritsu Doan and VfL Bochum's Takuma Asano gave the Asian side their first ever win over Germany.
Costa Rica, who suffered their heaviest ever defeat at the World Cup finals, are unlikely to provide as stiff a test as the Germans.
Spain lie in wait for Japan in their final group game but Moriyasu knows Sunday's result may mean there is little riding on it.
