Japan take on Costa Rica in today’s early World Cup kick-off with Takuma Asano and Takehiro Tomiyasu on the bench.
Daizen Maeda has made way up front but in replacement comes Ayase Ueda in a surprise move.
The Blue Samarai are sweating on the fitness of Hiroki Sakai after he missed training following the famous victory over Germany.
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It had been expected that Arsenal’s Tomiyasu would start in his stead but Miki Yamane is preferred at right-back.
Yuki Soma comes in for Takefusa Kubo on the wing and Ritsu Doan, who hit the leveller against Germany, gets a starting berth.
Costa Rica again have a clean bill of health but for head 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.”
Kendall Watson comes in at right-back and Sunderland’s Jewison Bennette is dropped for Gerson Torres in midfield.
Japan XI: Gonda; Yamane, Itakura, Yoshida, Nagatomo; Endo, Morita; Doan, Kamada, Soma; Ueda.
Costa Rica XI: Navas, Watson, Calvo, Duarte, Oviedo; Fuller, Tejeda, Borges, Torres; Campbell, Contreras.
