Germany, the 2014 champions, take on Japan in the first Group E game of this World Cup.
2014 World Cup winners Germany will take centre stage when they square off against Japan at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Germany manager Hansi Flick has selected a pretty strong squad for this World Cup, which sees the return of 2014 World Cup hero Mario Götze to the squad, as well as call-ups to in-form Bundesliga strikers Youssoufa Moukoko and Niklas Füllkrug. Marco Reus was, yet again, unlucky to miss out on a place in the squad due to an injury.
Die Mannschaft do not head into the World Cup in great form, winning just two of their last eight games. Japan, on the other hand, will take confidence from the fact that they won 15 of the 18 qualifying games leading to the tournament.
The Germans will be determined to overcome the horrors of the 2018 World Cup, where they shockingly crashed out of the group stage. Japan did give Belgium a run for their money in the Round of 16, leading 2-0 against them in the 2nd half. But the Red Devils’ unrelenting pressure saw them overturn the lead and break the Japanese hearts. They’ll hope to have a deeper run this time around.
Germany XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Süle, Schlotterbeck, Rüdiger, Raum; Kimmich, Gündoğan; Gnabry, Müller, Musiala; Havertz
Japan XI (4-2-3-1): Gonda; Sakai, Ikatura, Yoshida, Nagatomo; Tanaka, Endo; Ito, Kamada, Kubo; Maeda
Germany will take on fellow European heavyweights Spain on Sunday, 27th November, in what is going to be one of the most exciting group stage fixtures.
Japan will clash against Costa Rica earlier on the same day, at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium.
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