Colombia head into today’s match as favourites with the likes of James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao hoping to kick their World Cup campaign off with a victory.
Leicester’s Shinji Okazaki starts on the bench today but he has made no secret of the challenge facing his country, as they also have to progress past Poland and Senegal.
Okazaki said: “It’s a hard group. Colombia, Senegal, Poland… every team is strong,” he said.
“Their mentality is strong as well, so it’s a difficult group for Japan.
“Every team has a star – Robert Lewandowski, Sadio Mané and James Rodríguez, but we are not a team of stars.
“We have intensity as a team and we are together though. We have a chance, but a small chance. We have confidence.”
These sides previously met at the 2014 World Cup when Colombia recorded a 4-1 win.
Colombia XI: Ospina, Murillo, Arias, Mojica, D. Sanchez, C. Sanchez, Cuadrado, Lerma, Quintero, Izquierdo, Falcao.
Japan XI: Kawashima, Shoji, Nagatomo, H. Sakai, Yoshida, Shibasaki, Haraguchi, Kagawa, Inui, Hasebe, Osako.
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