South American giants Colombia take on Asian powerhouses Japan in their 2018 FIFA World Cup Group H opener on Tuesday and the lineups for the clash at the Mordovia Arena have been revealed.
The last time the sides meant, Los Cafeteros beat Japan 4-1 to win their group at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. It remains their only meeting till date.
And this is how they will be lining up in Russia:
TEAM NEWS | #COLJPN
Here are the Starting XIs…#WorldCup pic.twitter.com/86LFG2Ssjv
— FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) June 19, 2018
David Ospina starts in goal, with a back-four of Santiago Arias, Davinson Sanchez, Oscar Murillo and Johan Mojica.
Carlos Sanchez partners Jefferson Lerma in the central midfield pivot but the big news is that James Rodriguez has failed a late fitness test and the talismanic winger settles for a place on the bench.
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Juan Cuadrado, Juan Quintero and Jose Izquierdo start up top, behind centre forward Radamel Falcao.
For Japan, it’s Eiji Kawashima in goal and the Samurai are mirroring the Colombians’4-2-3-1 formation.
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Yuto Nagatomo, Gotoku Sakai, Maya Yoshida and Gen Shoji feature in the back-four while Genki Haraguchi and Makoto Hasebe start at the base of midfield.
Takashi Inui, Shinji Kagawa, Gaku Shibasaki start further ahead, with Yuya Osako at the apex of their attack.
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The match kicks off in approximately one hour, at 17.30 IST.