Japan head into the tie on the back of a thumping 4-1 win over Ghana in the semi-final on Thursday, while the North African nation got the better of Chile 2-0 to make it to the title decider.
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Japan will take on Tunisia in the Kirin Cup final at the Suita City stadium on Tuesday. This is the 21st edition of the international friendly tournament and the Samurai Blue will be aiming to regain the title after failing to win it last time around in 2016. They ended up as the runner-up against Bosnia & Herzegovina. Japan head into the tie on the back of a thumping 4-1 win over Ghana in the semi-final on Thursday, while the North African nation got the better of Chile 2-0 to make it to the title decider. Meanwhile this will be the fifth meeting between the two sides across all competitions and Japan have a 100% record against the Carthage Eagles.
躍動感あふれる選手たちの動きを??#田中碧 #古橋亨梧 #鎌田大地 #南野拓実#jfa #daihyo #SAMURAIBLUE#サッカー日本代表 pic.twitter.com/jmWXE6kpMf
— サッカー日本代表??6.14vsチュニジア??＠吹田 (@jfa_samuraiblue) June 13, 2022
The Samurai Blue began their June round of international fixtures with a thumping victory over Paraguay before going down against Brazil courtesy of Neymar’s lone goal. It was Japan’s first defeat in 2022, having won four and drawn once in six fixtures. And then, Hajime Moriyasu got their act together to thrash Ghana at Misaki Park stadium courtesy of goals from Mike Yamane, Kaoru Mitoma, Takefusa Kubo, Daizen Maeda. The Japanese Football Association has arranged for an excellent set of friendlies and cup fixtures, giving the Samurai Blue a chance to test themselves against opponents from all over the world before the World Cup in November. The Samurai Blue are drawn in a tough Group E alongside Germany, Spain and Costa Rica/ New Zealand.
Tunisia on the other hand, began their June round of fixtures with a thumping 4-0 win over Equatorial Guinea before playing out a goalless draw against Botswana in the AFCON qualifiers. And then, got the better of Chile in the last-four stage of Kirin Cup last week. Ali Abdil put Tunisia in front in the first half before Issan Jebali netted a late double and sealed the win. The Northernmost nation in Africa has qualified for the World Cup in November courtesy of a 1-0 aggregate win over Mali in the playoffs. The Carthage Eagles are drawn in Group D alongside Denmark, France, and either Peru or Australia will join them. Therefore, Jalel Kadri will be aiming to use these fixtures to prepare his team in the best possible manner for the upcoming global event.
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Japan had picked up 28 players for the June friendlies, but because of injuries the squad strength has been reduced to 25. Yukinari Sugawara, Hidemasa Morita and Ayase Ueda have dropped out due to injuries. Yoshida is expected to lead the back line alongside Taniguchi, Yamane and Ito. As for Tunisia, the Africans traveled for the Kirin Cup with 24 players. No injuries have been reported so far and therefore Jalel Kadrid is unlikely to make too many changes to the side that got the job done against Chile.
Japan probable starting lineup: Schmidt, Miki, Yamane, Taniguchi, Yoshida, Ito; Kamada, Tanaka, Endo, Furuhashi, Minamino, Asano
Tunisia probable starting lineup: Ben Said, Abdi, Ifa, Talbi, Maaloul, Romdhane, Jebali, Laidouni, Sliti, Jaziri, Arbi.
The Kirin Cup final between Japan and Tunisia will take place at the Suita City Stadium and it will kickoff at 3:25 pm IST on June 14, Tuesday
Live streaming of the international friendly match is available on I-cable, Viacom, Emtek, TDM, Astro, Singtel, VTV. You need to get a subscription of the mentioned channels. Meanwhile the viewers in Japan can watch the match on the terrestrial “TBS series”.
