If the headline of this story doesn’t mean anything to you, you really should revise your history lessons. In the 1940s, Germany and Japan were responsible for nothing but misery around the world. Thankfully, today those two nations will provide some entertainment for the entire world to enjoy.The Germans were disrupted on Tuesday by the injury of Leroy Sane, but the European team is still expected to have enough to defeat the Land of the Rising Sun.An otter has predicted victory for Japan in their upcoming World Cup match against Germany (via @mrjeffu) pic.twitter.com/0Eu3MVmT8q— Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) November 23, 2022 Tradition can be tricky, so looking at just the last World Cup in Russia, you would say that the Asian team has the upper hand. Germany crashed out in the group stage, with a shocking defeat to South Korea proving the final nail in their coffin. This time around, they better not take Korean neighbours lightly.Japan, on the other hand, reached the second round in Russia, and Germany will be desperate not to avoid a slip-up, especially with Spain also in their group.##NAJAVA_MECA_6834002##The Germans’ form is a worry despite all their quality. They have won just two out of their last eight matches leading up to the tournament. That includes two draws against England and a shock home defeat to Hungary in September. The four-time winners edged past Oman 1-0 in a friendly last week – but that was far from convincing.The Japanese had mixed fortunes before making their way to Qatar, with an impressive 2-0 win over the USA in September slightly overshadowed by an injury-time loss to Canada in their last warm-up game.So, who can make a difference today? In the German camp, it’s hard to look beyond Serge Gnabry, the player who can create and score spectacular goals. His fellow Bayern players, Thomas Muller and Jamal Musiala will make things happen in attack, while the midfield pairing of Ilkay Gundogan and Joshua Kimmich will be in charge of controlling the match in the middle of the park.’This is a very heavy blow, there are no excuses’For Japan, the attacking forces of Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi, Monaco’s Takumi Minamino and Frankfurt’s Daichi Kamada promise to cause problems for Bayern’s centre-backs Antonio Rudiger and Nicklas Sule. Behind them is an experienced backline featuring Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu, Schalke’s Maya Yoshida and former Inter left-back Yuto Nagatomo.The match at Khalifa International Stadium kicks off at 16.00 EAT.WORLD CUPGroup stageWednesday, Nov 23rd13:00: (4.20) Morocco (3.40) Croatia (1.92) F16:00: (1.50) Germany (4.30) Japan (6.50) E19:00: (1.15) Spain (7.50) Costa Rica (20.0) E22:00: (1.42) Belgium (4.50) Canada (8.00) F***odds are subject to change
