PREVIEWS: Japan vs Mexico (22 June)

Probable Lineups

Team News

Japan

• Japan were unfortunate to have exited the competition following their 4-3 defeat to Italy after Sebastian Giovinco struck late on to hand the Azzurri all three points.
• Head coach Alberto Zaccheroni may look to play Mike Havenaar and Hiroshi Kiyotake from the off, the latter of whom was an unused substitute in the loss to Italy, but looks set to name a similar starting XI for the final game of their campaign other than the two changes.

Mexico

• The 2-0 defeat to Brazil saw Mexico's Confederations Cup campaign come to an abrupt end, with only pride to play for in their final Group A game of the competition.
• Head coach José Manuel de la Torre may look to keep any changes to a minimum, with Carlos Salcido set to return to left back and Jesus Zavala coming back into midfield.

Prediction

• The defeat to Italy would've been tough for Japan to stomach having dominated the encounter for large spells of the game, only to fall to a late Sebastian Giovinco winner for Italy.
• Having now exited the Confederations Cup, Alberto Zaccheroni may opt to field his third different striker for their final game of the tournament, with Mike Havenaar set to come in to replace Ryoichi Maeda.
• Mexico are in the same position as Japan having fallen to defeat to Brazil and will be looking to depart the country with a win following the loss to the tournament hosts.
• Like their Group A rivals, they'll look to end their time in South America with a victory and with it pick up maximum points against Japan.
• However, Japan's attack is one to be particularly weary about and with the two defence's prone to making errors, expect this to be a high scoring encounter, with Zaccheroni's side picking up a narrow win.