Japan vs Sweden Preview: Team News & Prediction | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Group Stage
This has the potential to be one of the most entertaining matches in the group stages of FIFA World Cup 2026 as Japan face Sweden in Dallas.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – BBC / USA – FOX Sports
How to watch online: UK – BBC iPlayer & the BBC Sport website & app / USA – FOX One
Japan preview: Impressive Japan
Hajime Moriyasu said that he believes Japan should be targeting to win the FIFA World Cup and they have been impressive thus far, collecting four points from their opening two matches as they continue to challenge for top spot in Group F.
Samurai Blue came from a goal down on two occasions against the Netherlands in their opener to share a 2-2 draw in their opener before they then ramped it up a notch to hammer a sorry Tunisia side by four goals to nil in their second game to match the Dutch goal difference.
Sweden preview: Inconsistent Swedes
That Dutch goal difference is at +4 as a result of the Oranje inflicting a 5-1 defeat upon Sweden in their second game in Texas the other day. Braces from Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo, as well as a Crysencio Summerville strike late on, wiped out Sweden's healthy goal difference to leave the Scandinavians not assured of knockout football.
Sweden had themselves enjoyed an impressive 5-1 win in their opener, against the aforementioned sorry Tunisians, which led to the sacking of Sabri Lamouchi by The Eagles of Carthage. Sweden have been fun to watch since the appointment of Graham Potter but they may need to find a balance to get themselves into the round of 32.
Japan team news: Plenty of issues
Japan have been dealing with plenty of injury issues as Wataru Endo had to withdraw, both Takumi Minamino and Kaoru Mitoma missed out on the squad and now Takefusa Kubo is dealing with a knee injury.
The Real Sociedad winger has returned to running on grass but remains unavailable, while Shuto Machino was missing due to illness against Tunisia and appears to still be dealing with that ahead of this one.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Z. Suzuki; Tomiyasu, Itakura, H. Ito; Doan, Tanaka, Sano, Nakamura; Kamada, J. Ito; Ueda
Unavailable: Kubo (Fitness), Machino (Illness)
Questionable:
Sweden team news: Possible changes
Liverpool striker Alexander Isak trained on his own before the clash with the Netherlands but was fit to start that game and doesn't appear to have any further issues.
Graham Potter may be tempted to make some changes with Lucas Bergvall and Anthony Elanga pushing for starts, while the defence looked extremely poor against the Dutch, with Isak Hien struggling in particular.
Predicted XI (3-5-2): Nordfeldt; Lagerbielke, Hien, Lindelof; Elanga, Karlstrom, Ayari, Bergvall, Gudmundsson; Gyokeres, Isak
Unavailable:
Questionable:
Japan’s top FIFA World Cup Fantasy assets
Daichi Kamada ($5.8m) – Midfielder
Junya Ito ($5.0m) – Midfielder
Ayase Ueda ($7.0m) – Forward
Matchday 3 captain pick: Daichi Kamada
Set-piece duty
Penalties: Ayase Ueda
Free kicks: Ritsu Doan, Daichi Kamada
Corners: Ritsu Doan, Junya Ito
Sweden’s top FIFA World Cup Fantasy assets
Victor Lindelof ($4.0m) – Defender
Alexander Isak ($8.0m) – Forward
Viktor Gyokeres ($7.8m) – Forward
Matchday 3 captain pick: Viktor Gyokeres
Set-piece duty
Penalties: Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak
Free kicks: Anthony Elanga, Mattias Svanberg
Corners: Daniel Svensson, Anthony Elanga, Yasin Ayari
Key stats
- This is the first meeting between the two countries in World Cup history. Japan are unbeaten across their four encounters: a 3-2 win in the round of 16 at the 1936 Men’s Olympic Football Tournament, followed by three draws in friendly matches, the most recent 1-1 in Tokyo in May 2002.
- Japan have lost only two of their last ten FIFA World Cup group stage matches against European opposition (W4 D4) and come into this fixture unbeaten in their last three such games (W2 D1).
- Daichi Kamada is just the second Japanese player to score in back-to-back FIFA World Cup matches, following Junichi Inamoto’s goals against Belgium and Russia in 2002.
- Sweden are unbeaten in their three previous World Cup matches against AFC representatives with two wins and a draw.
- The defeat against the Netherlands was only Sweden’s second in their last 14 FIFA World Cup group matches (W6 D6).
- Sweden’s six goals in the 2026 group stage equals their highest tally in a World Cup group campaign, matching the totals they posted in 1994 and in the final‑round group of 1950.
Click here for EVEN MORE stats & facts about this fixture!
Japan vs Sweden prediction
A rare clean sheet for Japan will give them confidence of being a team that can go deep into this tournament, balancing an excellent and easy on the eye style of football with some grit and resilience, the latter that they showed to fight back against the Dutch - although the standard of their opposition to achieve that clean sheet was very poor.
Sweden's six matches in 2026 have produced 27 goals with Graham Potter finding a way to get the best out of his glittering attack but perhaps at the expense of some solidity and control more commonly associated with previous iterations of the Swedish national side.
For different reasons, as Japan chase top spot and Sweden simply seek to secure a route into the knockouts, both of these sides may well go on the front foot once again here and both teams scoring would appear a decent bet for this one.
Japan vs Sweden betting tip: Both teams to score
