Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu has brought in Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu into defence in place of the suspended Ko Itakura as one of three changes.
Itakura received a second yellow card of the tournament in Japan’s stunning upset of Spain in their final group match, so Tomiyasu, who has made two appearances off the bench as he struggles to shake off an injury, starts.
Wataru Endo and Ritsu Doan come back into midfield at the expense of Takefusa Kubo and Ao Tanaka, who scored against Spain.
Rangers’ Borna Barisic and Bruno Petkovic both start for Croatia as part of two changes from their 0-0 draw with Belgium.
Marko Livaja and Borna Sosa, who is unwell and not in the squad, make way.
Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Ivan Perisic are in the Croatia line-up again.
Croatia team news
Croatia: Livakovic, Barisic, Perisic, Lovren, Kovacic, Kramaric, Modric, Brozovic, Petkovic, Gvardiol, Juranovic.
Subs: Erlic, Majer, Grbic, Vlasic, Livaja, Pasalic, Budimir, Orsic, Vida, Ivusic, Sutalo, Sucic, Jakic.
Japan team news
Japan: Gonda, Taniguchi, Endo, Doan, Morita, Nagatomo, Ito, Kamada, Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Maeda.
Subs: Kawashima, Yamane, Shibasaki, Mitoma, Minamino, Tanaka, Asano, Sakai, Machino, Ueda, Schmidt, Soma, Hiroki Ito.