Amid politics, Germany's World Cup begins against Japan
Germany's opening W orld C up game against Japan will set the tone f or the r est of th et ournament — both f or the t eam and the fans who may or may not be watching at home.
Germany's buildup to Wednesday's game has been fr aught by fan protests, political statements, calls f or a bo ycott and underwhelming performances from a team still trying to rediscover its spark f ollowing a surprising group-stage e xit as def ending champion in 2018.
It was the first time the f ourtime champions w ere e ver knocked out of the competition in the group stage.
A con vincing perf ormance in what will be German y's 110th Wor ld C up mat ch could er ase those lingering doubts, galvanize the t eam and ma ybe even coax some of the f ans boycotting the tournament be cause of Qatar's human rig hts r ecord t o swit ch their TVs back on for the remaining games.
Japan is bidding t o r each the quarterfinals for the first time in its se venth str aight World C up appearance.
Germany's players should be familiar to Moriyasu's, with seven members of his 26-pla yer squad playing club soccer in the Bundesliga and another in Germany's second division.
Germany will be without Ba yern Munich winger Ler oy Sané, who missed T uesday's tr aining session with a knee pr oblem. Nineteen-year-old Ba yern midfielder Jamal Musiala is lik ely to take Sané's place on the left.
Germany looked far from convincing against Oman in its final warmup g ame, a 1-0 win on
Niclas Füllkrug's goal in his debut that highlighted the defensive problems the team has had. Germany had won only one of its previous seven games.
While the team has been struggling to impress on the field, political issues have dominated the buildup to this tournament.
Germany captain Manuel Neuer had been expected to wear the "One Love" armband promoting diversity and inclusion on Wednesday, but the German soccer federation and six other European teams were forced to back down from making the gesture by FIFA on Tuesday.
It provoked a strong response from federation president Bernd Neuendorf, who said it was "another low blow" from FIFA.
After much toing and froing, German interior minister Nancy Faeser, who is also responsible for sports, decided to travel to Doha, where she was to meet Germany supporters with Neuendorf before the game.
Faeser's trip had been uncertain in recent weeks, even after the minister said she had secured a "safety guarantee" for fans during a pre-tournament visit to Qatar "no matter where they come from, whom they love and what they believe in."
Japan's buildup has been far more serene.
Maya Yashida knows much of the German team from his tussles with Bayern Munich players and others while playing with Schalke.
"This is one of the reasons I came to Bundesliga, to understand German football, German culture and the opponent," the Japan captain said.
"In football sometimes, there is the game we have to win or we should win. There's never a game
that we have to lose or should lose. So we still believe we have a chance."
Young Spain squad makes World Cup debut against Costa Rica
A new era is about to start for Spain at the World Cup, with a generation of talented young players taking center stage in its quest to win a second world title.
Spain's revamped squad, led by back-to-back Golden Boy award winners Pedri and Gavi, will begin being put to the test on Wednesday against an experienced Costa Rica team that is bringing back some of the players who helped it make a surprising run to the quarterfinals eight years ago.
The Costa Ricans hope to repeat the success of the World Cup in Brazil and avoid the debacle of four years ago in Russia, when they didn't win any matches and were eliminated in the group stage.
Spain also wants to avoid a repeat of its campaign in the 2018 tournament, when it was ousted by the host country in the round of 16 after going through an embarrassing coaching change just days before its debut.
Many of the veterans from that tournament are gone, including Sergio Ramos, Gerard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta and David Silva.
Instead, coach Luis Enrique is betting on the likes of 19-yearold Pedri, 20-year-old Ansu Fati and Nico Williams, and 18-yearold Gavi, Spain's youngest ever goal scorer.
Pedri, Gavi and Ansu Fati are likely to start against Costa Rica. The other youngsters picked by Luis Enrique — who has joined in the youth movement by becoming a streamer during the World
Cup — include Ferran Torres, Yéremy Pino, Eric García, Hugo Guillamón and Alejandro Balde.
Costa Rica was the last team to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar after beating New Zealand in an intercontinental playoff in June.
It couldn't play its final warmup for the World Cup against Iraq last week because of issues related to the entry of its players into Iraq.
Spain made it to the final of the Nations League and the semifinals of the European Championship last year.
Its last major title came at Euro 2012. Earlier this year, it qualified for the Final Four of the Nations League for a second straight time.
Canada meets Belgium in 1st World Cup match since 1986
Many Canadian soccer fans have been waiting for this moment their entire lives.
Long an afterthought behind hockey in their home country, Canada's soccer team is back in the World Cup for the first time since 1986 and opens Wednesday against a daunting opponent: second-ranked Belgium, a 2018 semifinalist.
These Canadians are led by a new generation headed by Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Cyle Larin. They finished first in CONCACAF qualifying, a turnaround engineered by coach John Herdman. He coached the Canadian women to bronze medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, then switched to the men in 2018.
Part of a Group F that includes Croatia and Morocco, Belgium is in its seventh year under coach Roberto Martinez. The Red Devils finished third at the 2018 World Cup and lost to Italy in the quarterfinals of last year's European Championship.
Its core may be at or just past peak, with Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard both 31, Romelu Lukaku 29 and Youri Tielemans part of the next age group at 25.
Lukaku will not play Wednesday because of a left thigh injury.
Belgium is coming off a 2-1 friendly loss to Egypt last week.
Janny Sikazwe of Zambia will referee the match. During an African Cup of Nations match in January, he blew his whistle to end the game after 85 minutes, then restart it and ended it after 89 minutes, 47 seconds, when about three minutes of injury time had been expected.