Australia v Japan: With Brazil all but certain to be occupying one of this group's top two spots come the evening of the 22nd, there will be quite a three-way scrap for the other place in the second round and so a win could prove invaluable for one of these two sides in Kaiserslautern tonight.
The contest had been given a bit of niggle by the carry-on of the Australians in last week's friendly with Holland, in which several of the Dutch players were injured because of the somewhat physical approach of their opponents.
Since then the Japanese have made much of what a battle this might be for them and called on the match officials to protect their more gifted players.
Australia manager Guus Hiddink criticised the comments but there is little doubt his players will try to impose themselves on the game.
Mark Viduka was yesterday passed fit to start but Harry Kewell will start on the bench with John Aloisi looking to be the most likely beneficiary as the Australians seek to improve on their efforts in their only previous World Cup final tournament - also in Germany, back in 1974 - when they performed respectably enough but failed to score.
The Japanese have become regulars at the World Cup of late but don't tend to start well, and they are not helped ahead of this game by the absence of their attacking right-sided player Akira Kaji, who has failed to recover from an ankle problem sustained when Bastian Schweinsteiger clattered into him during a friendly with Germany last week.
The 26-year-old will be missed for he is an important part of a team that manager Zico encourages to attack opponents down the flanks.
In his absence Yuichi Komano, a versatile but less experienced defender, may get a start.
There is better news in midfield, where Shunsuke Nakamura, another key figure, has been declared fit to start alongside Hidetoshi Nakata.
As a player with Brazil, Zico has done it all at this level with three World Cups under his belt. Tonight, however, will present by far his biggest test as a manager, the sort Hiddink has already passed on a number of occasions.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
AUSTRALIA: Schwarzer, Neill, Moore, Chipperfield; Emerton, Cahill, Grella, Culina, Bresciano; Aloisi, Viduka.
JAPAN: Kawaguchi; Komano, Miyamoto, Nakazawa, Alex; Ogasawara, Nakata, Fukunishi, Nakamura; Takahara, Yanagisawa.
Australia v Japan Kaiserslautern, kick-off 2.0
On TV: RTÉ 2, ITV
