Scotland plays host to Japan in a World Cup warm-up friendly at Hampden Park on Saturday at 5pm. Manager Steve Clarke expects changes to the lineup due to injuries and aims to test squad depth ahead of the summer tournament. Japan, the first team to qualify for the World Cup, brings a strong record against European sides.
Scotland returns to action four months after securing World Cup qualification with a 4-2 victory over Denmark. The friendly against 19th-ranked Japan at Hampden Park kicks off at 5pm and will be broadcast on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer. Clarke has included Findlay Curtis, Dom Hyam, Andy Irving and Tommy Conway in the squad for a final chance to impress. Scotland has a full squad available except for winger Ben Gannon-Doak. Japan misses Ko Itakura, Takefusa Kubo, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Liverpool's Wataru Endo, who is recovering from injury. Celtic's Daizen Maeda is expected to start, though Reo Hatate was not selected. Predicted lineups see Aaron Hickey; Ralston, Souttar, Hanley, Robertson; Ferguson, Gilmour; McGinn, McTominay, Christie; Conway for Scotland, and Z. Suzuki; Watanabe, J. Suzuki, Taniguchi; Doan, Sano, Kamada, Nakamura; Maeda, Mitoma; Ueda for Japan. Clarke noted the challenges: “Obviously we’ve got quite a number of players who are maybe coming back from a longer term injury or who are carrying little niggles at this stage of the season.” He emphasized the matches' importance for preparation: “Every game with a national team should be an important game. They’re both important. In terms of preparation for the summer, very important.” Scotland remains winless in three meetings with Japan, failing to score, while Japan has won five of six recent games against European nations. Next week, Scotland faces Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.
