Five-time World Champion will start their knockout phase against the Asian giant, Japan. Though Brazil started with a draw against Morocco, Ancelotti’s men came back strong and didn’t concede a single goal in their last two matches.
Brazil has won back-to-back matches with 3-0 against Haiti and Scotland. On the other hand, Japan qualified with 2 draws against two European opponents, the Netherlands and Sweden. The only win of Japan came against Tunisia with 4-0.
World Cup History
Brazil has won the World Cup a record five times, whereas this is Japan’s fifth time to play in the knockout stage. Japan has been knocked out three times previously, with the winner going on to finish third. In 2002, they were beaten by Turkey, in 2018 by Belgium, and in 2022 by Croatia.
Brazil has been knocked out by European opponents in their last five World Cups. In 2022, by Croatia; in 2018, by Belgium; in 2014, by Germany; in 2010, by the Netherlands; in 2006, by France.
Brazil vs Japan Head To Head
Japan and Brazil met once in the World Cup in 2006, where Selecao won by 4-1. Brazilians lost only once against the Asian giants, where they have won eleven matches and drawn two.
The win came in the latest match last October, where the Japanese clinched the win by 3-2.
Predicted Line-ups and Formation
Brazil (4-3-3)
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti
Alisson; Douglas Santos, Gabriel Magalhães, Marquinhos, Danilo; Lucas Paquetá, Casemiro, Bruno Guimarães; Vinícius Júnior, Matheus Cunha, Rayan.
Japan (3-4-2-1)
Manager: Hajime Moriyasu
- Suzuki; H. Ito, S. Taniguchi, T. Tomiyasu; K. Nakamura, A. Tanaka, K. Sano, R. Doan; D. Kamada, J. Ito; A. Ueda.
Match Schedule
Match: Brazil vs. Japan
Date: Monday, June 29, 2026
Time: 1 P.M. ET
Venue: NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Other Timezones
Eastern Time Monday, June 29, 1 p.m.
Central Time Monday, June 29, 12 p.m.
Mountain Time Monday, June 29, 11 a.m.
Pacific Time Monday, June 29, 10 a.m.
Where To Watch
The match will be live telecast on FOX TV. For live streaming, you can move to Fubo.
Prediction
We have run 30,000 simulations between these two teams. Brazil has gone through to the next round 56.7% times, while Japan qualified for 20.9% times within 90 minutes.
| Result | Probability |
| Brazil win | 56.7% |
| Draw | 22.4% |
| Japan win | 20.9% |
The most common scorelines are
Brazil 1-0 (12.1%) & Brazil 2-0 (10.2%)
If we consider the extra time and penalties, it favors the Selecao:
Brazil advance: 70.7% | Japan advance: 29.3%