Roma’s Gervinho leads the way against Milan’s Keisuke Honda as the Ivory Coast face Japan.
The Group C tie kicks off in Recife at 02.00 UK time (01.00 GMT), following on from Colombia’s 3-0 thrashing of Greece.
Roma’s Gervinho leads the way against Milan’s Keisuke Honda as the Ivory Coast face Japan.
The Group C tie kicks off in Recife at 02.00 UK time (01.00 GMT), following on from Colombia’s 3-0 thrashing of Greece.
Japan were the first nation to secure qualification for the tournament under their Coach Alberto Zaccheroni, so will have ambitions of progress in this World Cup.
He can count on two Serie A figures: Milan creative midfielder Honda and Inter full-back Yuto Nagatomo.
The Ivory Coast hope that Gervinho can continue his remarkable form shown at Roma this season, where he rediscovered his scoring touch.
However, Didier Drogba, who has been heavily linked with a Serie A move to Juventus this summer, is on the bench.
The big doubt around this game was whether Yaya Toure would recover from a hamstring injury in time to start for the Africans.
The bad news for Manchester City and Ivorian fans is that he is not in the starting XI.
Ivory Coast: Barry; Aurier, Kolo Toure, Zokora, Boka; Tiote, Bony, Serey Die, Bamba; Kalou, Gervinho
Japan: Kawashima; Uchida, Yoshida, Morishige, Nagatomo; Hasebe, Yamaguchi; Okazaki, Honda, Kagawa; Osako