🏏 Mon, 5 Oct 2026 19:30 JST
Japan
vs
ニュージーランド代表
3-4-2-1 vs 4-1-4-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- A tactical contrast opens this Kirin Cup meeting: Japan line up in the 3-4-2-1 they have used throughout this window — against Uruguay on September 24, Venezuela on September 28 and Ecuador on October 1 — with Ayase Ueda leading the line and Daizen Maeda and Takefusa Kubo tucked in behind him. New Zealand counter with a 4-1-4-1 built around Marko Stamenic as a lone screen, so the space either side of that single pivot is where Japan will look to find their two shadow strikers.
- Chris Wood remains New Zealand's talisman. The 34-year-old captain stands 191cm, has 88 caps and a national-record 45 international goals, and still leads the line for Nottingham Forest after spells at Burnley and Newcastle United. Japan answer with a back three of the left-footed Hiroki Ito (186cm), 23-year-old Junnosuke Suzuki (178cm) of FC Copenhagen and the equally left-sided Ayumu Seko — managing Wood in the air is their first examination of the night.
- The headline duel at the other end pits Ayase Ueda, 28, against 21-year-old centre-back Tyler Bindon. Ueda broke the Eredivisie scoring record for a Japanese player at Feyenoord and thrives on penalty-box instinct and hold-up play, while Bindon — owned by Nottingham Forest, currently at Sheffield United, and a product of the LAFC academy via Reading — brings 188cm of physicality plus 23 caps and 3 goals of his own.
- The holding-midfield battle is a study in contrasts. Kaishu Sano, 25, moved from Kashima Antlers and Machida Zelvia to become a regular at Mainz, covering huge ground and winning the ball high. Opposite him, 30-year-old Alex Rufer captains Wellington Phoenix and has 24 caps, reading danger and dictating tempo from deep. Whoever turns a recovery into forward momentum first will set the rhythm.
- Marko Stamenic has one of the most unusual CVs in the game. Still only 24, the 188cm midfielder has collected domestic honours at FC Copenhagen, Red Star Belgrade and Olympiacos, spent time at Nottingham Forest, and now plays for Swansea City in the Championship, with 39 caps and 3 goals. Prising open the channels around him falls to Daichi Kamada, the 30-year-old Europa League winner, and Takefusa Kubo, 25, whose left foot cuts inside from the right.
- Elijah Just is New Zealand's other obvious threat. The 26-year-old winger sharpened his game at FC Helsingor in Denmark and in Austria before joining Scottish Premiership side Motherwell, and he carries a healthy return of 9 goals in 42 caps. Operating from one of the four advanced midfield slots, his pace will test whether Japan's wing-backs can hold their line without being run in behind.
- Ben Old's inclusion in the back four is the selection quirk worth watching. The 24-year-old is a winger by trade — a Wellington Phoenix graduate who became the first New Zealander to start a Ligue 1 match and now plays for Saint-Etienne in Ligue 2 — but he has recently filled in at left-back. With 22 caps and 2 goals, he will need every bit of that recovery pace against Daizen Maeda, whose relentless sprinting helped Celtic to the Scottish title.
- Shuto Nakano's presence in Japan's midfield four is notable. The 26-year-old Sanfrecce Hiroshima man is a 182cm utility defender comfortable at centre-back, wing-back or in front of the back line, with the technique to contribute in build-up, and he has been a fixture in Hiroshima's defence since making his J1 debut in 2023. The question is whether a natural centre-back can both defend the flank and provide width going forward at international level.
- The goalkeeping matchup is intriguing. Zion Suzuki, 24 and 190cm, came through the Urawa Red Diamonds academy, made 59 appearances across two seasons at Parma and joined Aston Villa in August 2026, offering strong claiming and composure with his feet. New Zealand's Alex Paulsen is the same age: owned by Bournemouth, currently on loan at Lechia Gdansk in Poland, an 8-cap keeper who has already been to two Olympic Games in Tokyo and Paris.
- Japan's bench offers genuinely different solutions. Junya Ito, 33, can still unleash the explosive pace he honed at Genk and Stade de Reims, while 26-year-old Keito Nakamura cuts in from the left. Add 21-year-old Keisuke Goto (185cm, striker), Ao Tanaka — the 28-year-old who scored the winner against Spain at Qatar 2022 — and Kuryu Matsuki, 23, who managed 6 goals and 5 assists on loan at Goztepe, and Japan can change the game in several directions.
- New Zealand are a hybrid squad drawn from the EFL, the Scottish Premiership and the A-League, coached since 2023 by Englishman Darren Bazeley. At the back sits 38-year-old Michael Boxall, a 188cm, 61-cap organiser who has long been a mainstay at MLS side Minnesota United, while Ben Waine — 25, of Port Vale, with 9 goals in 30 caps — waits on the bench. This is a look at the generation that took the All Whites to a third World Cup after 1982 and 2010.