Spain won their only previous meeting with Japan in all competitions, winning a friendly match 1-0 in April 2001.
Spain have never lost in five previous Fifa World Cup matches against Asian opposition (W3 D2), though they were eliminated via penalties by Korea Republic in 2002 following one of those draws.
Spain have won their final group game in eight of their last nine participations in the Fifa World Cup, with the exception being a 2-2 draw with Morocco last time out in 2018.
Japan have lost three of their last four World Cup matches (W1), as many as in their previous nine games at the tournament (W3 D3), while they are looking to avoid failing to score in consecutive World Cup matches for the first time since 1998 (vs Argentina and Croatia).
Spain are now unbeaten in their last seven matches at the World Cup (W3 D4) – only once in their history have they had a longer run in the competition without suffering defeat (10 games between 1998 and 2006).
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Japan could qualify for the knockout stages in consecutive World Cup tournaments for the first time in their history. In that event, Hajime Moriyasu would be the third Japanese manager to lead Japan into the knockout stages of a World Cup tournament, after Takeshi Okada in 2010 and Akira Nishino in 2018.
Japan have conceded one goal in both of their games at the 2022 World Cup. Against Germany on MD1, they faced 26 shots, nine on target and had an xG against of 3.1, while against Costa Rica last time out, they conceded the same amount despite facing only four shots, one on target and having an xG against of 0.1.
Among all teams in Group E at the 2022 World Cup, no player has been involved in more open play sequences ending in shots (14) or goals (4) than Spain’s Dani Olmo.
No player has had more shots (7) or created more chances (2) for Japan at the 2022 World Cup than Takuma Asano. Indeed, the 28-year-old scored one of Japan’s only two goals at the tournament so far, with his strike against Germany on MD1 being the winning goal (2-1).
Álvaro Morata has scored in both of his appearances for Spain at the 2022 World Cup, with both goals coming as a substitute. Only one player has ever scored in his first three World Cup appearances for Spain, with Telmo Zarra doing so in 1950.