Shelley Kerr’s side remain confident despite their opening game defeat to England as they prepare for their second Group D outing
Scotland will look to bounce back from their opening game defeat to England when they take on Japan at Roazhon Park in Rennes looking for their first ever women’s World Cup victory.
Shelley Kerr’s side were beaten 2-1 in their Group D opener but can take plenty of encouragement from a resilient performance against one of the favourites for the tournament itself.
Meanwhile Japan, winners in 2011 and 2015 runners-up, are also looking for their first victory after they were held to a shock goalless draw by Argentina in their opening group game.
| Game | Scotland vs Japan |
| Date | Friday, June 14 |
| Time | 2pm BST / 9am ET |
| Stream (US) | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) .
New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| Telemundo / FOX Network | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the United Kingdom (UK), the game will be broadcast on BBC One and can be streamed via BBC iPlayer.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| BBC One | BBC iPlayer |
Scotland XI: Alexander; Smith, Corsie, Beattie, Lauder; Evans, Little, Weir, Arnott; Cuthbert, Ross
| Position | Japan squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Ikeda, Yamashita, Hirao. |
| Defenders | Utsugi, Sameshima, Kumagai, Ichise, Minami, Miyagawa, Miyake. |
| Midfielders | Sugita, Nakajima, Sakaguchi, Ueki, Hasegawa, Momiki, Miura, Endo, Shimizu. |
| Forwards | Iwabuchi, Sugasawa, Kobayashi, Yokoyama. |
Japan XI: Yamashita; Shimizu, Kumagai, Ichise, Sameshima; Nakajima, Miura, Sugita, Endo; Sugasawa, Iwabuch
Scotland are outsiders to win this match with bet365 , priced at 4/1. Japan are at 4/6 while a draw is available at 11/4.
Click here to see all of bet 365’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
Scotland boss Shelley Kerr insists reaching the knockout stages is still her prime target despite the opening round of group games going against them.
While losing to England was bad enough, Japan’s surprise draw against outsiders Argentina makes Scotland’s task of qualifying from the group even harder.
Another defeat on Friday would almost certainly confirm their elimination even with four third-placed teams progressing to the next round.
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“It probably makes our job a bit more difficult because the dynamic changes for Japan,” said Kerr.
“It was always going to be tough for us, we’re the second bottom pot three team, but we need to win at least one game. The target hasn’t changed, we still want to get out of the group.”
Despite the disappointment of that defeat to England, Scotland finished the game strongly and got on the scoresheet through Claire Emslie.
The final 2-1 scoreline was also a vast improvement from the 6-0 thrashing they suffered at the hands of the Lionesses the last time they met two years ago, a sign of the significant progress made by the team in a relatively short space of time.
Kerr is keen to build on that sense of momentum and growing confidence despite being wary of a Japanese backlash in response to their frustration against Argentina.
“When you finish a game so strongly, you need to have a similar mindset and remember the positives,” added Kerr.
“We need to concentrate on being better on the ball if we are to create chances. That’s something we didn’t do very well in the England game.
“We’ve got the players capable of doing that and we’ve worked really well in training to put in place a gameplan we think can be successful.
“They’re [Japan] very efficient, effective, disciplined, organised – it’s what we’re trying to instil in our Scottish team.
“I’ve been a huge admirer of the Japanese team for many, many years. They’re a formidable team and that shouldn’t be lost just because they drew with Argentina.”
Japan, meanwhile, are very much a squad in transition. They have the second-youngest squad at the tournament with the average age of 24 years and seven months and 17 of the 23 are playing at their first World Cup.
That may go some way to explaining their unconvincing start against Argentina, a result that means they are now without a win in five games.
Coach Asako Takakura accepts the Scotland game is a must-win for her side following their opening game draw, with England awaiting in their final group encounter.
“Yes we must win and every player understands this” she said.
“Scotland’s players are playing at high levels throughout Europe. I couldn’t pick out one player who will be dangerous to us.
“They are all disciplined and quick, so we’ll have to watch that. We are at a disadvantage in terms of height, but each player will work to cover for the others.”