Ito or Suzuki? With Kubo's knee scanned, Japan's open question for Tunisia is the right shadow

A first training without him

When Japan opened their first full session for the Tunisia match on June 17 outside Monterrey, Takefusa Kubo was not in the group. He was at the hotel with a trainer. The MRI he had taken after the Netherlands game was back, and it showed a left-knee injury.

The Japan FA's wording was flat. The team doctor had reviewed the scan, the left-knee injury from the Netherlands match was confirmed, Kubo would stay at the hotel with a trainer that day, and treatment and rehab toward an early return would continue. He is not leaving the squad. No diagnosis and no recovery timeline were disclosed (Chunichi Sports). The phrase that survives is "not leaving the squad." Whether he is fit for Tunisia on June 21 (JST) is a separate matter, and several outlets describe his chances of playing as remote (Daily Sports).

From there, what Japan's reporters on the ground are writing is less "how bad is it" and more "if Kubo is out, who takes the right shadow." The question has shifted from the severity of the injury to the makeup of the starting eleven — partly because the stakes of the Tunisia match are clear.

A winless opponent, a fork in Japan's road

After matchday one, Group F has Sweden on three points, Japan and the Netherlands on one, and Tunisia on zero. Japan sit second on fair-play points: the Netherlands picked up three yellow cards against Japan, Japan none (Gekisaka, Goal).

That Tunisia lost their opener 1-5 to Sweden, sacked Sabri Lamouchi, and installed Hervé Renard days before facing Japan (The New Arab). Bottom of the group on zero points, a coach four days into the job — for Japan, this is realistically a match to chase three points and move toward the round of 16. Which is exactly why how, and with whom, Japan close it out matters.

Ito, Suzuki Yuito, or a reshuffle

Reporting from the ground lays out three options for the right shadow (Soccer Digest).

The natural pick is Junya Ito. He came on at the right in the 66th minute against the Netherlands and got a stalling attack moving again. If Japan want to settle the match early and rest key men, starting him is on the table.

If, on the other hand, Moriyasu prefers to keep Ito on the bench as a finisher, Yuito Suzuki's name comes up. He fractured his right collarbone in early May but was judged fit in time and named to the squad, and he featured in closed-door friendlies against Japan's U-19 side on June 7 and 15. "I'm gradually building up. I've been preparing the whole time, including for the Netherlands game," he says.

The third option is a reshuffle: put the in-form Yukinari Sugawara at right wing-back and push Ritsu Doan, who played wing-back against the Netherlands, up into the shadow.

Moriyasu has not named his side.

This is not one injury

The reason Kubo's setback is hard to file away as "one more worry" is that this Japan team is already missing several attacking and midfield pillars. Kaoru Mitoma hurt his left hamstring in May and was left out of the squad; Takumi Minamino was also left out through injury. Captain Wataru Endo, whose left foot never recovered from a February injury, withdrew on June 11 just before the opener and announced his retirement from the national team, with Shuto Machino called up in his place (Jiji).

The point Japan banked against the Netherlands came from the depth of the bench: in the 89th minute, Kohei Ogawa's header glanced off Daichi Kamada for the latest goal Japan have ever scored at a World Cup. Some of those players whose job was to come on and change a match are now in the starting calculation for Tunisia. Ayase Ueda, too, trained on a separate program on the 17th as a fatigue precaution (Chunichi Sports).

It is a winnable game, which is precisely why the call — who starts and who is held back for the second half — matters. Japan will get the first answer on the afternoon of the 21st (13:00 JST, in Monterrey).