La Rojita face off against their Samurai Blue hosts with a place in the gold medal match at stake
Spain will look to guarantee a podium finish in the Olympic men’s tournament when they take on home nation Japan in the semi-finals of Tokyo 2020 in Saitama.
Watch Japan vs Spain on fuboTV (free 7-day trial)
La Rojita needed an extra-time blowout to beat the Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals, while the Samurai Blue had to muster a penalty shootout win to reach the final four over New Zealand.
Ahead of the game, Goal has the details of how to watch the men’s Olympics soccer tournament on TV, how to stream online, team news and more.
TV channel, live stream and how to watch
In the United States, this year’s Olympics soccer games can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV.
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.
Team news and rosters
| Position | Japan roster |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Osako, Tani, Suzuki |
| Defenders | Sakai*, Nakayama, Itakura, Yoshida*, Hatate, Tomiyasu, Hashioka, Machida, Seko |
| Midfielders | Endo*, Kubo, Miyoshi, Doan, Mitoma, Soma, Tanaka |
| Forwards | Maeda, Ueda, Hayashi |
Having made every Olympic Games since Atlanta 1996, the Samurai Blue are no strangers to this tournament – but victory here would assure them of a best-ever finish, no matter what happens in the final.
They previously came in fourth at London 2012 – and in the evergreen Maya Yoshida, a veteran of three Olympics, they have a captain who will be determined to drive them on to make history.
Predicted Japan starting XI: Tani; Sakai, Yoshida, Itakura, Hatate; Endo, Tanaka; Doan, Kubo, Soma; Hayashi
| Position | Spain roster |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Simon, Fernandez, Villar |
| Defenders | Mingueza, Cucurella, Torres, Vallejo, Garcia, Oscar Gil, Miranda |
| Midfielders | Zubimendi, Merino*, Ceballos*, Soler, Moncayola, Pedri, Puado, Bryan Gil |
| Forwards | Asensio*, Mir, Oyarzabal, Olmo |
Fears that La Rojita may have finally hit the wall against the Ivory Coast were put to bed in a freewheeling extra-time rout, but the fact remains that several of their players are at the end of a long season that included a Euro 2020 semi-final.
That defeat will surely only drive them on to go one better and reach the gold medal match this time around, with superstars of the future like Pedri and Mikel Oyarzabal leading the charge in pursuit of a first honour since silver at Sydney 2000.
Predicted Spain starting XI: Simon; Mingueza, Garcia, Torres, Cucurella; Merino, Zubimendi, Pedri; Asensio, Oyarzabal, Olmo
Recent results
| Japan results | Spain results |
|---|---|
| Japan 0 (4)-(2) 0 New Zealand (Jul 31) | Spain 5-2 Ivory Coast (AET) (Jul 31) |
| France 0-4 Japan (Jul 28) | Spain 1-1 Argentina (Jul 28) |
| Japan 2-1 Mexico (Jul 25) | Australia 0-1 Spain (Jul 25) |
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