Germany vs. Japan: How do both squads compare ahead of World Cup clash?

Hansi Flick's men will be keen to put on a show in their first global tournament under the ex-Bayern Munich boss, who took over from Joachim Low in August 2021.

Japan, meanwhile, make the trip to Qatar in search of their best-ever finish at football's biggest event having never made it past the round of 16 in six previous outings.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how the squads of Germany and Japan stack up against each other ahead of the contest

Germany

Most valuable player:

Jamal Musiala (£86.6m)

Overall squad value:

£767.6m

Most capped player:

Thomas Muller (118)

Leading goalscorer:

Thomas Muller (44)

Total caps:

916

Total goals:

152

Oldest player:

Manuel Neuer (36)

Youngest player:

Youssoufa Moukoko (18)

Average age:

26.7

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Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Defenders: Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Christian Gunter (Freiburg), Thilo Kehrer (West Ham), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Sule (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Jonas Hofmann (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)

Forwards: Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund), Niclas Fullkrug (Werder Bremen), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Mario Gotze (Eintracht Frankfurt), Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich)

Japan

Most valuable player:

Daichi Kamada (£26m)

Overall squad value:

£133.4m

Most capped player:

Yuto Nagatomo (133)

Leading goalscorer:

Takumi Minamino (17)

Total caps:

914

Total goals:

86

Oldest player:

Eiji Kawashima (39)

Youngest player:

Takefusa Kubo (21)

Average age:

27.7

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Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg), Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truidense)

Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (Tokyo FC), Maya Yoshida (Schalke 04), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Red Diamonds), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart)

Midfielders: Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Junya Ito (Reims), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting Lisbon), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad)

Forwards: Takuma Asano (Bochum), Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge), Shuto Machino (Shonan Bellmare)

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