Both Germany and Japan are level on four points at the top of Group A, with the champions holding a huge superiority in goal difference.

A draw would be enough for the Germans to advance to the quarterfinal. But for Japan, they'd better fight out a win. If they pick up only one point, they will have to hope that England fail to beat Argentina by more than a one-goal margin.

Monday's match is unlikely to be a lopsided game where Germany enjoy easy dominance with their sharp attacks, as Japan have no obvious weaknesses in defense, and are resilient with their good short passes.

The Nadeshiko have made rapid progress with a certain technical style, putting more emphasis on ball control and like to seek chances from patient build-ups.

They held the formidable DPR Koreans to a fruitless draw in the Doha Asian Games final, in which they proved their ability to counter some of the world top class attacks. In the pre-tournament frendlies Japan had a draw against Canada and beat Brazil 2-1.

The 2-2 draw against new force England at their opening game may prove nothing, but after England tied with Germany, no one can underestimate the Japaneses.

"We've shown our spirit and physical stamina with late goals in both games so far. Now we need to focus on the next match - and beating Germany. They are a very strong team and we'll have to be strong mentally against them," said Japan forward Eriko Arakawa.

For the German side, they will likely use their physical strength to test the Nadeshiko and spoil their fluent short passes in the midfield with fierce tackles.

Up front Germany have tall strikers like Birgit Prinz, who will cause big trouble to the Japan defense that lacks height, especially in the set pieces.

In both flanks Germany have sharp forces like Melanie Behringer and Kerstine Garefrekes, and the pair will spare no efforts to make fierce forays before swinging in accurate crosses.

"If we give Japan room to play then they could hurt us. We're ready for that. Monday is a decisive match. We need to find the right balance and play a really good match," said Germany coach Silvia Neid.

Germany will be without Simone Laudehr after the defensive midfielder picked up her second yellow card.

Germany have won all six previous encounters between the two sides. Two of the matches were in FIFA Women's World Cups, with Germany winning 3-0 in 2003 and 1-0 in 1995.