South American heavyweights Brazil continue their World Cup charge in an intriguing last 32 tie with Japan on Monday evening.
Carlo Ancelotti's side endured a lacklustre start to the campaign, producing an underwhelming performance in a 1-1 draw with Morocco, but have since kicked life into their title hopes with successive 3-0 triumphs over Haiti and Scotland.
Whilst they have been installed as the 1/3 odds-on favourites to progress through to the last 16, they will be wary of a dangerous Japanese side who famously beat them for the first time just eight months ago.
Yes, that was a Brazil team minus defensive linchpins Gabriel and Marquinhos, but, still, it represented a significant coup for Hakime Moriyasu's rapidly-improving team, who are 12/5 to see off tonight's opponents for a second time.
The Asian qualifiers have also beaten England and drawn with the Netherlands in the build-up to this summer's Stateside showpiece, and they will fancy their chances of pulling another rabbit out of the hat in Texas tonight.
Surprisingly, unlike Brazil, who have won the World Cup a record five times, Japan have never notched a victory in a knockout round fixture, but they head into their latest meeting with plenty of wind behind their sails.
Not since a 2-0 defeat against the United States almost 12 months ago have Japan been beaten, a run of form that stretches 10 matches and includes fixtures against three of the world's top eight-ranked nations.
But facing Brazil on the biggest stage of them all will undoubtedly pose them questions that they won't have been asked during that run.
Gunning for a record-extending sixth title this year, A Seleção are starting to hit full throttle, with the sensational Vinicius Junior and Matheus Cunha beginning to flex their attacking muscle.
Only Lionel Messi (6), the focal point of Brazil's Latin arch-rivals Argentina, has netted more goals than the four Vinicus has registered so far, and it's easy to understand why the Real Madrid man is the 4/1 favourite to break the deadlock at the Houston Stadium.
He, you'd expect, will be pivotal to the fortunes of his nation both this evening and potentially over the course of the next few weeks.
Brazil v Japan odds
(Odds will display when markets are available)
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
