Croatia booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup after defeating Japan on penalties on Monday evening.
The Samurai Blue made three changes from their win over Spain, as Takehiro Tomiyasu made his first appearance of the tournament alongside recalls for Wataru Endo and Ritsu Doan.
The Chequered Ones, meanwhile, had two changes from their draw against Belgium, as Borna Barisic and Bruno Petkovic were recalled.
The game got off to a quick start as Shogo Taniguchi had a chance for Japan in the first few minutes with a glancing header in the box that missed the far corner by inches wide.
Croatia should have been ahead on eight minutes after a mistake at the back by Tomiyasu led to Ivan Perisic breaking clear on goal but he was denied by goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda at the near post.
However, the match was evenly matched as the first-half wore on and Hajime Moriyasu's charges caught Croatia unaware on the stroke of half-time after Daizen Maeda reacted the quickest to a delivery in the box from a short corner and fired home a close-range shot.
Zlatko Dalic's troops were fired up from the interval and Perisic eventually pulled them level 11 minutes later with a powerful header in the box from a cross by Dejan Lovren.
Croatia maintained their pressure going forward as Ante Budimir almost gave them the lead on 67 minutes with a header from a deflection in the box that flashed narrowly wide at the back post.
With the game on the edge, Dalic made an attacking change in the last 22 minutes as Mario Pasalic replaced Kramaric and Japan went into a defensive mode moments later after defender Hiroki Sakai replaced forward Daichi Kamada.
As a result, the game got cagey in the closing stages as the Samurai Blue defended in numbers and Croatia could not break them down and the game ended all square at 1-1 in regulation time and extra-time was required to determine the winner.
Japan looked to get an early goal in extra-time Taniguchi almost restored their lead with a header from a corner that sailed just wide.
The Samurai Blue threatened more going forward as Kaoru Mitoma unleashed a thunderbolt that was bravely parried away by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
The Chequered Ones regained their dominance in the latter phase of extra-time but only came close to snatching the winner in virtually the last piece of action after Lovro Majer dragged a low strike wide after he was given space in the box.
The sides inevitably went to penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in extra-time, where Croatia won the shoot-outs 3-1 thanks to the heroics of Livakovic, who saved three spot-kicks, which allowed Pasalic to roll home the winner.
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