Defending champions Japan will resume their title defense when they take on Netherlands in the Round-of-16 of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup on Tuesday at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver.

Japan booked a spot in the knockout stages by sweeping their assignments during the group stage, earning nine points to top Group C, while Netherlands finished third in Group A with four points in three matches.

Japan are heavily favored to win against Netherlands in their knockout match, but the Dutch squad are convinced they have a good shot. Netherlands coach Roger Reijners said Japan struggled during the group stage despite winning in all three matches, which makes him believe they can pull off an upset on Tuesday.

"Japan only won each of their group matches with just a single goal's difference," Reijners told Gwinnett Daily Post. "A 1-0 win against Switzerland and against Ecuador and 2-1 against Cameroon tells me that there is something that we might be able to do."

Japan head coach Nono Sasaki also admitted that they failed to hit expectations in their first three games of the tournament, but expressed confidence that his players will be able to unleash their full strength at some point.

"It's not as if we've been hiding what we're capable of," Sasaki told Vancouver Sun. "It's because the players haven't been able to expose all their strength. I warn everyone to be prepared for the storm that could happen."

However, Japanese veteran Homare Sawa insisted that there is no room for complacency against Netherlands. She said the Dutch players have shown good characteristics in their first three games, which make them capable of pulling off an upset against any team in the tournament.

"The quality of their individual players is very high and they have typical European characteristics," Sawa told FIFA. "They're physically strong, good at dribbling and very quick as a team. They've also got very tall players, so we've got to be aware of that."

The winner of the Japan-Netherlands match will advance to the quarterfinals and will face Australia, who pulled off a 1-0 upset win against the Marta-led Brazil squad on Sunday.

Where To Watch & Live Stream

The Japan-Netherlands match is scheduled to kick off at 10 p.m. ET and will be shown live on Fox Sports 1. Fans can also catch the match through online live streaming via Fox Soccer 2GO. More information about broadcast schedule are available on Live Soccer TV.

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