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| Photo provided =Kyodo News |
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| Koki Machida, who was injured in his Bundesliga debut. REUTERS Yonhap News |
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The Japanese national soccer team announced the A-match list in September, when a large number of key players were missing.
On the 28th, Japanese national team coach Hajime Moriyasu revealed the 25 members who will be on the road to the U.S. Japan will face Mexico in Oakland on the 7th and meet the U.S. in Columbus on the 10th. He will only change the order with Hong Myung-bo and spar with the two host teams of the North Korea-China World Cup finals.
In a press conference to announce the list, Moriyasu said, `I will do my best to win the two games", but a string injury prevented him from forming the best member to win.
Key offensive midfielder Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace), winger Keito Nakamura (Stadrance), midfielder Ao Tanaka (Liz United), defensive midfielder Hidemasa Morita (Sporting) and fullback Yukinari Sugawara (Verder Bremen) are all on the list due to injuries.
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| APYonhap News |
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In particular, the injured were concentrated on the defense. Koki Machida (Hopenheim), Hiroki Ito (Bayern Munich), and Kota Takai (Tottenham Hotspur) were missing. In particular, Machida injured his cruciate ligament in his Bundesliga debut, putting him in a situation where he cannot guarantee his participation in the North-China World Cup finals in June next year. Takai, who joined Tottenham curiously, was injured in the pre-season and has yet to make his official debut. As a result, Hayato Araki (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) and Hiroki Mochizuki (Machida Zelvia), who played in the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) in July, were given the opportunity to start.
The list of participants remains spectacular. Main wingers Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton) and Takefusa 'Ace' Kubo (Real Sociedad), captain Endo Wataru (Liverpool), 'Yang Hyun-jun colleague'Daizen Maeda (Celtic),'Hwang In-beom colleague'Yase Ueda (Feyenoord),'Jens Kastrope teammate'Chimino Shuto (Borussia Mönchengladbach), defender Itakura Ko (Ajax), and mixed-race goalkeeper Suzuki Zaion (Parma) are on the list.
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| 사진=Yonhap News |
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Veteran fullback Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), who was born in 1986, was also included in the September list following the East Asian Cup. Nagatomo, who is playing 143 A matches, has nine games left to record Yasuhito Endo (152 matches), the highest number of participants in Japan's history. Seven out of 25 players are in the domestic league (J League).
Moriyasu said he had agonized over a series of injuries and wanted to show that Japan is strong by winning despite difficult situations. Japan has consistently emphasized "The goal is to win the World Cup". It also indicated that an additional midfielder could be selected just in case.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
