With only 17 days left before the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Qatar, Japan has become the first country to announce their final 26-man squad for the global showpiece.
Japan are housed in Group E, alongside Spain, Germany and Costa Rica and their Coach, Hajime Moriyasu says that the set target for his team is the Quarterfinals at this year’s tournament.
” Our goal is to at least reach the quarterfinals,” he told reporters in Tokyo during a media conference yesterday.
Shortly after he announced the team, the Japanese coach was criticized for leaving out experienced players like Celtic striker Furuhashi who has had an impressive start to the season having scored 8 goals in 10 Scottish premiership matches this season. but he was quick to defend his selection.
Moriyasu however defended his choice of selection.
” Selecting members with experience was important, but we decided to go for players who have the burning ambition to succeed at the world Cup,” he said
The Japanese will be appearing in the seventh consecutive world cup and have reached the knockout stages three times in 2002, 2010 and 2018.
FULL FINAL SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden), Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg).
Defenders: Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds), Maya Yoshida (Schalke), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield Town).
Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting Lisbon), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Junya Ito (Stade Reims), Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Takefusa Kubo Real Sociedad), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus).
Forwards: Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Bruges).
