Japan head coach, Hajime Moriyasu, has just announced his 24-man squad for November fixtures. Kento Hashimoto and Takuma Asano have been added to the squad for Japan’s friendly games against Mexico and Panama next week. The head coach equally included Yuto Nagatomo in the team.
Asano has secured his place in the squad because Yuya Osako sustained a knee injury playing for Werder Bremen’s last match. At the same time, Hashimoto was included in the team because of his fine form since joining the Russian club Rostov from Tokyo in July 2020.
Meanwhile, Nagatomo has returned to the squad after the Marseille full-back withdrew from the team that faced the Ivory Coast and Cameroon last month because of a lack of match fitness. Koki Anzai, who was chosen for last month’s games, is another player to miss out on the squad from Europe-based Japan footballers.
On November 13, 2020, Japan is set to play Panama in Graz’s Austrian city before playing the Mexicans in the same city four days later. Japan is currently topping their Asian Qualifiers group, staying five points ahead of Kyrgyz Republic in Group F despite having a game to play.
Japan full squad:
Goalkeepers: Daniel Schmidt Daniel (Sint-Truiden, Belgium), Shuichi Gonda (Portimonense, Portugal), Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg, France).
Defenders: Yukinari Sugawara (AZ, Netherlands), Yuto Nagatomo (Marseille, France), Hiroki Sakai (Marseille, France), Ko Itakura (Groningen, Netherlands), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Bologna, Italy), Sei Muroya (Hannover, Germany), Naomichi Ueda (Cercle Brugge, Belgium), Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria, Italy).
Midfielders: Genki Haraguchi (Hannover, Germany), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart, Germany), Takefusa Kubo (Villarreal, Spain), Junya Ito (Genk, Belgium), Daichi Kamada (Frankfurt, Germany), Ritsu Doan (Bielefeld, Germany), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes, Spain), Kento Hashimoto (FC Rostov, Russia), Takumi Minamino (Liverpool, England), Koji Miyoshi (Antwerp, Belgium), Yuta Nakayama (PEC Zwolle, Netherlands).
Forwards: Takuma Asano (Partizan Belgrade, Serbia), Musashi Suzuki (Beerschot, Belgium).