The squad of Japan for the 2022 World Cup: Smells Europe

Japan announced the list of players that will be brought to World Cup 2022. The Blue Samurai Team squad has a European flavor with only five players playing Japanese league.

Japan national team manager Hajime Moriyasu announced the 26 players he would lead to the 2022 World Cup. Moriyasu has called up players who have played mostly in Europe.

It was recorded that only five of these 26 players played in the Japanese league. The five players are Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S Pulse), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds), Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo) and Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus).

Another 21 players play in Europe. Some of them are Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Kaoru Mitoma (Birghton & Hove Albion), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Ritsu Doan (Freiburg).

Japan itself is in Group E at the 2022 World Cup, which is widely regarded as the Hell of the Group. Blue Samurai has to compete with two countries that have been world champions Spain and Germany. Another team is the representative of Central America, Costa Rica.

In the first match of the group, Japan had to face Germany. They then played in Costa Rica before facing Spain in the last game.

Japan is certainly expected to make a surprise in Group E with many players playing in Europe. Japan’s best result at the World Cup is qualification for the round of 16. They did this in the 2022, 2010 and 2018 editions.

Japan squad list for the 2022 World Cup:

Kiper: Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden), Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg)

Bek: 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)

Gelandang: Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove Albion), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Junya Ito (Reims), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus)

Penyerang: Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge).

(pur / krs)