Just 19 days before the tournament’s start, Japan became the first of the 32 competing teams to release the names of its 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
According to Tokyo’s news agency, midfielder Daichi Kamada and attacker Takefusa Kubo are headlining Japan’s Samurai Blue.
“I’ve made the best, comprehensive selection possible, placing importance on our activities thus far, the situations the players are facing [at their clubs] and with how we plan to play at the World Cup in mind,” said manager Hajime Moriyasu during the announcement.
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“There really are lots of players in all positions that could have been picked. It was extremely difficult,” said Moriyasu.
Squad list
- Goalkeepers:
- Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg),
- Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse)
- Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden)
- Defenders:
- Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo)
- Maya Yoshida (Schalke)
- Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds)
- Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale)
- Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale)
- Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach)
- Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart)
- Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal)
- Midfielders/Forwards:
- Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes)
- Wataru Endo (Stuttgart)
- Junya Ito (Reims)
- Takuma Asano (Bochum)
- Takumi Minamino (Monaco)
- Hidemasa Morita (Sporting Lisbon)
- Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt)
- Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus)
- Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton)
- Daizen Maeda (Celtic)
- Ritsu Doan (Freiburg)
- Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge)
- Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf)
- Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad)
The Japanese team will be the first to arrive in the Gulf nation when they reach their base camp in Qatar on November 7.
The Samurai Blue’s center of operations will be the Al Sadd Sports Club’s New Training Facility 1 while they are based out of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Doha.
Japan will play their first World Cup match on November 23 against Germany, followed by games against Costa Rica on November 27 and Spain on December 1.
