Tokyo (AFP)
Brighton's English winger, Kaoru Mitoma, was called up to Japan's official squad for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals, which start next month in the Qatari capital, Doha, even though his injury keeps him out of action for about 6 weeks.
Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbe said that Mitoma, 26, will need to stay away from matches after being injured during the last 1-1 match against Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.
However, coach Hajime Moriyasu called up his player in the squad that included 26 players to participate in the continental tournament.
Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo and Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu were chosen, along with Real Sociedad midfielder Takefusa Kubo, while Italian Lazio player Daichi Kamada was excluded.
Japan is looking forward to winning the title for a record fifth time, knowing that it is ahead of Saudi Arabia and Iran in second place by one title.
The “Samurai” team won the last 9 matches, most notably its crushing victory over Germany 4-1 in a friendly match on September 9, which led to the dismissal of coach Hansi Flick and the appointment of Julian Nagelsmann, and Turkey 4-2 in the friendly Kirin Cup, and most recently over Thailand 5. -0, and she will play with Jordan in a friendly match on the ninth of this month.
The Japanese team, which reached the 2019 Asian Cup final, where it lost to Qatar 1-3, will play with Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam in Group Four.
Here is the list:
Goalkeepers: Daya Maekawa (Vissel Kobe), Zion Suzuki (Sint-Truiden, Belgium), Taichi Brandon Nozawa (FC Tokyo).
Defense: Shugo Taniguchi (Qatar), Ko Itakura (Mönchengladbach, Germany), Tsuyoshi Watanabe (Ghent, Belgium), Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield, England), Koki Machida (Union Saint-Germain), Seiya Maikuma (Cerezo Osaka), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal, England). , Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart, Germany), Yukinari Sugawara (Arizona, Netherlands).
Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Liverpool, England), Junya Eto'o (Reims, France), Takuma Asano (Bochum, Germany), Takumi Minamino (Monaco, France), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting, Portugal), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton, England), Ryo Hatate (Celtic, Scotland). , Keito Nakamura (Reims, France), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad, Spain) and Kaisho Sano (Kashima Antlers).
Forwards: Daisen Maeda (Celtic of Scotland), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg of Germany), Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord of Netherlands), Mao Hosoya (Kashiwa Reysol).
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