Soccer
Japan with Endo, Ito and Doan at the World Cup in Qatar
A soccer ball is in the net before the game.
Friso Gentsch / dpa / symbol image
Japan, opponents of the group of Germany, will participate in the World Cup in Qatar with Wataru Endo (29) and Hiroki Ito (23) of VfB Stuttgart and Ritsu Doan (24) of SC Freiburg. In the squad there are a total of eight Bundesliga and 2nd division professionals. National team manager Hajime Moriyasu announced the formation of 26 players at a press conference on Tuesday. The Samurai Blue squad also includes Daichi Kamada (26 / Eintracht Frankfurt), Takuma Asano (27 / VfL Bochum), Ko Itakura (25 / Borussia Mönchengladbach and Maya Yoshida (34 / Schalke 04) from the German top division and Ao Tanaka (24 ) from the second division team Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Surprisingly, veteran Bundesliga 1 leaders Genki Haraguchi FC Union Berlin and former Bundesliga pro Yuya Osako will not participate in the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November in the Gulf Emirates. The now 32-year-old Osako played for 1. FC Köln and Werder Bremen but has been back active at home with Vissel Kobe since last year. Striker Kyogo Furuhashi of Scottish club Celtic Glasgow was also not included.
Our goal is to reach at least the quarter-finals, coach Moriyasu said in Tokyo and added: It won’t be easy. On November 23, at Khalifa International Stadium, Japan, in its seventh final stage, will meet the selection of the German Football Association in the first round match. Other opponents in Group E in Qatar are former world champions Spain and Costa Rica.
