Japan
the national team
The 26-man World Cup squad was announced on Tuesday (1), becoming the first team to announce its finalists in this year's final week. Japan
commander-in-chief
Sampoichi's selection was a controversial one, with Lodi striker Henwu Furuhashi unexpectedly missing out, while Takuma Asano and Hwang Itakura, who is injured, made the cut.
Hiromu Furuhashi has been in great form in the Scottish Premier League this season, scoring 8 goals in 10 league matches to rank second in the Scottish Premier League's scoring charts. It is a surprise that he was not selected for the World Cup, but even more unexpected is the fact that another striker from Zeledi, Dairen Maeda, was selected to participate in the tournament. Japan's foreign stars such as Kenyo Tomoyasu, Takumi Minamino and Kenny Kubo are also included in the squad as expected.
Japan's 26-man roster
Goalkeepers: Shinji Kawashima, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Back: Yuto Nagatomo, Maya Yoshida, Hiroki Sakai, Akihiro Taniguchi, Sirai Yamane, Hwang Itakura, Yuta Nakayama, Yotsuhiro Ito, Kenyo Tomoyasu
Midfielders: Yue Shibasaki, Hiromasa Endo, Hidemasa Morita, Daichi Kamada, Bea Tanaka
Forward: Junya Ito, Takuma Asano, Takumi Minami, Yuki Soma, Kaoru Sanfonium, Daizo Maeda, Yasutoshi Doyasu, Kenyoshi Kubo, Eisei Ueda
