Coach Hajime Moriyasu of the Japanese national soccer team departed from Narita Airport on the 24th to inspect players playing in Europe for the World Cup that will start in November this year.
The football World Cup Qatar tournament started on November 20th, and it is already less than three months until the opening.
Coach Moriyasu of the Japan national team will be based at the Japan Football Association's office in Düsseldorf, Germany, in preparation for the tournament, where he will visit European leagues where many Japanese players play. I was interviewed by
In this, Director Moriyasu mentioned the name of Maya Yoshida, who is the captain of the national team and plays for Schalke in the German first division league, saying, "I would like to meet and talk. I would like to exchange information by listening to what I felt, such as looking back on the activities of and looking towards the future."
It is said that players who play in the leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands will also be inspected, but the specific schedule will be decided after arriving in Germany.
Also, when asked about the possibility of adding new players to the warm-up match between the United States and Ecuador to be held in Germany next month, he expressed a negative view that "the possibility is low at this stage."
Twenty-three players can be registered for these two warm-up games, but we plan to select the same 26 players as in the World Cup finals, and we will make detailed adjustments such as what to do with the players who will be on the bench in the future.
Coach Moriyasu said, "We played four warm-up games in June, with the intention of having as many players as possible play while giving all players the opportunity and time to play as long as possible. I want to think about using players with the World Cup in mind."