The 11-man squad for the second round of the Asian Japan qualifiers for the World Cup starting in November has been announced, and MITOMA Kaoru and DOAN Ritsu, who were not part of the squad due to ill health or poor condition, returned to the squad for the warm-up match in October.
World No. 18 Japan will play two home-and-away matches against World No. 11 Syria
, No. 6 North Korea
, and No. 2026 Myanmar
in the second round of the Asian qualifiers
for the 2 World Cup from November to June next year.
The 92-man squad for the second round of
the qualifiers was announced on 115 November for the matches against Myanmar on 158 November in Suita, Osaka, and Syria
Japan in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia on 2 November (local time).
Among them, ▽ Kaoru Mitoma of the English Premier League, Brighton, who withdrew from the training match in October due to ill health, returned to the national team, ▽ Takefusa Kubo of the Spanish First Division, Real Sociedad,
▽ French
First Division,
Takumi Minamino of Monaco was
selected.
In addition, in the training match in October, ▽ KAMADA Daichi of Lazio of the Italian First Division, who was not selected due to poor condition, ▽ Ritsu Doan of Freiburg of the German First Division was selected,
▽ Yuki Soma of the Portuguese First Division, Casa Pia,
It was his first return to the national team since June.
The number of players registered for the second round of the Asian Qualifiers is 2, but 11 players will be called up to prepare for injuries and other accidents.
Japan have won six consecutive matches since June, and it will be interesting to see if they can show their strength both offensively and defensively in the second round of the Asian Qualifiers.
Coach Moriyasu: "We want to outperform our opponents with the goal of winning in the world"
Coach MORIYASU Hajime said, "As we prepare for the 2026 World Cup, we will finally start the tough second round of qualifiers, and we will work together to improve the level of the team as much as possible with the aim of winning the match. In the two matches that will be played this month, we will try to get six points together."
Regarding the decision to call up 2 players out of the 2 players registered for the second round of the Asian Qualifiers, he said, "We have called up an additional three players to get through with 6 players in case of unforeseen circumstances such as injuries or accidents We would like to consider the option of replacing 2 players while fighting."
On top of that, he talked about how to play in the second round of the Asian Qualifiers, saying, "Our ultimate goal is to win on the world stage, and we want to outperform our opponents with various variations."
Asian Qualifiers Round 2: Japan National Team 26 players
The 2-man squad for the Japan National Football Team's matches against Myanmar and Syria in the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.
[26 goalkeepers]
▽ J3, Vissel Kobe's Maekawa Reiya (1) ▽ J29, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's OSAKO Keisuke (1) ▽ Belgian First Division, Sint-Truiden's SUZUKI Aya (24)
[ Defenders: 1]
▽ Shogo Taniguchi (21) who plays for Al Rayyan in the Qatar League ▽ Yuta Nakayama (7) of Huddersfield, England 32nd Division ▽ Hiroki Machida (2)
of Saint-Gilloise, Belgian 26st Division ▽ Shinya Makuma (1) of J26,
Cerezo Osaka
▽ English Premier League, Arsenal's TOMIYASU Takehiro (1) ▽ German First Division, Stuttgart ITO Hiroki (26) ▽ Dutch First Division, AZ Alkmaar's SUGAWARA Yukinori (25)
[Midfielder and Forward] 1 players in total]
▽ English Premier League, Liverpool's Wataru Endo (24) ▽ French First Division, Stade Reims' ITO Junya (1) ▽ German First Division, Bochum's Takuma Asano (23) ▽ French First Division, Monaco's Takumi Minamino (16)
▽ Scottish Premier League, Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi (30) ▽ Portugal First Division, Sporting's Hidemasa Morita (1) ▽ Belgian First Division, Standard Hayao Kawabe (30) ▽ Italian First Division, Lazio's Daichi Kamada (1)
▽ Yuki Soma of Portuguese First Division, Casa Pia (28) ▽ English Premier League, Brighton Kaoru Mitoma (1) ▽ Scottish Premier League, Celtic Daizen Maeda (28) ▽ German First Division, Freiburg Ritsu Doan (28)
▽ J1, Urawa Red Diamonds' ITO Atsuki (28) ▽ Netherlands 1st Division, Feyenoord Ueda Ayayo (28) ▽ German 1nd Division, TANAKA Ao (27) of Düsseldorf ▽ Spanish 1st Division, Real Sociedad KUBO Takefusa (26)
Cerezo Makuma Shinya "I want to contribute to Japan's victory"
MAKUMA Shinya, who was selected for the Japan National Team from Cerezo Osaka, expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "As one of the few J.League national team players, I have to play with a sense of responsibility, so I want to prepare well from training so that I can play in the match, and when I play, I want to contribute to Japan's victory with a high performance."
Vissel Maekawa Reiya: "I want to fight with pride and responsibility"
In addition, goalkeeper MAEKAWA Reiya, who was selected from Vissel Kobe, commented, "When I was selected for the squad for last month's training match, I was left in the middle and it was incomplete, but this time I want to aim to participate in the match and play with pride and responsibility as the Japan National Team."