Friendy vs England

Game info

Competetion: Friendly
Venue: Wembley, London
Referee: Robin Korte (Germany)
Weather: Dry 14°c

Past meetings:
1 played, 1 loss

Rankings:
England 2, Japan 63

Starting Lineup:
4-4-1-1

Makino

Kondo - Asahi - Kimoto - Kobayashi

Sugimoto - Orimi - Fujita(c) - Sawada

A.Takeda

Unemoto

Bench:
Shimizu, D.Takeda, Sasaki, Hattori, Nakada, Chiba, Kita, Sato, Edson

Not in squad:
Osawa, Tanaka, Dentuco

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Game Review

Result: 0-0 (HT 0-0)

Man of the Match: Stojan Bakovic(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Substitions:
Kita for Unemoto(45)
D.Takeda for Fujita(63)
Hattori for Sawada(63)
Sato for Sugimoto(76)
Sasaki for Orimi(81)
Edson for A.Takeda(83)

An ok start towards the World Cup campaign, an away draw vs a higher ranked team. Japan could have run away with the win, but neither team was open to break trough and gain big chances in this game.

Japans best player was a tie between Naoki Kondo and Masahiro Kobayashi.

Friendly vs Bosnia and Herzegovina

Game Info:

Competition: Friendly
Venue: Asim Ferhatovic, Kosovo, Sarajevo
Referee: Leon Haase
Weather: Rainy, 15ºc

Past Meetings:
3 played, 2 losses, 1 draw

Rankings:
Bosnia 10, Japan 63.

Starting Lineup:

4-4-1-1

Makino

Kondo - Asahi - Kimoto - Kobyashi

Sugimoto - Orimi - Fujita(c) - Sawada

A. Takeda

Unemoto

Bench:
Shimizu, D Takeda, Hattori, Nakada, Chiba, Sasaki, Kita, Sato, Edson

Not in squad:
Osawa, Tanaka, Dentuco

Final World Cup Squad Complete

Here is the final squad for the 2026 World Cup

Goalkeepers:

Takatsuka Makino, LOSC Lille - Age 28 - (84 caps/0 goals)
Hideyuki Shimizu, Besiktas - Age 25 - (17 caps/0 goals)
Dentuco Goto, Antlers - Age 24 - (7 caps/0 goals)

Defenders:

Takuya Chiba, Reading - Age 28 - (109 caps/2 goals)
Naoki Kondo, Cagliari - Age 25 - (22 caps/0 goals)
Daisuke Nakada, Dinamo Zagreb - Age 29 - (45 caps/1 goal)
Masahiro Kobayashi, sc Heerenveen - Age 29 - (16 caps/0 goals)
Hiromi Kimoto, Lazio - Age 31 - (115 caps/6 goals)
Nobuyoshi Tanaka, ACF Fiorentina - Age 27 - (49 caps/1 goal)
Hirokatsu Asahi, LA Galaxy - Age 32 - (47 caps/0 goals)

Midfielders:

Reiji Sato, Albirex - Age 32 - (11 caps/0 goals)
Kazutaka Sugimoto, FC Twente - Age 27 - (54 caps/7 goals)
Tsubasa Hattori, Hannover - Age 32 - (81 caps/9 goals)
Shin'incho Sawada, Sanfrecce - Age 22 - (17 caps/3 goals)
Osamu Fujita, Valenciennes FC - Age 31 - (98 caps/3 goals)
Hirokatsu Orimi, Everton - Age 23 - (38 caps/6 goals)
Masateru Sasaki, Olympique Lyonnais - Age 24 - (9 caps/0 goals)
Daiki Takeda, Sion - Age 28 - (7 caps/0 goals)

Strikers:

Junki Osawa, Vegalta - Age 20 - (15 caps/6 goals)
Akio Takeda, HSV - Age 23 - (28 caps/12 goals)
Takaya Unemoto, Sevilla - Age 28 - (121 caps/60 goals)
Keisuke Kita, LOSC Lille - Age 29 - (75 caps/22 goals)
Edson Horikawa, Sanfrecce - Age 25 - (18 caps/2 goals)

Cuts:
Michiharu Egashira, Bologna - Age 30 - (22 caps/0 goals)
Hisayuki Takenaka, Sanfrecce - Age 24 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Sosuke Uesugi, Freiburg - Age 26 (13 caps/3 goals)
Tsubasa Morioka, Albirex - Age 27 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Yuichiro Iijima, Getafe, Age 28 - (90 caps/7 goals)
Yuta Tada, Lekhwiya - Age 29 - (66 caps/4 goals)
Tatsuro Fujiyama, Columbus Crew - Age 28 - (17 caps/2 goals)

Yuta Tada out of World Cup with broken foot

29-year old midfielder Yuta Tada has been ruled out of the World Cup after breaking his foot.

With Japan already facing a roster cut-down soon, their will be no replacement called up.

Media questions the selection of Egashira and Kondo

With the 30 man preliminary squad announced the media has called the selections of centre-back Masahiro Egashira and full-back Naoki Kondo, wondering why a player like Keisuke Wako was not selected instead.

Egashira and Kondo will have to prove their worth in the upcoming friendly with Bosnia and Herzegovina in Kosovo.

Japan Premilinary World Cup Squad Announced

Goalkeepers:

Takatsuka Makino, LOSC Lille - Age 28 - (84 caps/0 goals)
Hideyuki Shimizu, Besiktas - Age 25 - (17 caps/0 goals)
Dentuco Goto, Antlers - Age 24 - (7 caps/0 goals)

Defenders:

Takuya Chiba, Reading - Age 28 - (109 caps/2 goals)
Naoki Kondo, Cagliari - Age 25 - (22 caps/0 goals)
Hisayuki Takenaka, Sanfrecce - Age 24 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Daisuke Nakada, Dinamo Zagreb - Age 29 - (45 caps/1 goal)
Masahiro Kobayashi, sc Heerenveen - Age 29 - (16 caps/0 goals)
Hiromi Kimoto, Lazio - Age 31 - (115 caps/6 goals)
Nobuyoshi Tanaka, ACF Fiorentina - Age 27 - (49 caps/1 goal)
Sosuke Uesugi, Freiburg - Age 26 (13 caps/3 goals)
Hirokatsu Asahi, LA Galaxy - Age 32 - (47 caps/0 goals)
Michiharu Egashira, Bologna - Age 30 - (22 caps/0 goals)

Midfielders:

Reiji Sato, Albirex - Age 32 - (11 caps/0 goals)
Kazutaka Sugimoto, FC Twente - Age 27 - (54 caps/7 goals)
Tsubasa Hattori, Hannover - Age 32 - (81 caps/9 goals)
Shin'incho Sawada, Sanfrecce - Age 22 - (17 caps/3 goals)
Tsubasa Morioka, Albirex - Age 27 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Osamu Fujita, Valenciennes FC - Age 31 - (98 caps/3 goals)
Hirokatsu Orimi, Everton - Age 23 - (38 caps/6 goals)
Yuichiro Iijima, Getafe, Age 28 - (90 caps/7 goals)
Masateru Sasaki, Olympique Lyonnais - Age 24 - (9 caps/0 goals)
Daiki Takeda, Sion - Age 28 - (7 caps/0 goals)
Yuta Tada, Lekhwiya - Age 29 - (66 caps/4 goals)

Strikers:

Junki Osawa, Vegalta - Age 20 - (15 caps/6 goals)
Akio Takeda, HSV - Age 23 - (28 caps/12 goals)
Takaya Unemoto, Sevilla - Age 28 - (121 caps/60 goals)
Keisuke Kita, LOSC Lille - Age 29 - (75 caps/22 goals)
Tatsuro Fujiyama, Columbus Crew - Age 28 - (17 caps/2 goals)
Edson Horikawa, Sanfrecce - Age 25 - (18 caps/2 goals)

The final squad will have 23 players, so 7 players won't make it to USA.

With the 3 goalkeepers set, the cuts will come from the outfield players. There are no debutants in the squad. Striker Takaya Unemoto leads the pack with 121 caps in the other end Tsubasa Morioka and Hisayuki Takenaka only have 2 each.

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