Jakarta – The Japanese national team for the 2023 Asian Cup has been announced. Among the names, there are a number of players from European clubs.
The 2023 Asian Cup will be held from 12 January to 10 February 2024 in Qatar. This event was originally scheduled to be held in China in June 2023. However, it had to be postponed and the host changed to Qatar because China could not fulfill its obligations as host due to COVID-19.
One of the favorite countries to win the 2023 Asian Cup is Japan. They are in the 2023 Asian Cup in Group D along with Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam.
Japan coach, Hajime Moriyasu, has announced a list of 26 players to compete in the 2023 Asian Cup. The Japanese squad is dominated by players who play in Europe. Only five players on the list play in the J-League.
Names such as Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), and Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove Albion) are called Moriyasu. Mitoma’s call-up was surprising because the 26-year-old winger had just suffered an injury while defending Brighton.
Moriyasu decided to still call Mitoma after discussions with the Japanese and Brighton medical teams. Mitoma has the opportunity to play in the 2023 Asian Cup, although not since the first match in the group stage.
“Given his current injury situation, I don’t know whether he will be ready to play in the first match or not,” Moriyasu was quoted as saying detikSport from France24.
“But I have been told by the national team medical staff and his club medical staff that I will be able to play him at the start of the tournament when he recovers from the injury,” he explained.
This condition gives Mitoma the opportunity to appear against Indonesia. This is because the Indonesia vs Japan duel will only take place on the third matchday of Group D on January 24.
Japan squad in the 2023 Asian Cup:
Kiper: Daiya Maekawa (Vissel Kobe), Zion Suzuki (Sint-Truiden), Taishi Brandon Nozawa (FC Tokyo)
Pemain belakang: Shogo Taniguchi (Al-Rayyan), Kou Itakura (Monchengladbach), Tsuyoshi Watanabe (Gent), Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield), Koki Machida (Union SG), Seiya Maikuma (Cerezo Osaka), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yukinari Sugawara (AZ)
Gelandang atau penyerang: Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Junya Ito (Reims), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Reo Hatate (Celtic) ), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord), Keito Nakamura (Reims), Kaishu Sano (Kashima Antlers), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Mao Hosoya (Kashiwa Reysol)
This article was published on detikSport with the title Japanese Squad in the Asian Cup: European Flavor with Mitoma Carried
(pur/orb)
