Wataru Endo, Kaoru Mitoma, Takefusa Kubo, and Takehiro Tomiyasu selected for Japan which aim a repeat of famous victory against Germany on their home soil this time

The Japan Football Association announced the squad of Japan national team on 31st August for their tour in Europe, playing against Germany and Turkey.

The line-up didn’t change much from the friendly matches in June when Japan beat El Salvador and Peru. 22 out of the 26 players belong to foreign teams including Wataru Endo of Liverpool, Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton and Hove Albion, Takefusa Kubo of Real Sociedad, Daichi Kamada of Lazio, and Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu who was out for injury the last time. On the other hand, in-form players such as Celtic’s Reo Hatate, Monaco’s Takumi Minamino, and Vissel Kobe’s Yuya Osako were omitted again.

Japan will play against Germany at Wolfsburg on 9 September, and Turkey at Genk on 12 September at local time. Even for friendlies, opportunities to play European sides are limited for Japan, so these will be valuable tests to improve their game.

The match against Germany will be particularly noteworthy. Japan defeated Germany 2-1 at the World Cup ten months ago. This victory gave Japan momentum and they went on to beat Spain in the final match of Group E, which was considered a group of death, especially for Japan. Germany, on the other hand, finished behind Japan, and Spain were eliminated from the Group.

After the World Cup, Hajime Moriyasu continues to manage the Japan national team, playing two friendlies in March and two in June: 1-1 draw against Uruguay and 1-2 defeat to Colombia in March, and 6-0 win over El Salvador and 4-1 victory against Peru in June. With the team steadily improving, the match against Germany is sure to be an important one for Japan that prepare for Asian qualifiers of the World Cup in 2026, which will start in November.

The key for Japan will be the attacking trio of Mitoma, Kubo, and Kamada, who are gaining confidence in Europe. Despite their giant-killing performance at the last World Cup, Japan were often criticised for their defensive approach, so it’s interesting to see how they perform this time around. Takuma Asano and Ritsu Doan, scorers in the victory against Germany in Qatar, could be key players for Japan again.

Will there be a repeat of Qatar, or will Germany show their mettle this time? It intrigues a lot of football fans in Japan and beyond. 

Japan squad for the European tour

Goalkeepers

Schmidt Daniel (Sint-Truiden), Kosuke Nakamura (Portimonense), Keisuke Osako (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)

Defenders

Shogo Taniguchi (Al-Rayyan), Ko Itakura (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ryoya Morishita (Nagoya Grampus), Koki Machida (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise), Seiya Maikuma (Cerezo Osaka), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Daiki Hashioka (Sint-Truiden), Yukinari Sugawara (AZ Alkmaar)

Midfielders

Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Junya Ito (Stade Reims), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Daichi Kamada (Lazio), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton and Hove Albion), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Atsuki Ito (Urawa Reds), Ao Tanaka (Dusseldorf), Keito Nakamura (Stade Reims), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad)

Forwards

Takuma Asano (Bochum), Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic), Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord)