NEWS

Japanese men's Olympic team coach Yasuharu Sorimachi on Monday announced his squad for the Beijing Summer Games.

The 18-member squad was largely formed around the group that played in the Toulon International Tournament in France in May, which included Catania forward Takayuki Morimoto, VVV Venlo midfielder Keisuke Honda and Kashiwa Reysol forward Tadanari Lee.

Among the players joining them are Atsuto Uchida of Kashima Antlers and Michihiro Yasuda of Gamba Osaka, who have both played in the senior team.

"I've chosen the strongest players in order to win at the Olympics," Sorimachi said in a press conference at the JFA's headquarters in Tokyo. "It was hard to make the selection as the squad can have only 18 players."

"It was heart-breaking for me to exclude some of those who fought with us in the Asian qualifiers. But we have to look ahead to make a step forward."

Sorimachi explained that he selected the squad after assessing the players from all aspects, such as their mental strength and their capability of playing different positions, as well as for tactical reasons.

Asked about the absence of over-aged players, Sorimachi replied: "We have been trying to develop the Under-23 players and this is a result of that."

In the quadrennial tournament, Japan, who are in Group B, will play the United States on August 7 and Nigeria on August 10, both in Tianjin, followed by the Netherlands on August 13 in Shenyang.

In other groups, Ivory Coast, Argentina, Australia and Serbia will play in Group A. Hosts China will compete in Group C along with New Zealand, Brazil and Belgium. Group D features Korea Republic, Cameroon, Honduras and Italy.

The top two finishers from each group can advance to the quarterfinals on August 16. The semifinals will be held on August 19 with the third-place playoff slated for August 22. The final will take place on August 23.

Sorimachi said he will study his opponents in the coming weeks.

"All teams are a strong, but we'd like to work hard to produce good results. I'd like to set our full focus initially on getting through the group stage," he noted.

The Japan squad will have two warm-up matches – against Australia on July 24 at Home Stadium in Kobe and Argentina on July 29 at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

Squad:
Goalkeepers — Kaito Yamamoto (Shimizu S-Pulse), Shusaku Nishikawa (Oita Trinita)
Defenders — Hiroki Mizumoto (Kyoto Sanga), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo),
Masato Morishige (Oita Trinita), Michihiro Yasuda (Gamba Osaka),
Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers), Maya Yoshida (Nagoya Grampus)
Midfielders — Takuya Honda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Hiroyuki Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale),
Yohei Kajiyama (FC Tokyo), Hajime Hosogai (Urawa Reds), Keisuke Honda (VVV Venlo),
Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka)
Forwards — Yohei Toyoda (Montedio Yamagata), Tadanari Lee (Kashiwa Reysol),
Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania)
Coach — Yasuharu Sorimachi