NEWS

 

Japan coach Takeshi Okada on Monday called up Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura, Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Junichi Inamoto and VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe to the squad to face the United Arab Emirates in a Kirin Challenge Cup friendly on October 9 in Niigata and Uzbekistan in a final-round qualifier for the 2010 FIFA World Cup on October 15 in Saitama.

Okada also named four new players from the Olympic generation: forwards Shinji Okazaki of Shimizu S-Pulse, Shinzo  Koroki of Kashima Antlers and Yasuhito Morishima of Oita Trinita, together with Oita defender Masato Morishige.
“I’ve chosen those players who are in good shape or those who I wanted to provide a challenge for [on the Japan team]. This is a squad with which we play and beat Uzbekistan,” Okada said.
The 52-year-old coach said he would finalize his squad for the qualifier against Uzbekistan shortly after the warm-up match. Other players may be added to the squad.
“We’ll take the Uzbekistan game with a must-win attitude,” Okada noted. “We should always take qualifiers as games we must win, and this is a home game.”
Asked about speculation that former Japan coach Zico is to sign with Uzbekistan club Kuruvchi and is expected to help the Uzbekistan national team as an advisor, Okada replied: “I don’t know what kind of role he will undertake for them. But I’d like to focus on our own team rather than our opponents, and I don’t think the presence of Zico with them will affect my work.”
The squad will get together on October 7 for training in Niigata ahead of the UAE game.
The Japan-UAE friendly is to kick off at 7:20 p.m. at Niigata Big Swan Stadium, and the Japan-Uzbekistan qualifier is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. at Saitama Stadium.

Squad:
Goalkeepers—Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale)
Defenders—Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Kazumichi Takagi (Shimizu S-Pulse), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Urawa Reds), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Masato Morishige (Oita Trinita), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)
Midfielders—Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Junichi Inamoto (Eintracht Frankfurt), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Takeshi Aoki (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Makoto Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg), Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka)
Forwards—Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba), Hisato Sato (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Shinzo  Koroki (Kashima Antlers), Yasuhito Morishima (Oita Trinita)
Coach—Takeshi Okada