NEWS

Japan coach Takeshi Okada on Friday included five Europe-based players in his squad for the Kirin Challenge Cup friendly against Finland on February 4 and the FIFA World Cup final-round qualifier against Australia on February 11.

The 25-strong lineup was formed around the squad that traveled to Bahrain for an AFC Asian Cup qualifier on Wednesday, which Japan lost 1-0.
Shunsuke Nakamura of Celtic, Daisuke Matsui of St. Etienne and Wolfsburg duo Makoto Hasebe and Yoshito Okubo were added to the squad.
Frankfurt midfielder Junichi Inamoto remains with the squad, but VVV Venlo midfielder Keisuke Honda was excluded.
Urawa Reds defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka returns after missing two matches due to a knee injury.
“We need to play a tough game in order to get the players back to game fitness,” said Okada. “Finland is arriving early with some of their younger players and will play a practice match ahead of our game. I’m really grateful to them for that.”
Apart from Nakamura, Japan’s Europe-based players are expected to join the squad on February 9.
Okada said, “We will have to play Finland without our overseas players, but I’ve selected the squad for the Australia game.”
The squad will start their preparations from Sunday and play Finland on February 4 at the National Stadium in Tokyo before facing Australia at International Stadium Yokohama on February 11.
Okada added, “We lost to Bahrain for the second time in my term. Losing to the same opponent twice is inexcusable to me. But I have no intention of changing our game just because we lost.”
The 52-year-old coach continued, “Australia are a top-level team in Asia with solid skills that are not often seen in the region, and I’m very much looking forward to playing them. We’ve been working on our game to face a team like them. When we meet them, we’d like to put together everything we’ve worked on.”

Squad:

Goalkeepers—Ryota Tsuzuki (Urawa Reds), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Takanori Sugeno (Kashiwa Reysol)
Defenders—Shuhei Terada (Kawasaki Frontale), Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Kazumichi Takagi (Gamba Osaka), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Urawa Reds), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Michihiro Yasuda (Gamba Osaka), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)
Midfielders—Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Hideo Hashimoto (Gamba Osaka), Junichi Inamoto (Entracht Frankfurt), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Daisuke Matsui (St. Etienne), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Makoto Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg), Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka)
Forwards—Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba), Yoshito Okubo (VfL Wolfsburg), Tatsuya Tanaka (Urawa Reds), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse)
Coach—Takeshi Okada