NEWS

Japan coach Takeshi Okada on Thursday called up 26 players to play the Kirin Cup friendly matches later this month and the final round qualifiers for the FIFA 2010 World Cup next month.

In the three-nation annual friendly tournament, Japan will play Chile on May 27 (7:35 p.m. kickoff) at Osaka’s Nagai Stadium and Belgium on May 31 (7:20 p.m. kickoff) at Tokyo’s National Stadium.
In the World Cup qualifiers, Japan will visit Uzbekistan on June 6 in Tashkent, host Qatar on June 10 in Yokohama and travel to Australia on June 17 in Melbourne.

Squad:
Goalkeepers—Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Ryota Tsuzuki (Urawa Reds), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale)
Defenders—Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Satoshi Yamaguchi (Gamba Osaka), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Urawa Reds), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Tomoaki Makino (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)
Midfielders—Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Hideo Hashimoto (Gamba Osaka), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Forntale), Daisuke Matsui (St. Etienne), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (VVV Venlo), Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka), Naoki Yamada (Urawa Reds)
Forwards—Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (VfL Wolfsburg), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Shinzo Koroki (Kashima Antlers)
Coach—Takeshi Okada