Brighton's English winger, Kaoru Mitoma, was called up, on Monday, to Japan's official squad for the 2023 Asian Cup finals, which begin next month in the Qatari capital, Doha, even though his injury keeps him out of action for about six weeks.
Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbi said that Mitoma (26 years old) would need to stay away from matches after being injured during the match against Crystal Palace (1-1), last Thursday, in the Premier League.
However, coach Hajime Moriyasu called up his players in the squad including 26 players to participate in the continental tournament.
Wataru Endo, the English midfielder for Liverpool, and Takehiro Tomiyasu, the defender for Arsenal, were chosen along with Takefusa Kubo, the midfielder for Real Sociedad, while Daichi Kamada, the Italian Lazio player, was excluded.
Japan, which is ahead of Saudi Arabia and Iran by one title, is hoping to win the championship for a record-breaking fifth time. The "Samurai" squad had won nine straight games, highlighted by their stunning 4-1 friendly victory over Germany on September 9. This resulted in the firing of coach Hansi Flick and the hiring of Julian Nagelsmann, and Turkey 4-2 in the friendly Kirin Cup, the last of which was on Monday. , over Thailand 5-0, and will play with Jordan in a friendly match on the ninth of this month.
The Japanese team, which reached the final of the 2019 Asian Cup, where it lost to Qatar 1-3, will play with Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam in Group Four.
Here is the list:
Defense: Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield, England), Koki Machida (Union Saint-Germain), Ko Itakura (Mönchengladbach, Germany), Tsuyoshi Watanabe (Ghent, Belgium), Shugo Taniguchi (Qatar), and Seiya Maikuma (Cerezo Osaka). -Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart, Germany), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arizona / Netherlands), and Yukinari Sugawara (Arizona / Netherlands).
Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Liverpool, England), Junya Eto'o (Reims, France), Takuma Asano (Bochum, Germany), Takumi Minamino (Monaco, France), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting, Portugal), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton, England), Ryo Hatate (Celtic, Scotland). Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad, Spain), Keito Nakamura (Reims, France), and Kaisho Sano (Kashima Antlers).