On Thursday 4 November, coach MORIYASU Hajime of the SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) announced the squad for their matches against Vietnam (11/11＠Hanoi) and Oman (11/16＠Muscat) in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ AFC Asian Qualifiers (Road to Qatar). MITOMA Kaoru (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise) and HATATE Reo (Kawasaki Frontale) were selected for the first time, and the coach expressed his strong determination to “fight with all our might to earn highest points possible.”

Considering the fact that the team is facing two consecutive away games and the difficulty of replacing players during the series, 27 players were called up. In addition to Mitoma, who transferred to Belgium this summer, and Hatate, who contributed to Kawasaki's title defence, J.League's top scorer Maeda Daizen (Yokohama F. Marinos) and UEDA Ayase (Kashima Antlers) made their return to the senior squad for the first time since 2019.

TANIGUCHI Shogo and YAMANE Miki were also named from Kawasaki, who have just won the league title, getting their callup to the SAMURAI BLUE for the first time since June and September of this year, respectively. TANAKA Ao (Fortuna Dusseldorf), who scored against Australia in October, FURUHASHI Kyogo (Celtic FC) and TOMIYASU Takehiro (Arsenal), who are showing great form at their respective clubs, have also been selected. .....

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