Qatar 2022: Japan with some surprises in their 26-man FIFA World Cup roster taking only 3 forwards

It won’t be easy for Japan at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Hajime Moriyasu’s team has the difficult task of trying to get out of a group that consists of two of the tournament’s favorites, Spain and Germany. To top it off, the Concacaf threat Costa Rica rounds out the group.

Japan will open their World Cup campaign against Germany then Costa Rica, before finishing group play against Spain. A tall order but one Japan is ready for having won 8 of 12 in 2022.

The biggest surprise on the roster was the omission of Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi, who has been playing consistently for the Scottish giants. Here is the full Japan World Cup roster for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Japan’s FIFA World Cup roster

Head coach Hajime Moriyasu surprised many pundits by only taking three forwards to the tournament. VfL Bochum’s Takuma Asano is the biggest threat up front with 7 goals in 36 caps.

Hajime Moriyasu (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Other highlight players are Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ko Itakura of Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Hidemasa Morita of Sporting CP. Yuto Nagatomo is the most experienced player on the squad with 137 caps with Maya Yoshida leading the team as captain.

All of six players play outside of Japan with 8 players on the roster playing in Germany. In a press conferences the head coach stated, “I couldn’t call up everyone who was looking forward to this World Cup, but I thank and honor everyone who has expressed a desire to represent Japan,” Moriyasu said. “No matter how many we can choose, there are lots of good players, and even if we were choosing 30 there would be difficult decisions.”

Japan squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup:

Goalkeepers: Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden), Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg)

Defenders: Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds), Maya Yoshida (Schalke), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield)

Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove Albion), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Junya Ito (Reims), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus)

Forwards: Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge)