Moriyasu will double-announce their seior team and U-21 squads tomorrow (after 9 hours from now) 14:00 JST - 5AM GMT.
November friendly rosters: Senior NT GK: Higashiguchi, Gonda, Schmidt DF: Makino, Yoshida, Sasaki, Sakai, Yamanaka, Muroya, Miura, Tomiyasu MF: Aoyama, Haraguchi, Shibasaki, Endo, Junya Ito, Nakajima, Minamino, Misao, Doan FW: Osako, Suzuki, Kitagawa U-21: GK: Kojima, Takimoto, Yamaguchi DF: Itakura, Ominami, Tatsuta, Hashioka, Kobayashi MF: Nakayama, Miyoshi, Naganuma, Tatsuya Ito, Fujitani, Iwasaki, Matsumoto, Sugioka, Suga, Saito, Hiroki Ito, Kubo FW: Ogawa, Ueda, Tagawa
Squad for Venezuela and Kyrgyzstan friendlies on 16 and 20 November respectively: GK: Masaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka). Shuichi Gonda (Sagan Tosu). Daniel Schmidt (Vegalta Sendai). DF: Tomoaki Makino (Uraw Reds). Maya Yoshida (Southampton / England). Sho Sasaki (Sanfrecce Hiroshima). Hiroki Sakai (Marseille / France). Ryosuke Yamanaka (Yokohama Marinos). Sei Muroya (FC Tokyo). Genta Miura (Gamba Osaka). Takehiru Tomiyasu (Sint-Truiden / Belgium). MF: Tosgihro Aoyama (Sanfrecce Hiroshima). Genii Haraguchi (Hannover / Germany). Gaku Shibasaki (Getafe / Spain). Wataru Endo (Sint-Truiden / Belgium). Junya Ito (Kashiwa Reysol). Shoya Nakajima (Portimonense / Portugal). Takumi Minamino (Salzburg / Austria). Kento Misao (Kashima Antlers). Ritsu Doan (Groningen / Netherlands). FW: Yuya Osako (Bremen / Germany). Yuma Suzuki (Kashima Antlers). Koya Kitagawa (Shimizu S-Pulse).
Changes: 2 changes from last month's squad: 1- Yuma Suzuki in for Kengo Kawamata. 2- Ryosuke Yamanaka in for Yuto Nagatomo. Club representation: 10 players from Europe. 2 players each from: Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Kashima Antlers, and Gamba Osaka. 1 player each from: FC Tokyo, Urawa Reds, Vegalta Sendai, Shimizu S-Pulse, Yokohama Marinos, Sagan Tosu, and Kashiwa Reysol. Average age: Average age of the squad is: 25.7 years-old. Distribution per generation: 10 players from Rio Generation. 2 players from Tokyo Generation. Which means 12 of these players will be younger than 30 (still in their 20s) by the next World Cup. 7 from London Generation. 4 from Beijing Generation. As for the older players: 1- I doubt Aoyama and Makino will be conisedered after next year. 2- Yoshida is the captain so supposedly he will be an integral part of this squad. 3- Higashiguchi's suituation will depend on his form in the coming years and if there will be younger GKs to push him out of the squad, but I think 36 (his age at the next WC) will not be a big problem if he keeps his form and stamina by then, at least he might be considered as one of the 3 GKs (not necessarily the 1st choice). Notable absences: 1- NO players from Kawasaki Frontale! With Oshima being the most notable absentee, while Yu Kobayashi is reported to be injured. 2- Yoshinori Muto is ruled out because of injury. Final note: I think this is the squad Moriyasu will take with him to the UAE after 2 months for the Asian Cup (I don't expect him to include any player who he didn't already called-up since he took over, except both Kosuke Nakamura and Gen Shoji who were injured). We might see 5-6 changes, for example the likes of Oshima, Asano, and Naomichi Ueda might be called-up again, but if he makes more than few changes for the Asian Cup squad (more than 5-6 changes from this squad) then it will be a surprise. This is said, I don't expect to see the likes of Kagawa, Inui, Honda, and Okazaki called-up for the AC. Kagawa might be the surprise call-up, but I can't see Moriyasu picking any of the others. Good Luck.
I'm neutral on Higashiguchi but not really that high on Makino and Genta Miura. Especially Miura imo, I think he has not been performing very well for the JNT lately. As for Aoyama, I think they may be making use of his experience, same as Higashiguchi, which is why they are selected despite their age by the next WC.
very naive to think aoyama will not be selected after next year. who else will he pick from sanfrecce. the lack of quality gk is seriously depressing.
If Nakamura has more luck with his injuries, I think he may have a shot. Kojima isn't really that bad too imo.
Aoyama withdraws, replaced by Morita. Great news, thanks God. We get rid of Aoyama, let's hope we won't see him in Japan NT again, altgought I would rather see Oshima as his replacement.
Yuma Suzuki may withdraw too because of a right-ankle injury he picked in the ACL final and to give himself enough time to rest and recover for the Club World Cup. In the meanwhile, Atsuta Uchida criticised him for putting club above country. Moriyasu will wait until Suzuki is back to Japan to evaluate his situation.
When did Uchida say that? I haven't seen that quote anywhere. In any case Moriyasu should give him a break - Kashima is still in 3 competitions (including the league, if they want the ACL berth/prize money) and the Asian Cup is looming. Great to see a deserving call-up for Morita, he has been brilliant in Frontale's stretch run. On current form he has been the club's best central mid, although I imagine Oshima is in the plans for the AC and he has very little chance of getting injured with the season over.
This only says what you posted earlier, that Yuma's status for the November friendlies is up in the air.
It is official now: http://www.jfa.jp/samuraiblue/news/00019521/ Suzuki out, Sugimoto in as his replacement.
Does anyone know what's going on with Kosuke Nakamura? Can't seem to find anything recent on his current status. He needs to be integrated in the national team as soon as possible. Tired of seeing Higashiguchi, Nakamura is the future.
nakamura is back playing with kashiwa in the last two games. playing higashiguchi is ridiculous, at least give schmidt an opportunity.
Goalkeeping is a little issue I think. Look at J-league , three of the top five clubs have foreing goalies. All of them korean. Nakamura were supposed to be the next big thing wasnt he?
Today's starting line-up against Venezuela: GK 23 Schmidt DF 22 Yoshida (Cap) DF 4 Sasaki DF 19 Sakai DF 16 Tomiyasu MF 7 Shibasaki MF 6 W Endo MF 10 Nakajima MF 9 Minamino MF 21 Doan FW 15 Osako Debut for Schmidt, and a start for Tomiyasu (who might overcome Miura in the pecking order).