The Japan Football Association on Thursday announced their squad for the country’s upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers versus UAE and Thailand.
The list of 25 players features 11 J.Leaguers, including Cerezo Osaka’s Hiroshi Kiyotake, FC Tokyo’s Yojiro Takahagi and Gamba Osaka’s Shu Kurata.
The Samurai Blue will travel to face UAE on March 24 before returning home to host Thailand on March 28 at Saitama Stadium.
Japan squad for March 2017 internationals
GK
Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds)
Eiji Kawashima (FC Metz)
Akihiro Hayashi (FC Tokyo)
DF
Hiroki Sakai (Olympique de Marseille / France)
Gotoku Sakai (Hamburger SV / Germany)
Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan / Italy)
Tomoaki Makino (Urawa Reds)
Maya Yoshida (Southampton / England)
Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo)
Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers)
Naomichi Ueda (Kashima Antlers)
MF
Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt / Germany)
Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka)
Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka)
Yojiro Takahagi (FC Tokyo)
Shu Kurata (Gamba Osaka)
Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund / Germany)
Hiroshi Kiyotake (Cerezo Osaka)
FW
Keisuke Honda (AC Milan / Italy)
Takuma Asano (Stuttgart / Germany)
Genki Haraguchi (Hertha Berlin / Germany)
Takashi Usami (Augsburg / Germany)
Yuya Osako (Koln / Germany)
Shinji Okazaki (Leicester City / England)
Yuya Kubo (Gent / Belgium)