Soccer World Cup

Japan announces squad for Qatar World Cup

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:36 JST, November 1, 2022

The Japan Football Association announced Tuesday the Japan national team’s squad of 26 for the upcoming FIFA World Cup tournament, set to kick off on Nov. 20 in Qatar.

The Samurai Blue team includes captain and defender Maya Yoshida of Germany’s Schalke 04 and midfielders Wataru Endo of Germany’s Stuttgart and Junya Ito of France’s Stade de Reims.

“We have set a goal of advancing to quarterfinals,” head coach Hajime Moriyasu said at a press conference in Tokyo. “It is not an easy goal, but we will be able to achieve it without fail. We would like to fight with pride as the Japanese national team along with our supporters.”

The team has been drawn into Group E and will play Germany on Nov. 23, Costa Rica on Nov. 27 and Spain on Dec. 2. The top two teams in each group advance to the knockout stages.