FOUR FOUR TWO



 

The Japan World Cup 2026 squad may be one of the trickiest to call, with a selection packed with talent but lacking key stars

The Japan World Cup 2026 squad has been named by head coach Hajime Moriyasu.

Japan go into World Cup 2026 as one of the dark horses, with one of the most exciting squads at the tournament: that's something that would have seemed like a fever dream when the Far East hosted the 2002 tournament, but just a couple of decades on and Japanese football is thriving… as England found out in a March friendly.

Liverpool's Wataru Endo captains alongside Premier League rivals Daichi Kamada and Ai Tanaka in midfield, with Ko Itakura and Hiroki Ito behind – and it's a lovely sight to see Takehiro Tomiyasu overcome his injury hell of the last couple of years to return to a squad that he more than deserves his place in.

The attack, however, has taken a significant blow: Kaoru Miroma will miss the tournament through injury after suffering a hamstring injury for Brighton & Hove Albion, in what is absolutely gutting news for the Samurai Blue.

Hidemasa Morita won't be going to the tournament either, despite leading Sporting to a Champions League quarter-final, while Takumi Minamino ruptured his left knee anterior cruciate ligament and hasn't recovered in time.

Mitoma may well be his nation's best player, but there are stars waiting to step up in his absence: Ayase Ueda, Ritsu Doan and one-time Galactico and La Masia product Takefusa Kubo are all exciting attackers in their own right.

This tournament has also come a little soon for talented youngsters Kota Tawaratsumida and Sota Kitano, the latter of whom was compared to Hidetoshi Nakata and Keisuke Honda in a FourFourTwo scout report.