On Thursday 17 March, Vahid HALILHODZIC announced his squad for the FIFA World Cup Russia Asian Qualifiers Round 2 against Afghanistan and Syria to be held on Thursday 24 and Tuesday 29 at Saitama Stadium.

Halilhodzic’s 24-man squad includes 11 players from J.League clubs and 13 players from overseas clubs. “The important thing is to win the two matches and I want to continue our clean-sheet run during the qualifiers. And we will be also ready to score as many goals as possible,” said Japan boss at the beginning. He then introduced his selection of 24 players one by one by position and mentioned each player’s current situation and what he requires from them from now on before finishing the press conference.

SAMURAI BLUE will assemble next Monday to kick off their training.

Vahid HALILHODZIC, Coach
The important thing is to win the two matches and I want to continue our clean-sheet run during the qualifiers. And we will be also ready to score as many goals as possible. Now, in the FIFA ranking, Japan is at second place in Asia. For the final qualifiers, we want to maintain this position as well.......

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GK
KAWASHIMA Eiji (Dundee United Football Club/Scotland)
HIGASHIGUCHI Masaaki (Gamba Osaka)
NISHIKAWA Shusaku (Urawa Reds)
HAYASHI Akihiro (Sagan Tosu)

DF
NAGATOMO Yuto (FC Internazionale Milano/Italy)
MAKINO Tomoaki (Urawa Reds)
MORISHIGE Masato (F.C. Tokyo)
YOSHIDA Maya (Southampton FC/England)
FUJIHARU Hiroki (Gamba Osaka)
SAKAI Hiroki (Hannover 96/Germany)
SAKAI Gotoku (Hamburger Sport-Verein/Germany)
SHOJI Gen (Kashima Antlers)

MF
HASEBE Makoto (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany)
KASHIWAGI Yosuke (Urawa Reds)....

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