Player Watch · Sep 17, 2026
Samurai Blue's first squad since the World Cup is in, and four players just got the call of their lives
The wait is over. The JFA has named the squad for Japan's first matches since the World Cup ended in Houston, and it is a group built for a busy twelve days. Samurai Blue plays Uruguay in Miyagi on September 24 and Venezuela in Hiroshima on September 28 for the Kirin Challenge Cup, then Ecuador in Yokohama on October 1 and either Panama or New Zealand in Tokyo on October 5 for the Kirin Cup final. Moriyasu leaned on the familiar spine of the team that went to the World Cup: Ko Itakura, Daichi Kamada, Ritsu Doan, Takefusa Kubo, Ao Tanaka and Daizen Maeda are all back, alongside Zion Suzuki in goal after his move to Aston Villa. But the story of this squad is the four uncapped players who just found out they are Samurai Blue for the first time: Southampton's Kuryu Matsuki, Yokohama F. Marinos striker Kaina Tanimura, who leads all J1 Japanese scorers this season with six goals, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Shuto Nakano, and Westerlo's Shunsuke Saito. PSV's Kodai Sano and Valencia's Ryunosuke Sato both return to the fold as well. New era talk aside, Moriyasu is still in charge through the Asian Cup, and this is the group that starts writing the next chapter.