{"id":8265,"date":"2026-05-15T19:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/?p=8265"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:27:09","slug":"injured-mitoma-left-out-of-japans-world-cup-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/?p=8265&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Injured Mitoma Left Out of Japan’s World Cup Squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Key Player Misses Out on World Cup Dream<\/h3>\n

Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma<\/strong> has been left out of Japan’s 26-man squad<\/strong> for the World Cup<\/strong> this summer. The 28-year-old sustained a hamstring injury<\/strong> in the Seagulls’ 3-0 win against Wolves last weekend and will miss the club’s final two Premier League games of the season against Leeds United and Manchester United.<\/p>\n

Japan’s World Cup Campaign<\/h3>\n

Japan, placed in Group F<\/strong>, will kick off their tournament against the Netherlands on 14 June<\/strong>, followed by matches against Tunisia on 21 June<\/strong> and Sweden five days later<\/strong>. The expanded 48-team World Cup is scheduled to start on 11 June<\/strong> and will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.<\/p>\n

Manager’s Reaction and Squad Details<\/h3>\n

Manager Hajime Moriyasu<\/strong> announced his squad on Friday. Notable inclusions feature Wataru Endo<\/strong> of Liverpool, Daichi Kamada<\/strong> from Crystal Palace, Leeds United’s Ao Tanaka<\/strong>, and Celtic’s Daizen Maeda<\/strong>. Speaking after the announcement, an emotional Moriyasu stated that Japan had lost “a major presence” in Mitoma. He added, “This will hurt him more than it hurts anyone. I hope once he gets over this, he will recover as quickly as possible and get back to playing with total freedom.”<\/p>\n

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler<\/strong> had previously commented on Thursday that the club “really have to be patient” with Mitoma’s injury, indicating that “we cannot give a clear schedule” for his return to fitness.<\/p>\n

Full Japan Squad for the World Cup<\/h3>\n

Goalkeepers:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Tomoki Hayakawa<\/strong> (Kashima Antlers)<\/li>\n
  • Keisuke Osako<\/strong> (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)<\/li>\n
  • Aya Suzuka<\/strong> (Parma Calcio)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Defenders:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Yuto Nagatomo<\/strong> (FC Tokyo)<\/li>\n
    • Shogo Taniguchi<\/strong> (Sint-Truiden)<\/li>\n
    • Ko Itakura<\/strong> (Ajax)<\/li>\n
    • Tsuyoshi Watanabe<\/strong> (Feyenoord)<\/li>\n
    • Takehiro Tomiyasu<\/strong> (Ajax)<\/li>\n
    • Hiroki Ito<\/strong> (Bayern Munich)<\/li>\n
    • Ayumu Seko<\/strong> (Le Havre AC)<\/li>\n
    • Yukinari Sugawara<\/strong> (Werder Bremen)<\/li>\n
    • Junosuke Suzuki<\/strong> (FC Copenhagen)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Midfielders:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Wataru Endo<\/strong> (Liverpool)<\/li>\n
      • Junya Ito<\/strong> (Genk)<\/li>\n
      • Daichi Kamada<\/strong> (Crystal Palace)<\/li>\n
      • Koki Ogawa<\/strong> (NEC Nijmegen)<\/li>\n
      • Daizen Maeda<\/strong> (Celtic)<\/li>\n
      • Ritsu Doan<\/strong> (Eintracht Frankfurt)<\/li>\n
      • Ao Tanaka<\/strong> (Leeds United)<\/li>\n
      • Kaishu Sano<\/strong> (Mainz 05)<\/li>\n
      • Takefusa Kubo<\/strong> (Real Sociedad)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Forwards:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        • Ayase Ueda<\/strong> (Feyenoord)<\/li>\n
        • Keito Nakamura<\/strong> (Stade de Reims)<\/li>\n
        • Ito Suzuki<\/strong> (SC Freiburg)<\/li>\n
        • Kento Shiode<\/strong> (Wolfsburg)<\/li>\n
        • Keisuke Goto<\/strong> (Sint-Truiden)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          #KaoruMitoma #JapanFootball #WorldCupSquad #SamuraiBlue #FootballNews #InjuryUpdate #BrightonFC #HajimeMoriyasu #FIFAWorldCup #AsianFootball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Key Player Misses Out on World Cup Dream Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma has been left out of Japan’s 26-man squad for the World Cup this summer. The 28-year-old sustained a hamstring injury in the Seagulls’ 3-0 win against Wolves last weekend and will miss the club’s final two Premier League games of the season against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}