FC Tokyo full-back Yuto Nagatomo has been ruled out of Japan's Kirin Cup meetings with Chile and Belgium this week with appendicitis but is expected to be fit for next month's World Cup qualifiers.
Takeshi Okada'sJapan face Chile tomorrow in Osaka and Belgium on Sunday in Tokyo in the annual friendly series before the June 6 World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan.
After complaining of a fever yesterday Nagatomo will return to FC Tokyo, but the 22-year-old is expected to return for the trip to Tashkent. A win would see Japan qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa next year with two games to spare against Qatar and Australia later next month.
"We are missing some of our players, but that often happens," said Okada. "We rarely play with the full squad with fully fit players."
Okada has already been hampered by injury and illness with Urawa Reds defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka struggling with a hamstring problem, while Cerezo Osaka midfielder Shinji Kagawa and Wolfsburg forward Yoshito Okubo have been battling against fever.
Forward Shinzo Koroki also trained separately after hurting his chest in Kashima Antlers' Asian Champions League meeting with Shanghai Shenhua last week.
Okada added: "You should be able to compete in a situation like this, and this can be a good occasion to improve our team ability."
Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg and Keisuke Honda of VVV Venlo are available to face Chile, while Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura is expected to join the squad in Tokyo and St Etienne's Daisuke Matsui will meet up with the group in Uzbekistan.
After complaining of a fever yesterday Nagatomo will return to FC Tokyo, but the 22-year-old is expected to return for the trip to Tashkent. A win would see Japan qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa next year with two games to spare against Qatar and Australia later next month.
"We are missing some of our players, but that often happens," said Okada. "We rarely play with the full squad with fully fit players."
Okada has already been hampered by injury and illness with Urawa Reds defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka struggling with a hamstring problem, while Cerezo Osaka midfielder Shinji Kagawa and Wolfsburg forward Yoshito Okubo have been battling against fever.
Forward Shinzo Koroki also trained separately after hurting his chest in Kashima Antlers' Asian Champions League meeting with Shanghai Shenhua last week.
Okada added: "You should be able to compete in a situation like this, and this can be a good occasion to improve our team ability."
Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg and Keisuke Honda of VVV Venlo are available to face Chile, while Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura is expected to join the squad in Tokyo and St Etienne's Daisuke Matsui will meet up with the group in Uzbekistan.
Copyright (c) Press Association
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