Honda among 27 Japan players named for WCup qualifiers

Two leading teams from 2 Asian qualifying groups qualify

TOKYO, Aug 24, (AP): Keisuke Honda is among 27 players named to Japan’s squad for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Australia and Saudi Arabia.

Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic will be counting on the experience of the veteran playmaker who scored in his debut for Mexican club Pachuca on Tuesday.

Other players named for the Aug 31 match against Australia and the Sept 5 away match against Saudi Arabia include Leicester forward Shinji Okazaki, midfielder Shinji Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund and Southampton defender Maya Yoshida.

Japan leads their Asian qualifying group with 17 points, one ahead of Australia and Saudi Arabia, and could secure a spot for the 2018 tournament with a win over the Socceroos.

The leading two teams from the two Asian qualifying groups qualify directly for Russia next year. The thirdplace teams in each group enter a two-leg playoff for the right to play

Honda

the fourth-place CONCACAF team in the final qualifying round.

Eiji Kawashima (Metz), Masaaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka), Kosuke Nakamura (Kashiwa Reysol).

Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Tomoaki Makino (Urawa Reds), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Hiroki Sakai (Marseille), Gotoku Sakai (Hamburg), Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers), Naomichi Ueda (Kashima Antlers), Genta Miura

(Gamba Osaka).

Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt), Yojiro Takahagi (FC Tokyo), Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Yuki Kobayashi (Heerenveen), Gaku Shibasaki (Getafe), Yosuke Ideguchi (Gamba Osaka).

Shinji Okazaki (Leicester City), Keisuke Honda (Pachuca), Takashi Inui (Eibar), Yuya Osako (Cologne), Genki Haraguchi (Hertha Berlin), Yoshinori Muto (Mainz), Kenyu Sugimoto (Cerezo Osaka), Yuya Kubo (Gent), Takuma Asano (Stuttgart).