Kaoru Mitoma Excluded from Japan's World Cup Squad Due to Injury

Tokyo. Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma has been excluded from Japan's 26-member squad for the World Cup.

The 28-year-old player suffered a hamstring injury during Brighton's 3-0 victory over Wolves last weekend. Due to this injury, he will miss the final two Premier League matches of this season against Leeds United and Manchester United.

The expanded World Cup, featuring 48 teams, begins on June 11. The tournament is jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Japan, in Group F, will begin their campaign against the Netherlands on June 14. Japan will then compete against Tunisia on June 21 and Sweden five days later.

Manager Hajime Moriyasu announced his squad on Friday. The announced squad includes Liverpool's Wataru Endo, Crystal Palace's Daichi Kamada, Leeds' Ryo Tanaka, and Celtic's Daizen Maeda.

Japan's full squad for goalkeepers includes Kashima Antlers' Tomoki Hayakawa, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Keisuke Osako, and Parma Calcio's Aya Suzuki. Defenders include FC Tokyo's Yuto Nagatomo, Sint-Truiden's Shogo Taniguchi, Ajax's Ko Itakura and Takehiro Tomiyasu, Feyenoord's Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Bayern Munich's Hiroki Ito, Le Havre AC's Ayumu Seko, Werder Bremen's Yukinari Sugawara, and FC Copenhagen's Junnosuke Suzuki.

Midfielders include Liverpool's Wataru Endo, Genk's Junya Ito, Crystal Palace's Daichi Kamada, NEC Nijmegen's Koki Ogawa, Celtic's Daizen Maeda, Eintracht Frankfurt's Ritsu Doan, Leeds United's Ryo Tanaka, Mainz 05's Keito Sano, and Real Sociedad's Takefusa Kubo.

Forwards selected are Feyenoord's Ayase Ueda, Stade de Reims' Keito Nakamura, SC Freiburg's Ito Suzuki, Wolfsburg's Kento Sioida, and Sint-Truiden's Keisuke Goto.