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Goalscoring hero Keisuke Honda will spearhead the Japanese squad for the Confederations Cup in Brazil later this month, the Japan Football Association announced on Wednesday.
The CSKA Moscow midfielder was the man of the moment after his performance against Australia Tuesday, firing an equaliser in injury time for a 1-1 draw and bagging a berth at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
Manchester United star Shinji Kagawa, Inter Milan defender Yuto Nagatomo and Stuttgart striker Shinji Okazaki will also join the 23-man squad.
Masato Kudo, Keigo Higashi and Yuichi Komano have been sidelined.
“The Confederations Cup is a tournament where we can measure our current status, looking forward to the World Cup,” said Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni.
Ahead of the tournament, Japan will take on Iraq in their last game of the Asian qualifying round on June 11.
“First of all, I want to know my players’ conditions. At the same time, I must think about the game against Brazil in the Confederations Cup. If my players need a rest, I’m going to rest them,” added the Italian.
“Supporters may not expect us to win, but I intend to win the Cup,” Honda told spectators at the Saitama stadium on Tuesday.
In the Confederations Cup Japan will play Brazil, Italy and Mexico in Group A, while Spain, Uruguay, Tahiti and Nigeria were drawn in Group B.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege/BEL), Shusaku Nishikawa (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo)
Defenders: Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Yuzo Kurihara (Yokohama Marinos), Masahiko Inoha (Jubilo Iwata), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan/ITA), Atsuto Uchida (Schalke/GER), Maya Yoshida (Southampton/ENG), Hiroki Sakai (Hannover/GER), Gotoku Sakai (Stuttgart/GER)
Midfielders: Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg/GER), Hajime Hosogai (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow/RUS), Hideto Takahashi (FC Tokyo)
Forwards: Ryoichi Maeda (Jubilo Iwata), Shinji Okazaki (Stuttgart/GER), Mike Havenaar (Vitesse Arnhem/NED), Takashi Inui (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United/ENG), Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nuremberg/GER)
hf/hg/ami
