Japan plan for World Cup
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STAR MAN ... ex-Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura
JAPAN have named their 23-man squad for this summer's World Cup.
Ex-Portsmouth keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, 34, was the only surprise call-up by coach Takeshi Okada.
Okada has also picked four Europe-based players with Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow, Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg, Daisuke Matsui of Grenoble and Catania's Takayuki Morimoto all included.
He said: "I had a hard time making up my mind regarding al areas of the team, but I selected those players in order to win and achieve our objective.
"I haven't changed the objective. In order to make that come true, however, we first have to get through the group stage and our first match against Cameroon will be the most important to us.
"With those 23 players, I believe that we can achieve our objective."
Japan squad: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata); Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers); Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow); Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania).