The Japan men’s soccer squad for the upcoming Paris Olympics was announced Wednesday, and for the first time since the Beijing Games in 2008, the selection doesn’t include any overage players.
Veterans like Liverpool’s Wataru Endo, 31, had been rumored as possible options to supplement the 18-man squad, which rules for the Olympic soccer tournament state must consist predominantly of players under age 23, but head coach Go Oiwa instead named 16 of the players who won the U-23 Asian Cup in May.
Another surprising omission was FC Tokyo’s rising star Kuryu Matsuki, and while Oiwa refused to comment on players who weren’t chosen during a news conference in Tokyo, he repeatedly referred to the “restrictions” the Japan Football Association (JFA) was forced to work within when it came to selecting players.