Japan manager Philippe Troussier has named a 34-man squad for next week's training camp in Shizuoka Prefecture ahead of this month's World Cup buildup matches against Ukraine and Poland, the Japan Football Association announced Tuesday.
Shimizu S-Pulse's Ryuzo Morioka and Naoki Matsuda of Yokohama F Marinos, who both missed last week's camp in Shimizu through injury, return to Japan's back line while Gamba Osaka goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki earned a recall for the March 11-12 camp in Gotemba.
Midfield duo Yasuhito Endo of Gamba and Chikara Fujimoto of Sanfrecce Hiroshima were omitted from the squad while JEF United Ichihara's Yuki Abe and Ryoichi Maeda of Jubilo Iwata, also battling for a midfield place, found themselves surplus to requirements.
"All of the players must remember that the World Cup door is still open. We will practice the same way we did in February's camp and continue to work on strengthening the team," Troussier said.
The Frenchman has been forced to rethink his strategy for the buildup for the World Cup due to injuries to key players such as Toshihiro Hattori and Iwata teammate Hiroshi Nanami, delaying his original plan to trim the squad down to 27 for the camp.
European-based players Shinji Ono (Feyenoord), Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma), Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal) and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Portsmouth) miss the Ukraine friendly in Osaka on March 21 but will likely join the squad for the Poland match in Lodz six days later.