Japan Football Association technical director Hiromi Hara said Wednesday he will ask for the release of 10 European-based players for new head coach Alberto Zaccheroni's first game in charge against Argentina and another friendly with South Korea next month.
Zaccheroni ran the rule over eight of his Euro stars called up for friendlies against Paraguay and Guatemala this month, including CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda, Borussia Dortmund's Shinji Kagawa and defender Yuto Nagatomo of Serie A side Cesena.
The Italian coach also wants to have both Leicester City's Yuki Abe and Freiburg striker Kisho Yano available after they were overlooked last time to transfer to their respective English and German clubs.
"We had a request from Zaccheroni to try and get as many players available as possible so it will be the eight we called up last time plus Abe and Yano," said Hara.