Manchester United star Shinji Kagawa has admitted his frustration at being frozen out of his preferred central midfield role for Japan, but hopes he can reproduce his early club form for the Blue Samurai when they take on the United Arab Emirates on Thursday in a warmup for next week's World Cup qualifier against Zico's Iraq.
Kagawa has been getting rave reviews at United after his preseason move from German champions Borussia Dortmund and has just been named fans' player of the month for August after a pair of strong performances in the hole behind the striker at the Premier League giants.
The 23-year-old has made three consecutive starts from the season-opening 1-0 defeat away to Everton and opened his account in a 3-2 win on his home debut against Fulham, although he was less effective in Sunday's 3-2 win at Southampton.