New national team manager Javier Aguirre warned Japan's World Cup flops that their reputations will count for nothing as he named his first squad on Thursday.
Aguirre dropped 11 of the players who crashed out in the first round in Brazil this summer, naming seven uncapped players in his 23-man squad for next month's friendlies against Uruguay and Venezuela.
There was no place for World Cup veterans Yasuyuki Konno, Yasuhito Endo and Yoshito Okubo as the Mexican turned instead to fresh-faced newcomers such as FC Tokyo's Yoshinori Muto and Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Yusuke Minagawa.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.