National team manager Vahid Halilhodzic has warned his Europe-based stars to play regularly for their clubs or face a spell in the international wilderness after dropping Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki for Tuesday night's 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Saudi Arabia.
Japan boosted its chances of appearing at a sixth straight World Cup with a hard-fought win over the Saudis at Saitama Stadium, with Hiroshi Kiyotake scoring a 45th-minute penalty and Genki Haraguchi adding a second goal in the 80th minute before the visitors notched a late reply.
The win moved Japan level on points with the Saudis at the top of Group B with half of the final round of qualifiers played, and left Halilhodzic vindicated in his decision to bench his star trio of Honda, Kagawa and Okazaki, who have amassed 273 caps between them.