Zico names strong squad for friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina

Coach Zico will have a full-strength Japan squad to pick from for next week’s friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Dortmund.

He has drafted in eight Europe-based players for Tuesday’s game including the likes of Hidetoshi Nakata Shunsuke Nakamura and Junichi Inamoto .

The Asian champions will have a month’s break after playing Bosnia-Herzegovina before facing Ecuador at home on 30 March as they continue their build-up for this year’s FIFA World Cup™ finals in Germany.

The Japan squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers – Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata), Takashi Shimoda (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Ryota Tsuzuki (Urawa Reds)

Defenders – Makoto Tanaka (Jubilo Iwata), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka), Alex (Urawa Reds), Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F-Marinos), Koji Nakata (FC Basel, Switzerland), Keisuke Tsuboi (Urawa Reds), Akira Kaji (Gamba Osaka) Yuichi Komano (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Teruyuki Moniwa (FC Tokyo)

Midfielders – Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata), Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers, England), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic, Scotland), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers), Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion, England), Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Daisuke Matsui (Le Mans, France)

Forwards – Tatsuhiko Kubo (Yokohama F-Marinos), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Messina, Italy), Naohiro Takahara (Hamburg, Germany), Masashi Oguro (Grenoble, France)