Japan calls up big guns for World Cup qualifier
Japan will unleash their top players on tiny Singapore in a World Cup qualifier this month after coach Vahid Halilhodzic on Monday named 13 Europe-based players among his squad. Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa are expected to headline the Franco-Bosnian's side when the Blue Samurai begin their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign in Saitama on June 16. Japan also face Iraq in a warm-up game in Yokohama on June 11. Free-scoring striker Takashi Usami, whose goals helped Gamba Osaka win the domestic treble last season and who has scored 10 times in 12 J-league games this campaign, keeps his place alongside Shinji Okazaki and soon-to-be Mainz club mate Yoshinori Muto. Japan will play their Group E away matches against Afghanistan and Syria on neutral territory later this year because of security concerns in the war-torn countries. Cambodia are also grouped with Japan in the second round of Asian qualifying. Squad: Goalkeepers - Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Masaaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa), Shuichi Gondo (Tokyo) Defenders - Hiroki Sakai (Hannover), Gotoku Sakai (Stuttgart), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Kosuke Ota (Tokyo), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Daiki Niwa (Gamba), Tomoaki Makino (Urawa), Masato Morishige (Tokyo) Midfielders - Makoto Hasebe (Frankfurt), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki), Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima), Hiroshi Kiyotake (Hannover), Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund) Forwards - Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Yoshinori Muto (Tokyo), Shinji Okazaki (Mainz), Genki Haraguchi (Hertha Berlin), Yuya Osako (Cologne), Takashi Usami (Gamba), Kengo Kawamata (Nagoya)
