Japan head coach Javier Aguirre has recalled midfielder Shinji Kagawa for the upcoming friendly against Brazil this month. The former Mexico boss has named his 23-man squad for Japan’s two friendly games against Brazil and Jamaica, recalling the Borussia Dortmund playmaker after Kagawa recovered from a concussion that had kept him out of Japan’s 2-0 defeat to Uruguay and the 2-2 draw with Venezuela last month.
After replacing Alberto Zaccheroni as Japan’s head coach in July following a disappointing World Cup campaign, Aguirre has used these friendly games as an opportunity to blood a number of younger players in the run-up to January’s Asian Cup. The defending champions will have another chance to test themselves against top opposition when they welcome Jamaica to Niigata this month before travelling to Singapore to take on five-time World Cup winners Brazil in a game the South Americans should start as the firm favourites in the best football odds available at the moment for the match.
As well as including Kagawa in the 23, Aguirre has also named Mike Havenaar in the squad despite a mixed start to life in Spain with Cordoba, ending the tall striker’s year-long exile from the Japan squad. The Mexican coach also included the uncapped trio of Gen Shoji, Tsukasa Shiotani and Yu Kobayashi, following on from the eight uncapped players named in Aguirre’s maiden Japan squad last month. Captain Makoto Hasebe was not named in the 23 despite returning to fitness with German side Eintracht Frankfurt following his latest knee injury.
“I can take a look at new players in these two games. The door to the national team is always open,” admitted the new Japan boss.
After coming away with just one point from their three World Cup group games in Brazil last summer, Zaccheroni paid the price and was relieved of his duties after four years in charge of the Japan team. Aguirre’s first real test in charge will come when Japan defend their Asian Cup title at the beginning of next year in Australia, in a tournament that the Japanese fans will be expecting to see a significant improvement in following their World Cup disappointments.
While this Japan squad is going through a period of change, upcoming opponents Brazil have undergone something of a revolution since they were humbled in front of their home fans last summer in that infamous 7-1 thumping at the hands of Germany in the World Cup semi-final, which not only killed Brazilian fans’ dreams of winning the tournament but also seriously damaged Brazil’s reputation as one of the world’s best sides.
As well as the return of Dunga as head coach in place of Luis Felipe Scolari, a number of older players have ended their Brazilian careers, and the former World Cup-winning captain has now been tasked with rejuvenating a squad that has been beaten from pillar to post since their World Cup humiliation. How much Brazilian and Japanese fans will be able to take from their upcoming friendly remains to be seen, but the match may be used by both head coaches as a chance to prove to their fans that they have made improvements and adjustments since the World Cup.