Takumi Minamino (Mainichi)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu and Liverpool attacker Takumi Minamino were named among Japan's 25-man squad on Tuesday ahead of their vital 2022 World Cup qualifiers away to Saudi Arabia and at home to Australia next month.
Mallorca playmaker Takefusa Kubo and Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi miss out through injuries as manager Hajime Moriyasu face two ties that could determine the fate of Samurai Blue in Group B.
Japan slumped a shock 1-0 home defeat to Oman in their opener before beating China by the same scoreline in an away game, held at a neutral venue in Qatar due to COVID-19 restrictions, earlier this month.
Saudi Arabia and Australia have won both of their first two matches.
"They are very offensive teams and play aggressively," Moriyasu said. "We'll do our best to get the maximum points."
"We need to prepare tactically and mentally first in order to give a proper fight in the away atmosphere. We need to raise the quality of preparation in light of our experience of losing (the first game) in September.
Japan face Saudi Arabia on Oct. 7 in Jeddah before hosting Australia on Oct. 12 at Saitama Stadium.
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Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg), Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Kosei Tani (Shonan Bellmare)
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds), Sei Muroya (Hannover), Naomichi Ueda (Nimes), Ko Itakura (Schalke), Yuta Nakayama (Zwolle), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Daiki Hashioka (Sint-Truiden)
Midfielders: Genki Haraguchi (Union Berlin), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Junya Ito (Genk), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Takumi Minamino (Liverpool), Hidemasa Morita (Santa Clara), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Koji Miyoshi (Antwerp), Ritsu Doan (PSV Eindhoven), Ao Tanaka (Dusseldorf)
Forwards: Yuya Osako (Vissel Kobe), Ado Onaiwu (Toulouse)
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