Australia and Japan have steadily built up one of the most intriguing battles in Australian sport over the past few years and they will again go toe-to-toe when they face one another at the EAFF East Asian Cup.
Australia and Japan have steadily built up one of the most intriguing battles in Australian sport over the past few years and they will again go toe-to-toe when they face one another at the EAFF East Asian Cup.
Having recently returned from the Confederations Cup, Japanese manager Alberto Zaccheroni has announced his 23 man squad to take on the Socceroos along with hosts Korea Republic and China in the round robin tournament.
The squad is made up exclusively of players from the J-League with only seven players from the side that bowed out in the opening round of the Confederations Cup remaining in the side.
With an eye on the future, the squad features five team members of the Japanese Olympic football team that finished fourth in the 2012 London Games.
Jubilo Iwata defender Yuichi Komano will lead the inexperienced Blue Samurai side out with Kazuhiko Chiba, Yojiro Takahagi, Hotaru Yamaguchi, Takahiro Ogihara, Yoichiro KakitHakahiro Ogihara ani, Yohei Toyoda and Manabu Saito all looking to debut for the senior national side in the tournament.
Japan kick off their tournament against China on July 21 before taking on the Socceroos on Thursday July 25 (8pm AEST). They round out the tournament against hosts Korea Republic on 28 July.
Australia's opening match is against Korea Republic on Saturday July 20 at 7:30pm (AEST).
All of Australia's matches at the EAFF East Asian Cup will be shown live on Fox Sports.
Squad
Goalkeepers Takuto Hayashi (Vegalta Sendai), Shusaku Nishikawa (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo)
Defenders Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuzo Kurihara (Yokohama Marinos), Kazuhiko Chiba (Hiroshima), Ryota Moriwaki (Urawa Red Diamonds), Tomoaki Makino (Urawa), Masato Morishige (Tokyo), Daisuke Suzuki (Kashiwa Reysol)
Midfielders Toshihiro Aoyama (Hiroshima), Yojiro Takahagi (Hiroshima), Hideto Takahashi (Tokyo), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Takahiro Ogihara (Osaka), Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima Antlers)
Forwards Yohei Toyoda (Sagan Tosu), Hiroki Yamada (Iwata), Yoichiro Kakitani (Osaka), Manabu Saito (Yokohama), Masato Kudo (Kashiwa), Yuya Osako (Kashima), Genki Haraguchi (Urawa)