The Japanese media “football-zone” wrote an article predicting Japan’s 23-man Asian Cup roster and starting lineup. Only 3 of the 23-man roster are from the domestic league, and there are as many as 19 players in Europe. The starting lineup, except for the goalkeeper, is all from European League.
The following is the prediction of the 23-man roster:
Goalkeepers: Nakamura Kosuke (Portimao), Osako Keisuke (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Maekawa Daiya (Vissel Kobe)
Defenders: Yusei Sugawara (Alkmaar), Seiya Mikuma (Osaka Sakura), Hiroki Itakura (Gladbach), Kenyo Toyasu (Arsenal), Shogo Taniguchi (Rayan Qatar), Hiroki Machida (St. Giros), Hiroyuki Ito (Stuttgart), Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield Town)
Midfielder: Endo Endo (Liverpool), Morita Hidemasa (Sporting CP), Tanaka Aoi (Dusseldorf), Kamada Daichi (Lazio), Kubo Takehide (Real Sociedad), Don Yasu Ritsu (Freiburg), Junya Ito (Reims), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Kaoru Mikasa (Brighton)
Forwards: Takuma Asano (Bochum), Kiryo Ueda (Feyenoord), Torugo Furuhashi (Celtic)
Starting lineup (4-2-3-1) prediction:
Goalkeeper: Osako Keisuke
Defenders: Hiroyuki Ito, Takehiro Toyasu, Ko Itakura, Yusei Sugawara
Midfielder: Hidemasa Morita, Hideo Endo, Kaoru Mikasa, Takehide Kubo, Junya Ito
Forward: Kiryo Ueda