Japan Name Their 18 for Punjab: Samurai Squad Ends the Withdrawal Chatter

So much for Japan not coming.

The Japan Hockey Association has published Samurai Japan’s squad for the Asian Champions Trophy, an 18-man list dated 21 October and shared on the team’s official Facebook page. A withdrawal rumour did the rounds this week off a single report. Federations don’t print roster sheets for tournaments they’re skipping. Japan are coming to Punjab, and they’re coming with a proper side.

Experience at the back, one brand-new face

The sheet is heavy on know-how. Defender Manabu Yamashita is 37 and still there. Seren Tanaka, 33, runs the midfield with 204 caps against his name on the JHA sheet. Shota Yamada’s drag-flick is the set-piece threat — the sheet credits him with 44 international goals, which for a defender is a ridiculous number, and exactly why teams set up differently against Japan’s corners.

And then there’s the opposite end of the list. Motoya Yamanaka, a 25-year-old defender, goes to Punjab with zero caps on the sheet. One uncapped player in an 18 for a Champions Trophy is a small gamble, but it’s the kind of pick that tells you the staff are building past this week, not just surviving it.

Head coach Seiji Fujimoto’s full 18, as printed by the JHA:

Goalkeepers: Takumi Kitagawa, Kisho Kuroda.

Defenders: Manabu Yamashita, Shota Yamada, Ken Nagayoshi, Yusuke Kawamura, Motoya Yamanaka, Jun Watanabe.

Midfielders: Seren Tanaka, Yuma Nagai, Ochiai, Raiki Fujishima, Hiro Saito.

Forwards: Kentaro Fukuda, Kazumasa Matsumoto, Ryoma Ooka, Ren Kashiwagi, Tsubasa Tanaka.

The squad’s average age on the sheet is 27, and the average caps figure is 80.7. That’s not a group learning on the job.

A nasty little schedule

Japan open against Korea on Tuesday 27 October (3:15 pm IST), the second game of the tournament. Then Bangladesh on 29 October, hosts India under lights on 30 October, China on 1 November and Malaysia on 2 November to finish the league stage.

For our money, Japan are the side nobody in that field will enjoy playing. Organised, fit, and with a corner routine that scores in bunches. The junior Samurai side have spent this week in Johor showing what Japanese corners do to a defence. The senior team’s version is Yamada, and he’s been doing it for a decade. Malaysia named their 20 this morning too, and the pecking order sits on our Rankings page.