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The story
The Japan national football team has announced its squad numbers for the Kirin Challenge Cup 2026 and Kirin Cup Soccer 2026, including the September 24 match against Uruguay. First-time call-up Matsuki Kuryu got “19,” Tanaka Ao — who wore “7” at the World Cup — returned to his old “17,” and Kubo Takefusa, who wore “8” at the same tournament, went back to “20.” On 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Newsflash+ board, the discussion centered less on the numbers themselves and more on the state of the defense, manager Moriyasu’s selection criteria, and how to handle struggling players like Kubo Takefusa and Shiogai Kento, with opinions split over how to judge Tanaka Ao’s strong form in the Premier League.
The squad numbers for the Japan national team heading into the Kirin Challenge Cup 2026 and Kirin Cup Soccer 2026 have been decided.
First-time call-ups Nakano Shuto got “2,” Matsuki Kuryu “19,” Saito Shunsuke “29,” and Tanimura Kaina “31.” Tanaka Ao, who wore “7” at the FIFA World Cup 2026, is back in “17,” and Kubo Takefusa, who wore “8” at the same tournament, is back in “20” — both returning to numbers they’d worn before. The full squad numbers are as follows.
▼GK
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
⚽ Japan National Team Schedule
Aichi Asian Games — Men's Football
9/20 (Sun) 19:30~
Japan vs Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬
📺 TBS
Aichi Asian Games — Men's Football
9/23 (Wed) 19:30~
Japan vs Thailand 🇹🇭
📺 TBS
Kirin Cup
9.24 (Thu) 19:05~
Japan vs Uruguay 🇺🇾
Q&A Stadium Miyagi
📺 Fuji TV
Kirin Cup
9.28 (Mon) 19:25~
Japan vs Venezuela 🇻🇪
Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima
📺 Nippon TV
Kirin Cup
10.1 (Thu) 19:10~
Japan vs Ecuador 🇪🇨
Yokohama International Stadium
📺 TBS network
Kirin Cup
10.5 (Mon) 19:30~
Japan vs Panama 🇵🇦 or New Zealand 🇳🇿
National Stadium
📺 TV Asahi
Leeds cracking the Big 6 table, lol
Ao's a beast 😳
https://imgur.com/4TgmWjr.jpeg
Apparently if you tally points from December 2025 to now, Leeds sit 5th in the Premier League
That stretch includes the period since Tanaka Ao scored against Chelsea and Liverpool,
when he was starting every match and winning nonstop,
so it looks like Tanaka Ao contributed a huge chunk of those points
✌🐶✨
Tanaka Ao's been outstanding again this season — Man of the Match, back-to-back goals, and assists too.
There's data showing his win rate as a starter is insanely high.
Straight-up Asian-level quality, honestly.
Moriyasu really lacks flexibility.
people would be paying a lot more attention now.
No. 7 is actually the best number — being obsessed with No. 10 is an old-timer thing, from the generation that grew up watching Ramos and Kimura Kazushi.
Chase has basically vanished in Austria — not even clear if he's making the bench.
Fukuda's finally starting to get starts in the German second division, but he hasn't scored, so he'll probably get dropped back to the bench soon.
Who's Nakajima?
Well yeah, if you dangle the carrot of 'go overseas and I'll call you up,' that's exactly what you get.
Guys like Kubo, Ito, Sato, Itakura, and Shiogai are in no position to be at the national team right now.
The favoritism slot (5ch slang for a pick based on connections rather than form).
They'll start him in the Brazil match.
I'd rather they use younger players than guys who aren't producing results for their clubs.
Won't happen — Oiwa's the one taking over.
The reason they won't bring in a foreign manager is that the JFA finds a Japanese one easier to control.
No. 22 — it's listed as vacant now.
The wingers used to be the strength, but that's faded.
The defensive midfield has grown to compensate, I think,
but since that doesn't directly boost the attack, some decline is unavoidable.
I don't think you actually know this, but the data (MLS analysis for GK, Bayern academy analysis for central midfielders) shows the positions that really move the points needle are goalkeeper and central midfield — not wingers.
And with Zion Suzuki's growth, plus defensive midfield being Japan's most competitive position right now, the team hasn't really weakened overall when you add it up.
They should just use Tanaka Ao as an inside midfielder.
It's baffling that Moriyasu plays him as the No. 6 (holding midfielder).
In good form:
Zion Suzuki, Suzuki Yuto, Doan Ritsu, Ueda Ayase, Nakamura Keito, Sano Kaishu, Sano Kota, Tanaka Sou, Kamada Daichi, Watanabe Go, Saito Shunsuke
In terrible form:
Hayakawa Tomoki, Itakura Ko, Ando Tomoya, Maeda Daizen, Kubo Takefusa, Shiogai Kento, Sato Ryunosuke
Tanaka Ao's in incredible form in the Premier League — Man of the Match, back-to-back goals, assists — so why isn't he on the list?
Doan's too slow these days, so he's been demoted to wingback.
Kubo's growth has stalled.
Nobody's been able to pick up the torch.
In terms of contribution to the national team, even Doan ranks below Ito.
As for Kubo, he can't produce the numbers, so he's not even in the conversation.
There are players with a playing style close to Ito Junya's, but they probably won't get called up until Oiwa becomes manager.
Fukui at Arouca ← a 22-year-old defensive midfielder doing well in the Portuguese league
Nikki at Union ← a starting center-back for a club sitting top of the Belgian league
Nothing changes until the manager does.
Honestly, I've had enough of Poichi (Moriyasu's nickname).
8 years of looking at the same face — I'm sick of it.
Of course they're starting Tanaka Ao — he's in incredible form in the Premier League. Do you know nothing about football?
Even the official UK ratings marked Tanaka as the culprit.
'E' stands for an error leading to a goal, and Tanaka's got one against his name.
This is from the stats officially used by the English FA, the same system used for things like Mitoma's Team of the Week picks.
https://imgur.com/NOrY7EF.jpeg
The key point is that nobody got an 'E' for the first goal conceded.
That means when no one's clearly at fault for a goal, they don't assign an 'E' at all.
So the fact that Tanaka has an 'E' means the second goal conceded was clearly down to him.
Background and Talking Points
The Kirin Cup is held every year as a set of squad-strengthening friendlies, and squad numbers are usually decided by individual player preference and convention. Tanaka Ao and Kubo Takefusa reverting to numbers different from the ones they wore at the World Cup falls well within that normal tournament-to-tournament practice and isn’t especially unusual. What actually divided the thread wasn’t the numbers themselves but manager Moriyasu’s selection policy — criticism that he “prioritizes Big 5 league players too much” coexisted with criticism that “underperforming players based overseas should be dropped.” Views on Tanaka Ao split between critics citing British media rating data and others pointing to his strong form in the Premier League, but neither side laid out the full picture of the primary source, so it’s best not to take either claim alone as settled fact.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Newsflash+) thread “[Football] Kirin Cup squad numbers decided! First-timer Matsuki Kuryu gets “19,” Tanaka Ao “17,” and Kubo Takefusa “20” — back to familiar numbers.”
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