JAPAN MISS KAGAWA

The Japanese national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni has said that he has no issues with the absence of the Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa for the upcoming qualifying match against Oman.

Japan are currently top of the standings in the group B, as they have a five point advantage over the likes of Australia and Oman. They will be looking to improve on that advantage when they take on the latter next week. One of the major injury concerns for the manager is the Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa. The 23-year-old former Borussia Dortmund star has been one of the best players for Japan in the last few years.

He will undoubtedly be a big miss according to the manager, but has said that there are a number of quality players within the team according to the manager. The 23-year-old Manchester United midfielder has been injured for the last few weeks. He is not expected to be back until a couple of weeks. So far, the player has made 37 appearances at the international level scoring 12 goals. His most recent appearance for the Japanese national team was in the 1-0 win over France. In his absence, the manager called up more than 13 players based in Europe.

“But don’t forget that the players that have come in to deputise for them have done a great job. Kagawa is not here this time, but I’m sure that whoever fills in for him will do well. Oman are one of the more organised and balanced teams in the group. But they will come at us this time. We have to be very focused,” said the Japanese national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni ahead of this match. After this encounter, Japan will be facing Jordan in the next World Cup qualifying match.

KAGAWA PULLS OUT

The Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa has said that he has pulled out of the World Cup qualification matches against Iraq due to a back injury, but it is not a serious injury that will keep him on the sidelines for much longer.

The Manchester United midfielder has become one of the important players within the team. He has had a good partnership with the new striker Robin van Persie. Hence, there have been fears that Manchester United will miss him for the next couple of matches after he pulled out just a few hours prior to the match against Iraq.

Japan managed to win the match 1-0, and the 23-year-old Shinji Kagawa has played down fears that he will miss the chunk of the Manchester United season due to the back injury. Unofficial statement from the Japanese football Association said that the player felt a little bit of trouble after his first practice session and decided not to take any risks with the injury. Manchester United will be taking on Wigan during the weekend, following which they will be playing against Galatasaray in the first group stage Champions League match at Old Trafford. Manchester United were knocked out of the competition in the group stages last season and will be looking to do better this time around.

“It [the injury] happened in yesterday’s practice. I was holding the ball and went to make a move and in that instant it started to hurt. I won’t take long to recover,” said the midfielder in an interview given to Nikkan Sports. “He felt uncomfortable in his lower back in practice yesterday, and we decided to wait a night and see how it looked, but he’s not at 100 per cent so we’re leaving him off. He didn’t go to the hospital,” said the Japanese FA statement.