{"id":36206,"date":"2026-06-14T00:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T00:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T00:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T00:28:27","slug":"japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) &#8211; Japan&#8217;s coach Hajime Moriyasu has made the final decision that team captain Wataru Endo will not play in the game. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">world cup<\/span> The 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder likely missed the full game due to an injury to his left foot.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Moriyasu said on Saturday, on the eve of Japan&#8217;s first Group F match against the Netherlands, that it was difficult to convey his thoughts to Endo. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Decision made earlier this week<\/span>. The coach said Endo showed respect and understanding.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Moriyasu said through an interpreter, &#8220;We asked him to do his best and the medical staff took care of him.&#8221; &#8220;We discussed during the World Cup that it might be difficult for him to perform for the entire duration of the match.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The coach said it was a decision he &#8220;had to make.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Endo, who played for Japan at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, underwent surgery on his left foot in February. He made his return by appearing at halftime in Japan&#8217;s 1-0 win in a preliminary match against Iceland in Tokyo on May 31. He then traveled to the United States with his team to undergo physical therapy.<\/p>\n<p>The Japan Football Association announced on Thursday that Endo had withdrawn from the national team due to injury. He then announced his sudden retirement from the national team.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since my injury, I have done everything I can. I have no regrets,&#8221; Endo said in a social media post this week, adding, &#8220;As a fan, I will support the Japanese national team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Defender Akira Itakura, who plays for Ajax in the Netherlands, has been appointed as the new captain. Borussia Monchengladbach forward Osamu Machino was called up to replace Endo.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP World Cup coverage: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-endo-japan-2dfda2980312b2115daaa428cc2e1563\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) &#8211; Japan&#8217;s coach Hajime Moriyasu has made the final decision that team captain Wataru Endo will not play in the game. world cup The 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder likely missed the full game due to an injury to his left foot. Coach Moriyasu said on Saturday, on the eve of Japan&#8217;s first Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) &#8211; Japan&#8217;s coach Hajime Moriyasu has made the final decision that team captain Wataru Endo will not play in the game. world cup The 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder likely missed the full game due to an injury to his left foot. Coach Moriyasu said on Saturday, on the eve of Japan&#8217;s first Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-14T00:28:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/\",\"name\":\"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fd22F892F9b735ee972270a1db09da3e139262Fdc7bc2af4f384df785a3eeb0f34d8f45.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-14T00:28:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fd22F892F9b735ee972270a1db09da3e139262Fdc7bc2af4f384df785a3eeb0f34d8f45.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fd22F892F9b735ee972270a1db09da3e139262Fdc7bc2af4f384df785a3eeb0f34d8f45.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","og_description":"ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) &#8211; Japan&#8217;s coach Hajime Moriyasu has made the final decision that team captain Wataru Endo will not play in the game. world cup The 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder likely missed the full game due to an injury to his left foot. Coach Moriyasu said on Saturday, on the eve of Japan&#8217;s first Group","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","article_published_time":"2026-06-14T00:28:27+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/","name":"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fd22F892F9b735ee972270a1db09da3e139262Fdc7bc2af4f384df785a3eeb0f34d8f45.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-06-14T00:28:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fd22F892F9b735ee972270a1db09da3e139262Fdc7bc2af4f384df785a3eeb0f34d8f45.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fd22F892F9b735ee972270a1db09da3e139262Fdc7bc2af4f384df785a3eeb0f34d8f45.jpeg","width":980,"height":653},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/japan-national-team-coach-says-he-made-a-difficult-decision-to-keep-captain-wataru-endo-away-from-the-world-cup\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japan national team coach says he made a difficult decision to keep captain Wataru Endo away from the World Cup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}