By David Gold
April 18 – Japan’s plans to take part in the Copa America are facing another threat after German clubs including Borussia Dortmund announced that they were unwilling to release their players for the tournament, taking place in Argentina this July.
The Bundesliga leaders stated their opposition to the release of midfield playmaker Shinji Kagawa, whilst their German rivals and Champions League semi-finalists Schalke 04 are refusing to allow Atsuto Achida to take part in the competition.
VFB Stuttgart are also reluctant to allow Shinji Okazaki to play for his country this summer.
The J-League have since stated that they won’t budge on their insistence that a third of Japan’s 22 man squad come from European teams.
“The agreement we reached with the Japan Football Association (JFA) is that the J-League would release seven or eight young players,” the J-League’s Hisao Shuto told Reuters.
“The rest of the 22 players would come from Europe.
“The understanding was the South American federation (CONMEBOL) was to negotiate with FIFA for the release of the other 14 or 15.
“We have a league to play and those were the conditions agreed.
“We can’t change the schedule of the J-League again.”
There is some optimism that promising Arsenal midfielder Ryo Miyaichi (pictured) could play though, as the youngster is not yet a part of his club’s first team squad.
Keisuke Honda, another of the squad’s key members, is playing in Russia for CSKA Moscow, and though it is not yet known if he would be permitted to play for Japan, the changes being made to the country’s league system means he could be available.
The Russian Premier League is reverting to an autumn-spring schedule in line with the rest of Europe’s major leagues, and therefore the new league season, which started last month, will finish later this spring rather than run through the summer as it usually would.
FIFA regulations do not force clubs to release players for the Japanese squad because the Asian Cup champions have been invited to play in the Copa America as guests.
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