Kagawa, Honda in Japan squad for friendlies

TOKYO (AP) — Dortmund midfielder Shinji Kagawa and AC Milan's Keisuke Honda are in Japan's 23-man squad for Asian Cup warm-up matches against Jamaica and Brazil.

Japan coach Javier Aguirre also called up Mainz striker Shinji Okazaki, Cordoba forward Mike Havenaar, and three uncapped players — J-Leaguers Gen Shoji, Tsukasa Shiotani, and Yu Kobayashi — as he looks for his first win since taking over from Alberto Zaccheroni.

Kagawa missed Japan's first two games under Aguirre because of a concussion.

"I would like to see him (Kagawa) in the center of a 4-3-3 formation," Aguirre said on Wednesday. "That is where he played in the beginning at Dortmund."

Japan plays Jamaica in Niigata on Oct. 10, and Brazil in Singapore four days later.

It has two more friendlies before beginning the defense of the Asian Cup in Australia in January; Honduras in Toyota on Nov. 14, and Australia in Osaka on Nov. 18.

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Japan:

Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo).

Defenders: Hiroki Mizumoto (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Kosuke Ota (FC Tokyo), Daigo Nishi (Kashima Antlers), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Tsukasa Shiotani (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Gotoku Sakai (Stuttgart), Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers).

Midfielders: Hajime Hosogai (Hertha Berlin), Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo), Junya Tanaka (Sporting Lisbon), Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund), Ryota Morioka (Vissel Kobe), Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima Antlers).

Forwards: Shinji Okazaki (Mainz), Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Mike Havenaar (Cordoba), Yu Kobayashi (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoichiro Kakitani (Basel), Yoshinori Muto (FC Tokyo).