{"id":3845,"date":"2026-05-11T14:42:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3845"},"modified":"2026-05-11T14:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:42:35","slug":"japan-waits-on-star-forward-mitomas-fitness-for-2026-world-cup-after-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3845","title":{"rendered":"Japan Waits on Star Forward Mitoma&#039;s Fitness For 2026 World Cup After Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu has an anxious wait on the fitness of star forward Kaoru Mitoma before naming a World Cup squad on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>Mitoma limped off with an apparent hamstring injury Saturday in the second half of Brighton\u2019s 3-0 win over Wolverhampton in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>One of Japan\u2019s standout players at the 2022 World Cup, Mitoma scored in a 1-0 win over England in March at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>His World Cup tournament is in doubt five weeks before Japan faces the Netherlands on June 14 in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>&#8220;I hope it\u2019s a minor injury. I was told by staff, \u2018It doesn\u2019t seem minor,\u2019&#8221; Moriyasu was reported telling Japanese media Sunday about Mitoma.<\/p>\n<p><span>Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton &amp; Hove Albion leaves the pitch after sustaining an injury during a Premier League match against Wolverhampton on May 09, 2026. (Photo by Warren Little\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler said &#8220;it looked like a hamstring injury&#8221; but the club would await scan to clarify the severity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>Seventh-place Brighton is still in contention to qualify for the Champions League with two rounds left in the Premier League. England could get a record-tying six entries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>Japan\u2019s World Cup plans are already missing another key forward Takumi Minamino, who tore an ACL playing for Monaco in December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6>Japan also plays Tunisia on June 20 in Monterrey, Mexico then returns to Texas to play Sweden on June 25. The top two in Group F advance to the round of 32 and the third-place team also could join them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-ace7f8b6><i>Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu has an anxious wait on the fitness of star forward Kaoru Mitoma before naming a World Cup squad on Friday. Mitoma limped off with an apparent hamstring injury Saturday in the second half of Brighton\u2019s 3-0 win over Wolverhampton in the Premier League. One of Japan\u2019s standout [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}