Yukinari Sugawara is in Japan’s selection for the Asia Cup. The Asian Championship starts on January 12 in Qatar and lasts until February 10. It is the second player that AZ will have to miss in the coming weeks. It was previously known that goalkeeper Mathew Ryan was in the Australia selection.
It is the first time for Sugawara to play a final tournament with Japan. However, he has already played nine times for Japan and managed to score once.
“It has always been a dream for me to be part of the national team. I have worked hard for this. It really feels like a reward for all the hard work I have put in,” Sugawara says on the AZ website .
Japan is one of the favorites to win the tournament. The Japanese start on January 14 with a match against Vietnam. Iraq and Indonesia are the other two countries in group D.
AZ
The 23-year-old footballer came to play for AZ in 2019. In recent years he has been a permanent fixture in Pascal Jansen’s team. He started in all matches for the Alkmaarders this season.