Japan manager Philippe Troussier on Thursday called up all of the overseas-based Japan players and recalled four home-based players to his 25-member squad for Japan's European tour starting next week.

As a part of its World Cup preparations, Japan will play Senegal on Oct. 4 in Lens, France, and Nigeria on Oct. 7 in Southampton, England -- two of the African countries that have secured their spot in next year's World Cup.

The squad includes midfielders Hidetoshi Nakata of Parma, Shinji Ono of Feyenoord, Junji Inamoto of Arsenal, and forward Akinori Nishizawa of Bolton. South American based Boca Juniors forward Naohiro Takahara and Cero Portano midfielder Nozomi Hiroyama will also join the squad.

Jubilo Iwata midfielder Takashi Fukunishi and Gamba Osaka forward Kota Yoshihara have returned to the squad for the first time in two years and Gamba defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Sanfrecce Hiroshima defender Kenichi Uemura have also won call-ups -- having previously played in the Kirin Cup in July.

The four recalled players earned their spot after attending the recent two-day tryout camp, though none of the new faces that attended the camp were called up to the squad. But Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura, Jubilo striker Masashi Nakayama, Cerezo Osaka midfielder Hiroaki Morishima and Nagoya Grampus goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki were excluded.

Troussier said the reasons for their exclusion were that "either they are not fit enough to be included or they had already proved their ability, and I wanted to look at alternatives."

Troussier added that he wanted to use the two games to work on various combinations and playing styles, and see how the team has developed as a unit.

"African teams have a different playing style from Asians, Europeans and Americans. By playing Senegal and Nigeria, we can learn something new and obtain as much information about them as possible," Troussier said.

The team will get together on Sunday and will fly to Paris on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Japan Football Association technical development committee held a meeting on whether to carry out Japan's tour to Europe as a result of the increasing tension between the United States and Afghanistan.

After the meeting, Kozo Kinomoto, head of the committee, said that the association is, for the time being, going ahead with the tour as scheduled. "I heard that some of our players are worried about the situation. But the tour will go ahead as long as nothing crucial happens."