Hannover's Japan internationals Hiroshi Kiyotake and Hiroki Sakai have both denied asking Japan coach Javier Aguirre not to select them for the national team's upcoming friendlies against Jamaica and Brazil.

Bundesliga club Hannover on Thursday said on its official Twitter feed that the pair had, with the approval of Aguirre, excused themselves from international duty for the Asian Cup warm-ups against Jamaica in Niigata on Oct. 10 and Brazil in Singapore on Oct. 14.

But both players said Saturday they were simply not given the call by Aguirre and that barring injury they would "never pass on being picked" for the national team.

Sakai was called up for Aguirre's first two games in charge against Uruguay and Venezuela last month. A defensive error from the former Kashiwa Reysol man led to Uruguay's second goal in a 2-0 defeat in Sapporo.

Kiyotake, who like Sakai was a member of Japan's World Cup squad in Brazil this past summer, did not make the previous squad.

Aguirre announced his squad for the Jamaica and Brazil games on Wednesday.