Red-hot Gamba Osaka striker Takashi Usami was among 25 players named by manager Vahid Halilhodzic on Monday for Japan's upcoming World Cup qualifier against Singapore and a friendly versus Iraq.
Japan launches its World Cup qualifying campaign on June 16 at Saitama Stadium, five days after hosting Iraq at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium. Halilhodzic won his first two games in charge of Japan in March against Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
Usami is joint top scorer in the J. League so far with 10 goals from 12 games, and sparked Gamba into the Asian Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in seven years.