LIEGE, BELGIUM – With playmakers Shinji Kagawa and Hiroshi Kiyotake sidelined due to injuries, Japan manager Vahid Halilhodzic may call upon Belgium-based midfielder Ryota Morioka to provide attacking spark in Friday’s World Cup warm-up against Mali.
The 26-year-old, who has only four caps for the national side since his 2014 debut, plays club soccer with Belgian Pro League club Anderlecht, just a one-and-a-half-hour drive from the venue for the international friendly in Liege, an eastern Belgium city.
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