Head coach Hajime Moriyasu announced his 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, putting his faith in a largely established core of players but omitting several of Japan's top standouts in European competitions as well as longtime Samurai Blue veterans.

The announcement of Japan’s squad for the quadrennial tournament has occasionally produced surprise selections and shock omissions, and Tuesday’s was no different with midfielder Genki Haraguchi and forward Yuya Osako, both of whom appeared at the previous World Cup in Russia, left off the list.

In their stead, Moriyasu has called up a number of players with fewer than 10 senior caps, including Nagoya Grampus winger Yuki Soma, Celtic forward Daizen Maeda and Cercle Brugge forward Ayase Ueda.

Maeda and Ueda are among 13 players, including overage selections, who represented Japan in the men's soccer competition at last year's Tokyo Games — a team also coached by Moriyasu, whose hiring by the Japan Football Association was intended to serve as a bridge between the Olympic and World Cup generations.

“I couldn’t call up everyone who was looking forward to this World Cup, but I thank and honor everyone who has expressed a desire to represent Japan,” Moriyasu said. “No matter how many we can choose, there are lots of good players, and even if we were choosing 30 there would be difficult decisions.

"We selected players who will be on the same wavelength as a team, who will be able to move and link up together, who through their organization will be able to make use of their individual strengths."

The upcoming tournament in Qatar will in many ways be Japan’s greatest World Cup challenge yet, with former champions Germany and Spain as well as 2014 quarterfinalist Costa Rica awaiting the Samurai Blue in Group E. JFA President Kozo Tashima emphasized the national team’s current slogan — “A new landscape” — in urging the team to achieve a first-ever Best 8 appearance and move the country, participating in the event for a seventh straight time, closer to its target of lifting the championship trophy by 2050.

“In order to reach this new landscape, we have to win,” Tashima said. “We’re very happy to have this opportunity to face such strong teams in competition.

“It won’t be easy but first we have to get through this group, out of the Round of 16 and into the quarterfinals, and we’re going to take on this challenge together.”

Just six of Japan’s selections participated in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, including expected third-string goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, defenders Yuto Nagatomo, Maya Yoshida and Hiroki Sakai, and midfielders Wataru Endo and Gaku Shibasaki. Nagatomo and Yoshida are the only players with over 100 international appearances, with Kawashima close behind at 95.

Nagatomo, whose exploits at the 2010 edition in South Africa earned him a move from FC Tokyo to Italy's Cesena that launched a 10-year career in Europe, was selected for his fourth World Cup — a first for a Japanese field player. He is one of nine selected who played in Japan's university leagues before turning professional.

“The experience of veteran players is important, but players with no experience have that ambition of wanting to win a World Cup, and that's what we put our hope in as we made our selections,” Moriyasu said.

Few of the selections strayed significantly from what many had predicted heading into Tuesday’s announcement, with Monaco attacker Takumi Minamino — who scored 10 goals for Japan in qualifying — making the list despite his poor form since joining the French first-division club from Liverpool this summer.

While the England-based threesome of Huddersfield left back Yuta Nakayama, Arsenal center back Takehiro Tomiyasu and Brighton midfielder Kaoru Mitoma were chosen, the same could not be said for Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who has struggled to replicate his explosive club form in Moriyasu’s system, or his teammate Reo Hatate, who has impressed in this fall's Champions League.

The squad nevertheless reflects the proliferation of Japanese players in Europe, with 20 of the 26 belonging to European clubs and just three of the six J. Leaguers — Soma as well as Kawasaki Frontale defenders Shogo Taniguchi and Miki Yamane — having spent their entire career playing for domestic clubs. Just four Europe-based players were selected in 2010, when Japan reached the Round of 16 in South Africa.

Though a number of players are currently recovering from injuries — among them Gladbach center back Ko Itakura, Real Sociedad midfielder Takefusa Kubo and Bochum forward Takuma Asano — Moriyasu said that the JFA had dispatched medical staff to Europe with an eye on having them ready when the Samurai Blue open their campaign against Germany on Nov. 23.

Japan is scheduled to commence its camp in Qatar beginning on Nov. 10. The team has arranged a single pre-tournament warmup against Canada in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 17.

After their Nov. 23 opener against Germany, the Samurai Blue will face Costa Rica on Nov. 27 followed by their Group E finale against Spain on Dec. 1.

Japan squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup:

Goalkeepers: Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden), Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg)

Defenders: Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds), Maya Yoshida (Schalke), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield)

Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove Albion), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Junya Ito (Reims), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus)

Forwards: Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge)