Liverpool star Takumi Minamino started for Japan against Cameroon in an international friendly this week and was substituted off in the 71st minute for Daichi Kamada.
The game ended in a 0-0 stalemate, but ‘the Samurai Blue‘ put in an impressive shift in the Netherlands and were particularly threatening on the right-side of attack.
It was fairly tame affair, with Cameroon frustrating Japan at times, leading to a couple of yellow cards for Genki Haraguchi and Takehiro Tomiyasu early on.
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Minamino played centrally, with Ritsu Doan and Haraguchi on the wings, but was a key cog for his team when they broke forward to attack.
Interestingly, the squad was made up entirely of players from outside of Japan, with locals forced into a two-week quarantine if they were to travel to Europe for the fixture.
It was amazingly Japan’s first game of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Taki was more than excited post-match, sharing a photo of himself in the national team’s kit online.
次の試合も応援してます👊🔥 pic.twitter.com/yDoBTf5LR5
— LFC Japan (@LFCJapan) October 11, 2020
We’d like to just take a moment to fully appreciate Japan’s new home kit, by the way. Gorgeous!
Minamino could be involved again on Tuesday, as the Liverpool star and his national team-mates are up against Ivory Coast in another friendly.