Japan international Wataru Endo has announced his retirement from international football, with a persistent foot injury ruling the Liverpool midfielder out of the World Cup.
The problem first emerged during a match against Sunderland on 11 February, marking his final club appearance of the season.
Despite playing 45 minutes in a 1-0 World Cup warm-up victory over Iceland, his recovery has not progressed as hoped.
Writing on X, Endo conveyed his mixed emotions.
“I will be leaving the World Cup squad. Since my injury, I’ve done everything I could, so I have no regrets,” he stated. “Of course I’m frustrated at not being able to participate in this World Cup.”
He added: “But more than that, I’m proud to have led this team as captain since the Qatar World Cup and to see it grow into a group that can naturally talk about the goal of winning the World Cup.”
Concluding, Endo confirmed: “With this action, I will be retiring from the national team. From now on, I’ll continue to support the Japan national team as a fan alone.”
Japan are due to play their first match of the tournament when they face the Netherlands on Sunday.
They will be hoping to make a positive start without Endo, and showed their undoubted quality by beating England 1-0 in a friendly at Wembley back in March.
Japan are also in the same group as Sweden and Tunisia as they set their sights on reaching the knockout stages.
They have reached the round of 16 in the last two editions of the World Cup, and came through a difficult group four years ago that contained Spain and Germany.
Japan are yet to make it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
