Early Monday, head coach Norio Sasaki announced Nadeshiko Japan’s roster for the women’s soccer tournament at this year’s Summer Olympics in Great Britain (JFA, Japanese version). All eighteen players on the primary roster were part of Japan’s 2011 World Champion squad, including Karina Maruyama, who injured her knee during Olympic qualifying last September. Also making the squad are defender Azusa Iwashimizu and U-20 forward Mana Iwabuchi, who both missed the Volvo Winners Cup in Sweden due to minor injuries (left ankle and foot, respectively). Not among the primary players or alternates is defender Rumi Utsugi, who was injured during Japan’s most recent friendly with the United States.
Included among the four alternates are forward Ami Otaki (listed as “Ohtaki” by the JFA) of Olympique Lyonnais and goalkeeper Erina Yamane who is over 6’1″ tall (brief japandailypress.com story on Yamane from May 2012).
Japan has a send-off friendly versus Australia in Tokyo on July 11th and then a final tune-up friendly against USWNT group opponent France in Paris on July 19th.
As the seeded team in Group F, Japan will face Canada, followed by Sweden and South Africa.
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JAPAN’S SEMI-OFFICIAL OLYMPIC ROSTER
Names are in traditional Japanese order, with the surname first, then the given name.
Goalkeepers (2):
Fukumoto Miho
Kaihori Ayumi
Defenders (5):
Iwashimizu Azusa
Kinga Yukari
Kumagai Saki
Sameshima Aya
Yano Kyoko
Midfielders (5):
Kawasumi Nahomi
Miyama Aya
Sakaguchi Mizuho
Sawa Homare
Tanaka Asuna
Forwards (6):
Ando Kozue
Iwabuchi Mana
Maruyama Karina
Ogimi Yuki*
Ohno Shinobu
Takase Megumi
Alternates:
Yamane Erina (Goalkeeper)
Ariyoshi Saori (Defender)
Kamionobe Megumi (Midfielder)
Ohtaki Ami (Forward)
*Veteran forward Yuki Nagasato, who plays for Germany’s Turbine Potsdam, recently got married and now uses her husband’s surname, Ogimi (for example, see her FIFA.com profile).
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TABLE: Japan’s Semi-Official Olympic Roster, With Selected Statistics
(by position, then by surname)
PLAYER S# P. D.O.B. HT. WT. CAPS G. | WWC Fukumoto Miho 1 GK 10/02/1983 5'5" 143 60 -62 | 0 Kaihori Ayumi 18 GK 09/04/1986 5'7" 141 31 -27 | 600 Iwashimizu Azusa 3 DF 10/14/1986 5'4" 117 77 8 | 600 Kinga Yukari 2 DF 05/02/1984 5'3" 117 79 5 | 600 Kumagai Saki 4 DF 10/17/1990 5'8" 132 41 0 | 600 Sameshima Aya 5 DF 06/16/1987 5'4" 117 45 2 | 600 Yano Kyoko 12 DF 06/03/1984 5'5" 121 72 1 | 0 Kawasumi Nahomi 9 MF 09/23/1985 5'2" 108 31 8 | 223 Miyama Aya 8 MF 01/28/1985 5'2" 115 112 27 | 599 Sakaguchi Mizuho 6 MF 10/15/1987 5'5" 128 53 16 | 585 Sawa Homare 10 MF 09/06/1978 5'5" 119 179 80 | 593 Tanaka Asuna 14 MF 04/23/1988 5'5" 115 14 3 | 1 Ando Kozue 7 FW 07/09/1982 5'5" 126 103 17 | 490 Iwabuchi Mana 16 FW 03/18/1993 5'1" 115 11 2 | 122 Maruyama Karina 13 FW 03/26/1983 5'4" 121 70 14 | 176 Ogimi Yuki* 17 FW 07/15/1987 5'6" 132 83 37 | 371 Ohno Shinobu 11 FW 01/23/1984 5'1" 110 105 37 | 424 Takase Megumi 15 FW 11/10/1990 5'5" 132 26 5 | 4 --- ALTERNATES ------------------------------------------------- Yamane Erina 22 GK 12/20/1990 6'2" 172 0 0 | n/a Ariyoshi Saori ?? DF 11/01/1987 5'3" 115 5 0 | n/a Kamionobe Megumi ?? MF 03/15/1986 5'2" 115 18 2 | 1 Ohtaki Ami ?? FW 07/28/1989 5'8" 130 1 0 | n/a
*Veteran forward Yuki Nagasato, who plays for Germany’s Turbine Potsdam, recently got married and now uses her husband’s surname, Ogimi (for example, see her FIFA.com profile).
Selected Legend:
S# – Shirt number. Only the numbers for the primary 18 players were specified.
HT. – Height, in feet and inches (converted from centimeters and rounded up).
WT. – Weight, in pounds (converted from kilograms, rounded up).
G. – International goals scored.
WWC – Minutes played in the 2011 Women’s World Cup (600 maximum, source: FIFA.com).
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SEE ALSO: Other Olympic Rosters
(in order of release date, most recent first)
Only Cameroon and North Korea have yet to announce their rosters.
Women's Soccer Express 