Kaoru Mitoma has been left out of Japan's 26-man squad for the World Cup this summer after the Brighton winger suffered a hamstring injury in last weekend's 3-0 win against Wolves. The 28-year-old will also miss Brighton's final two Premier League games of the season against Leeds United and Manchester United.

Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu named his squad on Friday and did not include Mitoma, despite the winger's growing role since making his debut for the national team in 2021. Moriyasu said Japan had lost "a major presence" in Mitoma and added, "This will hurt him more than it hurts anyone." He also said, "I hope once he gets over this, he will recover as quickly as possible and get back to playing with total freedom."

Mitoma has scored nine goals in 31 appearances for Japan, but his absence comes at a difficult moment for a team preparing for an expanded 48-team World Cup that starts on 11 June and is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Japan are in Group F and open their tournament against the Netherlands on 14 June before facing Tunisia on 21 June and Sweden five days later.

Japan's squad still includes Wataru Endo, Daichi Kamada, Ao Tanaka and Daizen Maeda, giving Moriyasu experienced options even without one of his most dangerous wide players. The omission also underlines how much Brighton will have to manage Mitoma's recovery carefully after the club's new head coach, Fabian Hurzeler, said on Thursday they "really have to be patient" and "we cannot give a clear schedule" for when he will be fit again.

That uncertainty is the problem for both club and country. Mitoma is expected to be sidelined long enough to miss the rest of Brighton's league run, but Japan must now plan a World Cup campaign without a player Moriyasu clearly sees as central to his side's attack. The immediate test for Brighton is recovery; for Japan, it is whether a squad built to compete at the highest level can absorb the loss of a winger with Mitoma's pace, end product and timing.