Japan lost its captain on the eve of the World Cup when Wataru Endo withdrew from the squad because of a foot injury and then said he was retiring from international duty. The Japan Football Association announced the decision on Thursday, three days before Japan were due to open Group F against the Netherlands.
Endo, 33, had been the face of Japan's leadership since the last World Cup, and his exit leaves a sudden hole at the center of both the team and the tournament plan. Ko Itakura, the Ajax defender, was named captain in his place, while Borussia Monchengladbach forward Shuto Machino was called up as Endo's replacement.
The timing lands hard because Endo had only just made a partial return to full-team training on Wednesday near Nashville, Tennessee, after working separately from the rest of the squad at Japan's base camp. He underwent surgery on his left foot in late February, and his latest setback followed a stop-start buildup that also saw him come off at halftime in Japan's send-off game against Iceland on May 31 in Tokyo.
Endo did not sound like a player walking away in defeat. On X, he said he had done everything he could since getting injured and had no regret, even if there was frustration at missing the World Cup. He said he was proud to have led and grown together with a team that could naturally talk about winning the World Cup, and urged supporters to get behind Japan as the tournament kicked off the same day.
That is the sharp edge of this move: Japan is not only losing a captain, it is losing a midfielder who had helped set the tone for a team that believed it could aim at the trophy. Ko Itakura acknowledged how hard the decision was to accept, saying Endo stayed calm and that the squad understood the resolve he had shown. Endo, for his part, said he would now support Japan as a fan, while the team turns to its opening match against the Netherlands without the man who had worn the armband through its most ambitious stretch.
The unanswered question is not whether Japan can regroup, but how quickly it can do so at a World Cup that starts without its captain.
