JAKARTA - The Japanese National Team (Timnas) midfielder, Wataru Endo, implies that his successor as captain has been found.
He revealed this after the match against the Indonesian national team in the final match of Group C of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round at Suita Stadium, Osaka, June 10, 2025.
In the match which ended with a 6-0 victory, Endo saw Takefusa Kubo have good leadership when carrying the armband of the Japanese national team.
"I think this is a good opportunity. Kubo has always shown in training that he will be the one to lead the team even though the team members have changed."
"I think it's because of the manager's trust so he can play like this," said Endo praising Kubo's 24-year-old leadership, quoted from Japanese media Soccer Diggest.
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Kubo marked the captain's armband for the first time with Samurai Blue on his 44th appearance, which ended in special with a record of one goal and two assists. The goal record made him collect seven goals and 15 assists for the Japanese national team.
His appearance on the field for 69 minutes also inspired his team's victory in the closing match of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round.
The Real Sociedad player scored in the 19th minute. The other five goals were scored by Daichi Kamada (15' & 45+5'), Ryoya Morishita (55'), Shuto Machino (58'), and Mao Hoskya (80').
Meanwhile, Endo previously served as captain of Japan after Maya Yoshida's term was completed at the 2022 World Cup.
Since then, the Liverpool midfielder has not been replaced as the captain of the Blue Samurai.
Endo started with Kubo, but their coach Hajime Moriyasu prefers the right-wing striker as captain against the Indonesian national team.
"That's not something I proposed. At a press conference the day before, I said something, like I thought it would be better if Kamada captained and more players could take on the captain's role."
"Manager told me the day before that I was thinking of making Kubo captain," said Endo when asked if he proposed Kubo to captain.
Meanwhile, when asked if he was interested in serving as captain again, Kubo didn't want to think too much about it.
"I don't have time to do that from now on. For now, I will ask Endo to wear it until after the 2026 World Cup," Kubo said as quoted by Gekisaka.
"I think I'll wear it naturally if it's longer. However, I don't really want to be captain. So I'll do it if I have to," said the player, who has scored seven goals this season and four assists from 52 appearances with Real Sociedad.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
