Wataru Endo has shared his ‘frustration’ at seeing his dream of captaining his country at the World Cup go up in smoke due to injury.
The Liverpool midfielder’s club season was abruptly cut short in February when he tore ankle ligaments in the 1-0 win away to Sunderland, although he recovered in time to be included in the Japan squad for this summer’s finals in North America.
The 33-year-old made a comeback appearance in his nation’s friendly defeat of Iceland at the end of May, and he was all set to lead the Blue Samurai into battle at the tournament later this month.
However, in a defiant and emotional statement on X, Endo confirmed his withdrawal from the World Cup and also his retirement from international football, having been unable to properly shake off his ankle injury.
Liverpool’s number 3 posted (translated from Japanese): ‘As announced, I will be stepping away from the World Cup squad. Since my injury, I’ve done everything I possibly could up to this point, so I have no regrets whatsoever.
‘Of course, there’s frustration at not being able to participate in this World Cup, but more than that, I’m proud of how we’ve grown together since the Qatar World Cup – me as captain, leading this team and turning our goal of “winning the World Cup” into something we can say as a matter of course.
‘The current team is truly a wonderful team. I believe they will overcome any adversity and show us sights we’ve never seen before.
‘With this campaign, I will be retiring from the national team. From hereon, I’ll be cheering for the Japan national team as one of the fans. The moment when the Japan national team wins the World Cup will surely come someday.
‘Let’s believe in that and cheer them on together, and let’s unite Japan’s strength as one so that moment comes in this tournament – everyone, let’s take on the North and Central America World Cup together!! Everyone, give it everything you’ve got.’
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Although this was Endo’s third time being called up for the World Cup, he’s only played in one edition of the tournament – he was an unusued member of the Japan squad in 2018 which bowed out to Belgium in the last 16 in Russia.
For the midfielder to be deprived of the opportunity to captain his country on the biggest stage of all is devastating, especially when he’d fought so hard in his race against time to regain fitness by the time the finals came around.
It means that he now won’t go up against Liverpool teammates Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch when the Blue Samurai face Netherlands on Sunday, nor against Alexander Isak and Sweden in their final Group F match.
While Endo’s enforced withdrawal from the World Cup is gutting for him, from a Reds perspective it means that he should be fresher by the time Andoni Iraola’s squad reconvene at the AXA Training Centre next month to begin pre-season preparations.
It remains to be seen just how much the 33-year-old will be used under the new head coach, but he’s repeatedly proven over the past three seasons just how valuable he can be for his club, especially when it comes to seeing out tightly-contested victories.
The international career of a Japanese great wasn’t supposed to end on such an anticlimactic note, but hopefully the ever-defiant midfield warrior can make a vital contribution for Liverpool next term.
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