Brighton and Hove Albion star, Kaoru Mitoma, has suffered a long injury so he is threatened with missing out on playing against the Garuda Squad, namely the Japanese National Team, in the 2023 Asian Cup. Mitoma’s injury could be good news for the Indonesian National Team, which is also in Group D with Japan.
Mitoma suffered an ankle injury in the middle of last week when his team was held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace. His condition still needs to be checked further after the match so it is not yet known how long he will be absent.
However, now Brighton coach, Roberto De Zerbi, has confirmed that the 26 year old winger will be absent when his team plays Tottenham Hotspur in the 2023/2024 Premier League match on Friday (29/12/2023). In fact, Mitoma is expected to be absent for the next six weeks.
“Tomorrow we have approximately 10 injured players, maybe eight, but two (other) players cannot start the match,” said De Zerbi as quoted by Japan Today, Thursday (28/12/2023).
“Mitoma is one of them. “We lost Kaoru for about six weeks,” he added.
In this way, Mitoma is threatened and may even be certain to be absent from defending the Japanese national team at the 2024 Asian Cup. This is because the biggest football tournament between countries on the Yellow Continent will be held next month, to be precise from January 12 to February 10 in Qatar.
Mitoma’s absence is clearly good news for the Indonesian national team, which will face Japan in Group D of the 2023 Asian Cup along with Iraq and Vietnam. At least, one of the ultimate weapons of the Blue Samurai – the nickname of the Japanese National Team – has been reduced.
Nevertheless, Shin Tae Yong’s team cannot let their guard down even though Mitoma is absent from defending Japan. Because, there are still names of other good players in the Sakura Country squad such as Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic) and several other players who have careers in clubs. top European.
