Two days ago, Wataru Endo was telling reporters Japan would achieve "something we've never seen before in Japan's soccer history." Today, he's out of the World Cup.
Japan confirmed on Thursday that their captain has withdrawn from the squad after suffering a setback in his recovery from the broken left foot he sustained back in February. He's spent the past week back in solo training at the national team's Nashville camp — the same isolated grind he was doing for much of Liverpool's second half of the season. Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Shuto Machino comes in as his replacement.
A setback that changes Japan's whole dynamic
The timeline makes this particularly hard to absorb. Endo had surgery in February, missed the bulk of the 2025-26 campaign, then appeared to be tracking toward fitness — he even played a half in Japan's warm-up friendly against Iceland on May 31st. There were no serious alarm bells. Now this.
Losing a captain is never just a tactical problem. Endo is 33, a Liverpool regular, and the kind of central midfielder who organizes everything around him. Japan's squad has genuine quality, but there's a reason he's worn the armband — his absence reshapes the team's shape, its tempo, and its identity in the group stage and beyond.
For anyone pricing Japan's tournament odds, this is the kind of disruption that compounds. Midfield control is where Japan have been most competitive against elite opposition. That equation just got a lot harder.
Machino is a forward, not a direct replacement in any positional sense — Japan's coaching staff will need to restructure rather than simply slot someone in. It's a problem without a clean solution.
Endo's last public words on the matter: "We will do our best with pride and passion." Whether Japan can deliver on that without him is the question the tournament will answer.
