Japan suffered a blow in their bid to lock up a spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup when striker Ayase Ueda was ruled out for the rest of the year after suffering a hamstring injury playing for his Dutch club Feyenoord.
Ueda was forced to leave the pitch before halftime after sustaining the injury in a 2-0 loss to Ajax in an Eredivisie clash last Wednesday.
"Ayase Ueda will no longer play this calendar year," Feyenoord said in a statement. "The attacker is struggling with a thigh injury that will keep him out until at least the winter break."
The 26-year-old has scored 14 goals in 18 matches for his country over the last two years but will now miss the Asian qualifiers against Indonesia on Nov. 15 and China four days later.
Japan, looking to qualify for an eighth straight edition of the World Cup, lead Group C of the third round of Asian qualifying by five points over Australia after four of the ten rounds.
The top two from each group will punch their tickets to the 2026 finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.