Itakura travels to Asian Cup with Japan

Ko Itakura is in Qatar. The 26-year-old will take part in the AFC Asian Cup, which begins on Friday, with the Japan national team.

Borussia centre-back Ko Itakura (photo: imago images/ANP) has travelled to Qatar, where the Asian Cup will take place over the next few weeks. The 26-year-old’s Japan side will take part in the 18th edition of the tournament, which was originally set to be held in China in summer 2023 before hosting rights were transferred to Qatar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We wish Ko all the best for the tournament. He played 60 minutes of the friendly on Saturday and passed the test of stamina. Therefore, we agreed to let him travel,” says Borussia’s managing director for sport Roland Virkus. “The Asian Cup is a huge tournament for Asian countries, similar to the EUROs for European countries. We therefore respected that the Japanese association wanted to have Ko on board for this important competition.”

The 2024 Asia Cup will kick-off on Friday (17:00 CET) with the game between Qatar, winners in 2019, and Lebanon. Itakura and the Japan national team are set to play their first group game on Sunday 14th January (12:30 CET) against Vietnam. The “Samurai Blue” will face Iraq in their second group game on Friday 19th January (12:30 CET), before taking on Indonesia in their final match in the group stages on Wednesday 24th January (12:30 CET). In total, there are six groups of four teams in the group stages. The top two in each group as well as four of the six best third-placed sides will advance to the round of 16. The final is set to take place on 10th February (16:00 CET), whilst there will be no third-place play-off as was the case in 2019.