(Reuters) – Japan suffered a blow in their bid to lock up a spot at the 2026 World Cup finals 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 a Eredivisie clash last Wednesday, Feyenoord said in a statement.”Ayase Ueda will no longer play this calendar year,” the club said. “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 World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia on Nov. 15 and China four days later.
Japan, looking to qualify for an eighth straight edition of the World Cup finals, lead Group C of the third round of Asian qualifying by five points over Australia after four of the 10 rounds.
The top two from each group will punch their tickets to the 2026 finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
