Soccer-Aguirre recalls Kagawa and Havenaar to face Brazil

TOKYO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Japan boss Javier Aguirre recalled playmaker Shinji Kagawa and tall striker Mike Havenaar to another experimental squad for the friendly matches against Brazil and Jamaica later this month. The Mexican also included the uncapped trio of Gen Shoji, Tsukasa Shiotani and Yu Kobayashi in the 23-man squad named on Wednesday for the fixtures in Niigata against the Jamaicans on Oct. 10 and the five times World Cup winners in Singapore four days later. Aguirre replaced Alberto Zaccheroni as head coach in July but only took charge of the Asian champions for the first time last month in a disappointing 2-0 home loss to Uruguay and 2-2 draw with Venezuela. The 55-year-old called up eight uncapped players for that first squad as he attempted to give a chance to as many as possible before the defence of their Asian Cup title in January in Australia. Kagawa missed the opening two matches after he suffered concussion in a English League Cup match for Manchester United, but the attacking midfielder is back in the squad after some sound displays since switching to his former club, Borussia Dortmund. Aguirre hinted at a central role for the playmaker, who was shunted wide at United and under former Japan boss Zaccheroni. "I would like to see him in the centre of a 4-3-3 formation," Aguirre told reporters. Captain Makoto Hasebe was not named in the 23 despite returning to fitness with German side Eintracht Frankfurt after he was forced to pull out of the Venezuela and Uruguay fixtures following another issue with his troublesome knee. "I can take a look at new players in these two games," Aguirre said. "The door to the national team is always open." However, Havenaar, born in Japan to Dutch parents, was called up by the former Atletico Madrid and Mexico boss despite failing to find the net for his new Spanish side Cordoba following a close season move from Vitesse Arnhem in Netherlands. It was Havenaar's first call up for a year after he missed the dire World Cup campaign in Brazil, where Japan exited in the group stage after only taking one point which led to Zaccheroni's departure. Squad: Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Red Diamonds), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo) Defenders: Hiroki Mizumoto (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Kosuke Ota (FC Tokyo), Daigo Nishi (Kashima Antlers), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Tsukasa Shiotani (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Gotoku Sakai (VfB Stuttgart), Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers) Midfielders: Hajime Hosogai (Hertha Berlin), Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo), Junya Tanaka (Sporting Lisbon), Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund), Ryota Morioka (Vissel Kobe), Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima Antlers) Forwards: Shinji Okazaki (Mainz 05), Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Mike Havenaar (Cordoba), Yu Kobayashi (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoichiro Kakitani (FC Basel), Yoshinori Muto (FC Tokyo) (Reporting by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)