Wataru Endo has stated that he has no intention of exiting the asian cup too early after liverpool manager Jurgen klopp joked that he wanted mohamed salah, a japan international and africa cup of nations teammate, to be eliminated from their international tournaments at the group stage.
After alexis mac allister was sidelined by injury and left merseyside on new year’s day to join the japan squad, endo, a surprise summer signing from stuttgart, became a regular feature in the reds’ starting lineup. The asian cup will be held until february 10th, while afcon will begin the day later. After the magpies’ victory, salah left, leaving klopp to joke in a press conference that he wanted both players to be knocked out sooner than expected. “i said, if i wish you good luck, it would be a lie!” klopp said earlier this month. “that’s not what i did,” he said.
From a personal standpoint, i’d be gratified if they went out of the group stage, but it’s probably not possible, and they’d then go out and win it as well. “good luck, see you, and come back strong,” the narrator says. We’ll deal with it and will deal with it. “of course, you see the latest games and think it’s a bit strange without them.” I’m pretty sure we’ll find a way, but we’ll have to show it on the field. “endo and japan made a winning start to their asian cup campaign on sunday by defeating vietnam 4-2, with the midfielder scoring an assist, and he responded to klopp’s words of good luck before the match. “of course the coach meant it as a joke, but i do feel very proud that he thinks i should be back at liverpool.” “i’m here now, i’m the captain of the team, and all i’m thinking about is returning the trophy to liverpool.” Endo, 30, helped the reds to reach top of the premier league before returning to international duty, scoring his first goal in the competition in the dramatic 4-3 victory over fulham in early december.
In october, he scored his first goal for the club in a 5-1 europa league thrashing of toulouse, while salah and egypt will face iraq on friday in their afcon opener.
