Yuki Abe - International Career

International Career

Abe made his senior national team debut on 29 January 2005, in a friendly match against Kazakhstan and scored his first national team goal on 6 September 2006 against Yemen in a 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification match. He was not selected to Japan's 2006 FIFA World Cup team, but he has become a regular under his former JEF United coach Ivica Osim, who took over as the national team head coach after the World Cup. He had previously represented Japan at the Under-20 and Under-23 levels, appearing in all three first round matches at the 2004 Olympics and scoring a goal against Italy. He appeared in all of Japan's games at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Despite missing out on Japan's 2011 Asian Cup victory, on 29 March 2011 he played 45 minutes against the J-League All Stars. On August 4, 2011 Abe was announced in the Japan squad to play South Korea.