£16m Liverpool player has just suffered shock defeat on international duty, he did manage to score though

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The winter international tournaments continue to go poorly for Liverpool players.

Having started the competition off with a disappointing draw against Mozambique, Mohamed Salah’s Egypt drew at AFCON again last night, this time to Ghana. More than that though, Salah went down with an injury which Liverpool are waiting to hear the extent of.

Things had gone better initially for Wataru Endo and his Japan team in the Asian Cup. They kicked off their own tournament with a 4-2 win over Vietnam at the weekend, Endo registering an assist.

And although he gained another goal contribution this morning, Japan fell to a shock defeat against Iraq.

With his team already 2-0 down heading into injury time, Endo did happily manage a goal for his country. As we’ve come to learn already at Liverpool, the £16m man can be a bit of a weapon in-front of goal.

Just like his first for the Reds, today’s strike was also a header. Watching the ball well from a corner, Endo sneaks in behind the Iraqi goalkeeper to nod into an open net. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get Japan back into the game, as they come away with a disappointing result.

Japan suffer shock defeat

This result is unlikely to be taken at all well in Japan. As one of the biggest footballing nations in the competition, they should have designs on winning it.

Endo certainly does. He recently outlined his desire and ambition to return to Liverpool next month with the trophy in his arms.

Although that could still happen, this surprise loss does not bode well for their chances.

As captain and leader of the team, today’s result will hurt Endo. He likely won’t be bothered to have gotten on the scoresheet light of the eventual result.

But from a Liverpool point of view, it’s still pleasing. It’s always nice to see our players score on international duty.

And as much as we’d love to see Endo go all the way with Japan, we’d also be pleased to see the 30-year-old back at the club.

A big trophy win could boost his confidence no end and that would be fantastic. But Endo has improved so much over the last month, we could really do with him now.

With injuries still causing disruption at Anfield, the 30-year-old could make a real difference to Liverpool.

Today’s result doesn’t mean that that will or won’t be happening. It does put Japan’s place in the next round in some jeopardy, though. They’ll have to be better next time out. Head up, Wataru,