Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima is confident he can retain his place in the national team for the upcoming games against Iraq and Singapore, despite having hardly featured for Standard Liege in the second half of this past season.

Japan boss Vahid Halilhodzic has clearly stated he wants players to be starting regularly at their respective clubs, but Kawashima has only played once since October — in a 3-0 defeat to Feyenoord in the Europa League in December — and he recently has left the Belgian first-division team for a “new challenge.”

“Without confidence you cannot stay in the national team, that’s for sure,” Kawashima told Kyodo News at Japan’s training camp in Chiba Prefecture on Saturday. “I know that I was not playing at my club and without playing games it is difficult to stay in the national team. The coach has told me that.

“But I still have confidence and I have to show it on the pitch every day in training and also in the games,” added the multilingual 32-year-old.

Kawashima, Japan’s first choice keeper at the last two World Cups, says he turned down a new contract with Standard last season after it failed to qualify for the Champions League.

“Standard offered me a new contract last season. My first priority was to play in the Champions League and if we could have won the playoff last season then automatically we could have played in the Champions League, but eventually we couldn’t get a ticket. I’ve played in Belgium for five seasons and I need a new challenge in Europe.”

Kawashima, who joined Standard from Lierse in 2012, did not reveal whether he has had any offers from clubs in Europe but said he had not considered a move back to the J. League if it did not work out.

“It will (work out). I haven’t considered going back to Japan for this moment. When I went to Belgium for the first time my goal was higher than this, so even after five years I don’t feel like I have achieved something in Europe as a goalkeeper.

“But I cannot talk about my future now. Now I am focused on what we are doing in the national team in these two games.”

Japan plays Iraq in a friendly in Yokohama next week and begins its bid to reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia with a second-round Group E qualifier against Singapore in Saitama on June 16.