The Copa Total Sudamericana 2013 champion, FC Lanus of Argentina, arrived in Japan on Thursday 31 July for the Suruga Bank Championship 2014 CHIBA to be held at Kashiwa Soccer Stadium in Chiba on Wednesday 6 June.

Considering the long trip from home and the time difference, their first practice in Japan only saw light workouts such as running and shuttle run.
Most of the players have never been in Asia, much less in Japan. When they are not on the field for practice, they were curiously walking around the hotel and checking things out.

Comments

Guillermo BARROS SCHELOTTO, Head Coach
This is my fifth time to be here in Japan. Japanese people are always kind, and cities are beautiful and organized.
Lanus haven’t won so many titles yet, so this Suruga Bank Championship is very important for us. We arrived six days prior to the match, because we want to win this one very much. The season and the weather are different. (It is in the middle of winter in Argentina.) The time difference is 12 hours. We just had 24 hours of traveling. We are in a very tough situation. But we will get back into a good shape by the time we play the match, and we want to win the title by all means.
We have many talented players. We can control the ball very well and are very aggressive. Of course we pay attention to the defence as well.
We will show fantastic and spectacular football to the people in Japan.

MF Leandro SOMOZA
First of all I am very happy to be here in Japan, so far away from Argentina. This is my first time to be here, but I think it’s a very beautiful country. We have very good ball control and we are very offensive. We would like to show a playing style that you cannot find in Japan.
This Suruga Bank Championship is a very important international title for us, so I would like to take it back home. We are not in the best shape, because we have the jet lag and fatigue from the long traveling. So for this title, we will make sure to adjust it for the next five days to the match.

DF Maximiliano VELAZQUEZ
We have had only a few days since our arrival, but I have been impressed with beautiful cities and friendly people.
Our style is to put aggressive pressure on the other team’s ball and quickly start our attacks from there. We have never played in an international tournament outside of South America, but we are confident in our play style. Even though Kashiwa is the Yamazaki Nabisco Champion, I am sure we will be dangerous for them.
We would like Japanese people to come to the stadium and watch our football.
And we would also like to win this important Suruga Bank Championship title.

SURUGA Bank Championship 2014 Chiba
J.LEAGUE YAMAZAKI NABISCO CUP / COPA TOTAL SUDAMERICANA

Wednesday 6 August 2014 kick-off at 19:00 (schedule)
Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium

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