On Friday 27 July, one day after the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women's National Team) played their first match against the USA Women's National Team in the 2018 Tournament of Nations, the team left for Hartford, Connecticut, where they are scheduled to meet the Brazil Women’s National Team for their second match. Despite their scheduled flight getting cancelled, with the support from the airline, the team managed to get to the match site on the same day.

The team held one last training session on Saturday 28 July prior to their second match of the tournament. The players were left to their own in the morning to do some exercise at the gym at their hotel, followed by a meeting before lunch, in which they reviewed the tapes of their match against the USA. In the afternoon, the team held an official practice session at the match venue, Pratt & Whitney Stadium. The training session was opened to the media for the first 15-minutes, followed by a closed session where the team went over their tactics ahead of their match against Brazil for an hour under the scorching sunlight.

The team analysed the Brazilian team in their night meeting as they went through video clips of their matches. The Brazil side has seen a change of coach last year and are currently going through a phase of generation change. With both teams already qualified for next year’s FIFA World Cup, the next match will be an important match, especially after both teams dropping their first match of the tournament.

The second match against Brazil Women's National Team in the 2018 Tournament of Nations is scheduled to kick-off at 5:20 on Monday 30 July, Japan time.

Coach and Players' Comments

TAKAKURA Asako, Coach of Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women's National Team)
Although the result of the match against the USA seems to be pretty negative, especially after conceding four goals, we know exactly why it happened, hence we can prevent it from happening again. I believe we have shown better ball possession than last year. Also, I’d like to point out that the players stayed physically competitive for the most part of the match, which made me realise our improvement. I’ll talk to the players about our tasks in defence in order to prepare for the game against Brazil.

MF #7 NAKAJIMA Emi (INAC Kobe Leonessa)
After allowing the USA side to keep possession of the ball for such long time, it made me realise that we must get better organised in defence. Having said that, it was good that we managed to score even under such circumstances. If we utilised more one-touch and two-touch passing to move the ball around, we could have performed better. With less than one year before the World Cup, I’d like to practice hard to raise my individual level, so that I can reach the world standard. I’d like to win the two remaining games of this tournament.

MF #14 HASEGAWA Yui (Nippon TV Beleza)
In our match against USA, we managed to evade the opponents’ pressure from their front line by passing the ball around effectively to connect the ball to our attacking players. We also showcased direct passes in the scene where we scored the goal, so I feel like we have gained a positive experience compared to our previous encounters. Despite conceding four goals as a result, the team’s atmosphere remains positive and we have already reset our minds to train ahead of our next match. In our match against Brazil, we would like to show more aggression towards the goal while we still keep our emphasis on ball possession. This tournament provides us with great insight on where we currently stand in the world ahead of next year’s World Cup, so we’d like to keep challenging.

Schedule

*Local Time, Japan time indicated within the parentheses
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

2018 Tournament of Nations

Tournament Dates: Thu. 26 July - Thu. 2 August 2018
Live broadcasting scheduled on NHK BS1
Information on live broadcast(Japanese website)
Tournament Information