With their first match of the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 scheduled on Monday 10 June, the Nadeshiko Japan held a training session in their fourth day in Paris.

With the World Cup entering its official tournament period on Thursday 6 June, many changes were evident surrounding the Nadeshiko Japan. The team rode a bus wrapped in World Cup images, while their training facility was decorated specially for the tournament. Many measures were taken to keep the training sessions behind closed doors, and the security at the hotel has gotten stricter. On this day, the team held a “Community Training Session,” where many local children came to visit their training session and cheered on the team.

During the training session held under the watch of many local children, the Nadeshiko Japan went over various patterns of their attacking plays with the focus on “creating, breaking down, and finishing.” The players were seen constructing their attacks through the build-up plays from their defence line, while mixing up dynamic long balls to turn on their switch in offence. The players were seen conducting their trainings very pleasantly as the children applauded when the ball was delivered upfront.

In the afternoon, a lecture on tournament regulations and a photo shoot session was held at the hotel by FIFA, allowing the players to realise that the tournament has finally begun.

The FIFA Women's World Cup France will kick-off on Friday 7, while Japan will face Argentina in their first group stage match on Monday 10.

Players’ Comments

DF #3 SAMESHIMA Aya (INAC Kobe Leonessa)
Compared to our training session held on the day before, we were able to go through our offensive plays that will take place at a higher position. It allowed us to go over plays to exploit the space behind the opposing fullbacks or penetrating the space in the central area. There are many things we must communicate in detail within our team, but for now, we must focus on getting one subject at a time. In order to spend less time in defence, we need to polish up our plays to force turnovers upfront. The tournament will kick-off tomorrow on the 7th with an intriguing match between the host nation, France, and our fellow neighbour, Korea Republic. I am interested to see how the match goes between these two nations.

DF #22 SHIMIZU Risa (Nippon TV Beleza)
As part of the role of my position, I need to make use of the space created by our forwards, but I wasn’t able to do that in our match against Spain. We spent our time during the training session to get ourselves on the same page in our plays to get the ball carried upfront. I will surely get nervous in our matches at the World Cup, and there will be many difficult situations, but I will make my efforts to enjoy the moment and showcase the best performance I can possibly give.

MF #17 MIURA Narumi (Nippon TV Beleza)
During today’s training session, we were able to go through our plays to allow our centre halves to carry the ball upfront, while the defensive midfielders also sought for ways to carry the ball into the final third. In our recent match against Spain, I was given the opportunity to come off the bench in the second half, but it made me want to play in more matches. The match also gave me some new perspectives by watching our team play from the bench, so I hope to implement what I’ve learned and work hard to get better as a player.

Schedule

Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women’s National Team) Squad, Schedule

FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019

Tournament Dates: Fri. 7 June - Sun. 7 July 2019

Group Stage:
Tue. 11 June 2019 01:00 (Japan time)
vs Argentina Women's National Team

Fri. 14 June 2019 22:00 (Japan time)
vs Scotland Women's National Team

Thu. 20 June 2019 04:00 (Japan time)
vs England Women's National Team

Tournament Information