Nadeshiko Japan flew to Edmonton, the site for their quarterfinal match in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup against Australia, in the afternoon of 24 June. The game will be played on the 27th.

The Japanese players, who posted a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in the round of 16 at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver on the previous night, had a walk and stretching to remove their fatigue at the hotel facilities in the morning.

The team seemed cheerful and relaxed during the transfer and smoothly arrived in Edmonton after a flight of an hour and a half. After they arrived at the hotel there, they had no practice, but some of the players jogged while others spent their time on their own, trying to prepare for the following day's practice.

“As we are going to have to play with three day's rest from this point on, the important thing will be our conditioning. We would like to have meaningful time in the two days until the game, trying to get our players on the same page,” Japan head coach SASAKI Norio told the reporters at the Edmonton airport.

Nadeshiko Japan have fared 9-7-5 against Australia, and they have been 6-1-1 under the Sasaki tenure, including their AFC Women's Asia Cup championship win in last year's May. But midfielder KAWASUMI Nahomi (INAX Kobe) warned by saying, “Looking at how they've played in their last four games, Australia have build momentum. I think they are a different team than before.”

Kawasumi pointed out that while Japan would have only three day's rest between their knock-out round first stage game and this game, Australia have five days to prepare. “I think they will come out in a lot better shape,” she said.

The Japan-Australia match will kick off at 2 p.m. on 27 June (5 a.m. of the 28th in Japan time) at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

Head Coach and Players' Comments

SASAKI Norio, Head Coach (Nadeshiko Japan /Japan Women’s National Team)
We all share the thought with our players and staff that we want to play two games in Edmonton to advance to Vancouver for the championship match. I think in our game against the Netherlands, we were able to perform what we'd developed in the previous week. 

Now we are going to have to play with three day's rest between games, so the important thing will be our conditioning.  We would like to have meaningful time in the two days until the game, trying to get our players on the same page. 

You can't take lightly of Australia because you have played them so many times. They've played against strong sides in the U.S., Sweden, Nigeria and Brazil and have come up with results. Based on that, we want to have a better preparation.

We would like to show what we've established and our experience in the Australia game as well. In a tournament like this, I don't think  you can advance to the next stage unless you keep developing.

MF #11   Kawasumi Nahomi (INAC Kobe)
While we are going to have to go with three day's rest, Australia will come in the game with five day's rest, so I think that they are coming in a lot better shape than us. Just looking at their last four games, they have the momentum, so I believe that they are a lot different than who they were when we faced them in last year's AFC Women's Asia Cup final.

You can't drastically change things with three days, but as we got some momentum going by defeating Germany in last World Cup, it's a strength that Nadeshiko can keep their momentum going capitalizing on some opportunity. Our Netherlands game was one of those and hopefully we can make our next match another to give us even more momentum.

As we've played against Australia so many times, it's not easy for us to play with them, but we know them for sure and it will be depending on how much we can take advantage of that for our favor.

FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015

Quarter-Final
Australia Women's National Team  vs.  Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women’s National Team)
Sun. 28 June - 5:00 (Japan time)

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