On Friday 13 December, one day before their match against the China PR Women's National Team, the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women’s National Team) held a training session and a team meeting to prepare for their second match of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2019.

The training session was held behind closed doors, as the team conducted a scrimmage to go over their tactics while also spending time on their set pieces. Following the training session that lasted about an hour, it was announced that DOKO Mayo will return to Japan due to an injury, leaving the team with a 22 player roster for the remaining two matches.

During the team meeting, coach TAKAKURA Asako went over detailed instructions on how they will approach the match against China PR. While keeping in mind that their opponent has the advantage in height and power, the coach addressed the importance to showcase their usual performance, as she mentioned, “We must give our best efforts in each of these matches. We can grow as a team through tough competitions.”

The Nadeshiko Japan will face the China PR Women’s National Team on Saturday 14 December with a kick-off time of 15:55.

Players' Comments

DF #13 SEIKE Kiko (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies)
In our match against Chinese Taipei, we didn’t really know how our opponent was going to play against us. However, we managed to score an early goal to pick up our pace and showcase our usual performance. Although there were many players I have never played with before, I was able to understand their playing styles through this match. I managed to score a goal from a free kick, and I hope to continue to do so in the following matches. This team is capable of addressing the tasks from each match and work on those tasks to improve ourselves. I can really feel the improvements from our team.

DF #16 MIYAGAWA Asato (Nippon TV Beleza)
We were able to win our match against Chinese Taipei with a score of 9-0 and we managed to showcase our colour in each of the goals. Watch the play from the bench, I knew Seike was going to score from that set-piece. After missing out on the World Cup, I hope to showcase my strong points to help the team in this tournament. Although we are missing Kumagai, we hope to showcase a strong performance and earn a positive result.

MF #6 SUGITA Hina (INAC Kobe Leonessa)
In addition to our usual approach to penetrate the central area and sending early crosses, we also managed to send crosses from a deeper range and make more individual efforts to break through. Honestly, it was an entertaining match to watch from the bench. I hope to play more offensively when I am given the opportunity to play in matches like this. After watching them at the World Cup, I have the impression that China PR is a very strong team that can play with great tenacity and we must keep our guards up when facing them.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2019 Final Korea Republic

Tournament Dates: Tue. 10 - Wed. 18 December 2019
Tournament Venue: Busan Gudeok Stadium/Busan Asiad Main Stadium (Korea Republic)
Participating Countries: Chinese Taipei, China PR, Japan, Korea Republic

Tournament Information

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