Two days ahead of their third match of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2019 against the Korea Republic Women's National Team, the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women’s National Team) spent the entire day to recover their conditions on Sunday 15 December.

After going through two matches in a four day span, the team cancelled their morning training session to hold a recovery session at their hotel’s gym. While the players who started the match against China PR conducted a recovery menu, the rest of the players were seen taking light jogs and going through core trainings to work up a sweat.

During the team meeting held in the afternoon, physical coach HIROSE Norikazu shared an analytical report on the team’s performance since the World Cup. From the report, the players were told that there are plenty of room for improvements in the physical aspects and that the players must work to improve their physical strengths in order to help the team reach their goal at the Tokyo Olympics.

The team also spent their time analysing their match against China PR to address the positives and negatives from the match. While assessing the positive aspects, the coaching staffs made it clear that it is important that the team acknowledges their flaws in order to make necessary adjustments to improve as a team.

The Nadeshiko Japan will face the Korea Republic Women’s National Team on Tuesday 17 December, with a kick-off time of 19:30.

Players' Comments

DF 20 MATSUBARA Arisa (Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara)
Until this tournament, I haven’t played in an official match for the national team since February’s USA tour. I have now played in two full matches, and I am very happy to play in front of the crowd. Personally, it’s been I while since I played against a team from Asia, so I am feeling pretty excited. The fact that we have kept a clean sheet in both matches gives us great confidence. We can clinch the title if we can keep a clean sheet in our next match against Korea Republic, so we hope to continue on this trend. However, we are not playing for a tie game. As a defender, I will focus on getting my job done to contain the momentum of our opponent’s attacks. The defence line must direct the team to apply collective pressure while making plays that will initiate our team’s offence.

MF 3 KURISHIMA Akari (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies)
Our team is surrounded by a very positive atmosphere. We are constantly talking to each other on and off the pitch. It’s great to see our team score multiple goals, but it’s also nice to see us keep a clean sheet in both matches. Everyone on this team is feeling the responsibility to take the lead, and we are eager to earn another shutout victory in our final match against Korea Republic.

MF 19 ENDO Jun (Nippon TV Beleza)
Since I first joined the team at the MS&AD Cup in November 2018, each player has gotten so much stronger and we are keener to win each match, especially after the World Cup. The players are much more active in communicating with each other on the pitch, which is making this team stronger. It is great that we have kept a clean sheet in both matches thus far at this tournament. Although there were tough stretches against China PR, we kept encouraging ourselves to keep on fighting as a team. Ahead of our match against Korea Republic, we must stick together as a team to win the title. By winning this tournament, we will gain great confidence towards our next step, and spread more recognition about women’s football, so our next match will be a crucial match for us.

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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