The Beach Soccer Japan National Team arrived in Dubai, which hosts the Intercontinental Cup 2014, on Sunday 2 November. The hotel put up some panels for the Cup in preparation for the championship.

On the first day, the players did some stretching and short running at the hotel gym in order to recover from their journey. Then they held a one-hour training session in the early evening, getting ready physically and mentally, so that they could get themselves into good physical condition gradually and concentrate on the championship.
Although the players seemed to be still tired, they stayed vocal to get rid of tiredness.

They held an open practice session on Monday 3 November, in preparation for their first match in the Intercontinental Cup against Russia.
Dubai International Marine Club, at witch the matches will be held, is located in an urban area, surrounded by skyscrapers. The sand was brought to prepare the pitch there. The big screens and the music booth, as well as the auditorium, were set around the pitches, creating a good atmosphere for the Cup.

During the training session, each player got used to the sand, while they were checking their conditions and the team’s tactics. The players seemed to have recovered from their flight and to be back in good condition in the practice session at 16:00 despite the high temperatures.

They enjoyed their relaxing dinner at the terrace beside the pool, where it is cooler after the sunset, and had good conversation. The players are ready for their first match of the championship against Russia on Tuesday 4 November.

Comments

TERUKINA Shingo (SOL MAR PRAIA)
We’re here in Dubai for the Intercontinental Cup. On our first day, we did some stretching and jogging at the gym in the morning to recover from the journey and got ready for the evening practice session. In the evening, we practiced shooting from a through-ball from the goalkeeper and had a practice match, checking the sand condition. Tomorrow, we’ll check our tactics, in order to get ourselves ready for our first match. Iran, who is from Asia just like us, won the championship at the previous Intercontinental Cup. We have Russia and Brazil, both of whom have won the World Cup before, in our group, but I’d like to play to win rather than thinking of just getting good experience by playing against them.

HARAGUCHI Shotaro (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
Today we started our training at Dubai, sweating plenty, and there was a really good atmosphere. As it’s much hotter and drier here in Dubai than in Japan, I’d like to get used to the environment. Also I’d like to check the atmosphere at the pitch and the condition of the sand. It’s been two years since my team participated in the championship last time and it’s the very first time for me. We’ll play against strong teams, namely Russia, Brazil and America, in the group stage. I’d like to show what we learned in the tours in Portugal and Hungary and also in the training camp in Okinawa. I hope we will play well without thinking too much, and contribute to the development Japanese beech soccer.

TAKIGUCHI Takashi (NO SOCKS YOKOHAMA)
Today we practiced on the pitch for the championship. As the sand is similar to the one in Japan and not deep, I found it easy to run on. I felt the pitch was slightly smaller than the legitimate one. So I’d like to move up from the defence and use our speed in attack, showing plenty of ambition for goals. Now I’ll focus on the match against Russia and play as hard as possible to win the game.

AKAGUMA Takuya (DORSOLE KITAKYUSHU)
It was our second practice session at the beach since we arrived in Dubai. We had a reasonably tense and good atmosphere during the session, as the championship starts tomorrow. I think the team is united and ready for the coming matches. It will be my first international game, and I’d like to be confident and trust my teammates, doing my best to win the match. 

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