On Monday 1 May, Japan Beach Soccer National Team began a light training session at 18:30, same as the kick-off time of the Brazil match on the following day. It was originally scheduled at 13:00, however, coach Marcelo MENDES decided to give his players rest in the morning considering the fatigue level and go through only some recovery regimen on the beach near the hotel instead of the designated training pitch.

In the session, after light jogging and trunk training, the team made sure their fundamental skills such as ball controlling and passing. Goalkeepers went through more intensive training to work on throwing and saving with the team’s goalkeeper coach Paulo ROCHA.

The players enjoyed the beautiful water of the Bahamas to cool down after the workout at the end of the day before the important clash against Brazil.

Japan will take on Brazil at 18:30 local time on Tuesday 2 May to clinch a spot in the next knockout stage.

Players' Comments

FP #6 KOMAKI Masayuki (Veertien Mie BS)
In today’s practice, we wanted to adjust our conditions by training at the same time as the match tomorrow and breaking a sweat a little bit. We reviewed our Tahiti match in the meeting and spent a good day to get prepared for the Brazil match. Advancing to the next stage is at stake tomorrow. We will fight altogether and grab the win.

GK #12 KAWAI Yusuke (Tokyo Verdy BS)
We will play against Brazil in the last match of the group stage to move on up from it. The opponents are one of the best in the world, but they are not impossible to beat if we can execute the game plan we have been working on. So we will make sure to do what we are supposed to, and we will unite as one team and play together. There is nobody on our team who has his head down and we always fight as challengers. We now have the best Japan team we have ever had that can match up against anybody. For the sake of all the supporters who came all the way from Japan to support us here and also the people who are cheering for us back home in Japan, we will make sure to win it and get out of the group stage.

Schedule

*Local Time
*The schedule may be subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017

27 April 2017 (Thu.) ～ 7 May 2017 (Sun.)
Tournament Information