The Japan Futsal National Team, who will participate in the Thailand 5s International 4 Nation Futsal Championship 2016 on Saturday 20 August, left Japan late afternoon on Wednesday 17 August and arrived in Thailand at midnight. Four countries - Japan, Thailand, Iran, and Kazakhstan - will play each other in a round-robin league to decide the winner.

The team held two training sessions on Thursday 18 August, the day after their arrival. In the morning on an artificial pitch, the team shared their ideas on playing the coming games and held a one-hour training session under their new coach SUZUKI. In the afternoon, they moved to the Bangkok Arena, where the matches would be held, to attend a training session. They focused more on game practice, including a 5-on-5 with a free player and a 3-on-3 with a free player. MINAMOTO Akira and NIBUYA Kazuhiro led the younger players. What’s crucial is how united the team can become in a short time span before their first game.

Japan will meet Thailand for their first match on Saturday 20 August.

Coach and Players' Comments

SUZUKI Ryuji, Coach
There are many talented players with great potential here. Through the two training sessions on the first day, we focused on how we could play as a team. All the players seem to be quick learners, showing their proactive attitude and their willingness to play 'for the team.' I believe we have been building up momentum. We’ll play our first match against Thailand, who are one of the strongest teams in Asia. Futrthermore, they will participate in the World Cup this year.

Japan have many young players and I believe we will gain excellent experience through this tournament. Age and experience don’t matter on the pitch. We’ll compete as a united Japan national team with a 'fighting spirit' and positive attitude. 

FP #8  ITO Keita (PESCADOLA MACHIDA ASPIRANTE)
As the time difference between Thailand and Japan is small, I don’t feel exhausted from travel. Although there were some new faces in the team, we’ve been communicating a lot and getting better understanding of each other. I’d like to prepare well for the coming games. 

FP #6  UEMATSU Koto (P.S.T.C. LONDRINA)
(Interviewed on the date of arrival) As it’s my first time to travel abroad, I’ve been feeling nervous. We arrived to Thailand today. I’d like to focus on training from tomorrow and communicate well with my teammates, so that we can get a positive result. 

FP #9  WAKIYAMA Ren (NAGOYA OCEANS SATELLITE)
(Interviewed on the date of arrival) We travelled today. During the training sessions starting tomorrow, I’d like to display my strength, as well as collaborating well with other players. 

GK #2  SAKA Keisuke (Espolada Hokkaido)
As we usually don’t play together, I feel it is not easy for us to collaborate well. Having said that, because we communicated proactively our training session was of high quality. In addition, the goalkeeping session, emphasising on a variety of plays, was very productive and also of high quality. I learned a alot from it.

Tomorrow we’ll have the final practice session prior to the opening game against Thailand. So I need to stay focused and take the practice seriously in order to attain a desired result. 

Schedule

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