U-18 Japan Futsal National Team short-listed squad began the second training camp of the year at Kishiwada City Gym on Wednesday 23 December. U-18 Japan Futsal National Teams are the team who contend for the AFC U-20 Futsal Championship in 2017. Six players were called up for the second time following the last camp and the rest of 23 were for the first time. The players were from various teams in different leagues such as F.League, college and high school.

At a meeting before the training, coach KOMORI Takahiro explained how and why the U-18 team were launched. He spoke of what he wanted the players to be aware of during the short period of time. The two-hour training on the opening day saw the squad go through the difference between futsal and football. For some of the players, it was the first time to meet each other let alone play together and they seemed tensed. But led by the players who had joined the team before, the squad gradually started to communicate with each other well and their playing pace was also getting quicker.

While the training is limited to only four sessions during three days, the players worked hard with high motivation.

Players' Comments

HARASHIMA Ryoya (SC Seiwa)
We worked on fundamental attacking patterns in futsal on the first day. I don't usually play futsal and have less experience than others. I found I lacked a lot of skills required for futsal. In the high-level environment, I will try to learn more and more of good things from other players during the rest of two days.

ASAI Taku (Espaco U-18)
I usually work on futsal training, so I didn't get confused because the first-day training had only fundamentals. My strength is shooting. I will try to score when needed and try to showcase myself in the training resuming tomorrow.

TSUHA Takato (Yomitan High School)
It was my first national team training and I was overwhelmed by others from the start, and I wasn't able to call to my teammates so much. I wasn't able to play how I usually play, either. Even so, I learned a lot of things in the training, how deep futsal is and what differences there are between football and futsal. We only have two days left. I will try to remember this experience and keep up my work even after the camp.

Schedule

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