The Japan National Team had the third day of their training camp in Ibusuki, Kagoshima for the 2014FIFA World Cup Brazil.

Just as the previous day, the practice had the morning and afternoon sessions. The team had DF Sakai Gotoku back after resting at the hotel on the second day due to the conditioning reason and together with the teammates he practiced hard under the strong sunshine.

The morning session had the team split into two groups with one working on the physical workout and the other making sure the offensive sets on the field. Coach Alberto Zaccheroni gave out detailed instructions as players worked on how they move along with each other, how to create and use open space and how to break down an opposition’s defence.

In the afternoon, the total of twenty field players, the team joined by two training partners, got divided into two groups again and started off the practice. They worked on the 4-2-3-1 formation by moving the ball and also engaging in some physical-enduring moves until the practice became closed to media.

After the two-hour afternoon session on the third day, FW Kagawa Shinji said “It was a hard workout that I don’t even do with Manchester United. Now it’s hard, but I believe this will get us ready for the first match of the World Cup. We will be careful for injuries and keep working.”

DF Yoshida Maya, who had just come back from his own injury, was confident in his recovery. “I still have more energy left than other guys. So I think I need to work harder. I don’t think I am far behind from other guys.”

A few hours after the practice finished, FW Honda Keisuke, DF Nagatomo Yuto, who were just back from Italy, and GK Kawashima Eiji, back from Belgium, arrived at the team hotel. The three players are scheduled to join the rest of the team tomorrow Saturday 24.

Comments

GK NISHIKAWA Shusaku（Urawa Reds）
Playing on the national team has been my goal and dream since I was a child, so I am happy that I am actually on the team and getting ready for the upcoming World Cup. Now what I want to do is just to get the playing opportunity and win against other countries in the world. It’s all up to me if I can show my good performance when I get a chance to play. I will stay focused not to get injured. I won’t be afraid of making mistakes and I will just show what I can do. I will practice as hard as I can but not too hard and get injured. I will have fun doing that. We goalkeepers are also in the phase of working on our body now. But even during that phase, I think we are having a quality practice like simulating what we do in the match.

DF YOSHIDA Maya（Southampton FC（England） ）
(After coming back from the injury,) I have done all the work I could. What matters now is whether I can show that on the pitch. So I just leave it to everybody else to watch me on the pitch and judge. (In practice) I am focusing on moving the ball up front effectively, and attracting the opposing players to me and providing the ball so that my teammates up front can have the ball in an outnumbering situation.

FW KAKITANI Yoichio（Cerezo Osaka）
I think everyone on this team is coming together for one common goal. (As practices are scheduled every day,) I am tired, but it’s not time to say tired. I think we will eventually start having more instructions from the coach, but I want to make sure that I follow them well. If I can move around effectively up front, it will create opportunities for us. We have all these good players, so I can’t wait to go out there and receive all the good feeds from them.

HARA Hiromi, JFA's General Secretary and Technical Committee Chairman (Strengthening Section)
We don’t have much preparation time before the World Cup other than now, so it seems the practice is harder than I expected. Maybe this team has never practiced this hard before. But we don’t only work on our physical workout but also we are working on our game plans, so it looks all good. Hasebe is still at his last match in his league, but Uchida and Yoshida are doing fine (after coming back from injuries) and Okubo seems to be nicely getting along with the team.

Schedule

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