Nadeshiko Japan held a training session from 10:00 am in preparation for their semi-final against the Vietnam women’s national team, which will be the following day, at the Asian Games.
The players had a good rest in the two-day break before the coming game and took the training lightly in order to recover from the match against Hong Kong. For over an hour they practiced everything from passing and controlling to the build-up, and had a practice match so the players could become familiar with each other’s game.

Although the smiles were around at the beginning of the training, the players became serious once the practice match started.

They told each other in detail what they wanted in terms of movement, while they were taking on fluid. After the training session, Sasaki, the head coach of Nadeshiko Japan, appeared at a press conference with the head coach of the Vietnam women’s national team, who will play in a semi-final at the Asian Games for the first time. Sasaki noted: ‘Vietnam have a new coach. I think they improved in both attacking and defending since the last time we played in the Asian Cup. We’d like to focus on our main tasks, switching swiftly in both attack and defence. We’re ready and we’ll show you a good match.’

The semi-final will kick-off at 17:00 on Monday 29 September.

Comments

MIYAMA Aya（Okayama Yunogo Belle）
There is no easy game. Although it was great that we won the quarterfinal and as Nadeshiko Japan we really couldn’t afford to lose it anyway, the game wasn’t perfect. We weren’t playing our style properly to break the opponent’s style. I’d like to show you better quality plays in the next match, which I’ll focus on. I think Vietnam have a tenacious defence. So if we can break their defensive line, we can lead the game. We still need to improve our quality. We also have to learn something through these two matches, or we can’t go any further. However tough the game might be, we’ll soldier on in order to become back-to-back champions.

ARIYOSHI Saori（Nippon Television Beleza）
I’d like to show plenty of ambition in attack from the beginning of the match, in order to strike an opener in the early stage, and also to prevent the opponent from scoring. Although I’ve been working on improving the quality of my play in these three games since the one against Jordan, there have been still careless mistakes. From now, such mistakes can be vital in deciding a match. I’d like to play as normal with less careless mistakes. I’ll assist other players so that they can use their skills and I’ll attack strongly.

NAKAJIMA Emi（INAC Kobe）
We’re focused on our work rate and shots from the cutting-in. So I’d like to coordinate with other players, so that we can use the space efficiently. Since the first match against China didn’t go well, we learned a lot by reviewing the video of the match together and fixed our issues. Our aim is to win the championship. It’s vital to win the match tomorrow to go further. 

Match Schedule