Monday 22 June
U-18 Japan National Team, aiming for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017, began a training camp for the Panda Cup 2015 to be held from 24 June in Chengdu, China.

After completing their morning session in Chiba Prefecture, the squad flew to China in the afternoon. They arrived in Chengdu late night and rested their body at hotel for the rest of the day.

Tuesday 23 June
The young squad had training in the morning and afternoon a day before their opening match. They shared understanding of the team concept and reviewed combinations between players in a limited time.

A joint press conference with the first opponents the Kyrgyz Republic national team was held ahead of the morning session as head coaches, assistant coaches and team captains from both teams attended to express their enthusiasm for the Panda Cup.

The Panda Cup begins on 24th. In addition to Kyrgyz Republic, Japan face China on 26th and Slovakia on 28th in a round robin system.

Head Coach and Players' Comments

UCHIYAMA Atsushi, Head Coach
First we are happy to participate in the Panda Cup. The tournament is scheduled to have three matches with one day off in between, and it is the same system as the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 Qualifiers in October. It's going to be a good simulation for the qualifiers. The objective of this team is to play at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017. To achieve such an objective, we want to try out how well we can play in this kind of tournament.

KUBOTA Kazune (Kashima Antlers)
The Panda Cup, starting tomorrow, is important for us to improve our team's level ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017, which we are aiming for. So we will try hard to play our game from the opener. Of course, a good outcome is important as a team, but we also want to make the tournament somewhere we can improve our individual level.

MORISHIMA Tsukasa (Yokkaichi Chuo Technical High School)
Contests are starting tomorrow. We will go out for and concentrate on each one of the matches. Today we had training in a good mood, so we will keep it up and work hard to win the opening match. I also want to show game-changing plays to contribute to team's victory in any ways, from start or from bench. We will try to win all the matches. Thanks for your support in advance.

TOMIYASU Takehiro (Avispa Fukuoka)
I got a chance through an additional call-up for this camp. I will try to showcase myself by playing without hesitation. I will also play while moving and try to feed vertical balls and look for interceptions. The first match of the tournament is coming up tomorrow. We will stick to a win to get off to a quick start as a team.

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

Panda Cup 2015
Four coutries of China, Kyrgyz Republic, Slovakia and Japan will play a round-robin.

Future Schedule