U-15 Japan National Team started their training camp today in Chiba. 

The team nicknamed as “00 Japan” aim to win a spot in the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 by firstly defeating Hong Kong and Mongolia in the AFC U-16 Championship 2016 qualifiers in Mongolia in September and then winning through the AFC U-16 Championship 2016 in India next year. 

In the meeting at the beginning, U-15 Japan coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro said to players “There may be some of you who are tired after the 30th Japan Club Youth Football Championship (U-15) and the international trip. But we have only three weeks before the AFC U-16 Championship 2016, so this trip is going to be a very important camp for us. Above all we will focus in every single practice session, and including practice match opportunities against very good teams we together will make this trip a very meaningful one.”

Before the morning session started, the players learned from conditioning coach OGAI Tomohiro how to maintain good physical conditions in Mongolia and its high altitude. And they moved onto another training of realising their condition by measuring their pulse by using a heart rate monitor. 

Then they spent the rest of the time improving their decision making in a pressured setting in drills such as 3-on-2 passing exchange drills and 6-on-6. The further the training went on, the more actively the players called out to each other. They were often seen discussing plays at many phases of the workout. 

The last part of the morning session was an 11-on-11 on a half-sized pitch. The eight players who were invited to the camp for their first time also displayed their strengths to showcase themselves. The last goal was very aggressively sought after by both sides, but neither gave away the goal by throwing out their bodies around to defend. The session finished on a really positive note. 

At the start of the afternoon session, SUZUKI Toichi, SEKO Ayumu and KATSURA Rikuto joined the camp after their international trip to complete the 28-man roster. The workout was centred on plays in front of goal with an eye to the match next day.

It was again an 11-on-11 scrimmage to wrap up the session, but this time on a full-size pitch. During the first 15 minutes, coaching staff repeatedly stopped the game to go through imperfect plays and enthusiastically instructed on points such as positioning, offence-defence transition, and decision making. 

The last 15 minutes did not see any such interruption. Although combinations among the players still needed improvement, there were energetic one-on-ones situationally and countless good plays with each one of them showing his good traits. The fruitful training characterized the first day of the camp. 

The evening meeting had coach Moriyama review the correctable plays during the day and technical staff KATAGIRI Hiromi share the collection of good plays in the past 00 Japan matches in order to prepare the team offensively and defensively for the match tomorrow. The activities of the day all ended with such learnings.

Tomorrow, the team play a practice match against Ichiritsu Funabashi High School, who are one of the leading clubs in Chiba prefecture. 

* ”00 JAPAN” is the nickname of the U-15 Japan National Team that consists of members who were born in 2000.

Players' Comments 

GK   OUCHI Issei (Yokohama FC Junior Youth)
In this trip, not only the goalkeeping skills, but also I want to show my strong will to fight and challenge everything I will face. Our goalkeeper coach SATO Yohei taught me on how to recover from mistakes and where to position myself according to each situation. What my teammates are doing is also very inspiring to me. In tomorrow’s match, I will take advantage of my strength of coaching skills and fire up my teammates from behind, and eventually we want to get a win no matter what. 

DF   NOZUE Satoru (JFA Academy Fukushima U15)
In this trip, I want to learn how to keep playing calmly even in quickly-pressured situations. Also I want to find out what I am still missing and what I can do now in terms of my mentality and physicality in order to play internationally, which is my goal. 

In today’s training, I couldn’t loosen up my nervousness and I made many mistakes without playing to my ideal. Especially in the 11-on-11, I couldn’t find where to pass when I got pressured quickly. I have a lot of homework to do. Tomorrow’s match is against a very good team, so I will always try to predict the next play before receiving the ball, and more than anything I want to show everything I can do well. 

DF   KATO Hayato (Azul Claro Numazu U15)
I am a little nervous because this is my first call-up to the national team, but I have been getting used to it. I felt I need to improve my fundamental skills such as passing and receiving even further. I am still slow in making plays, so I need to judge things faster. In today’s training, we tried to motivate each other, and our mood was very good. Tomorrow, we want to join our forces together and win. 

Schedule

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