The U-19 Japan National Team, who lost their first match to Mali 2-0, refreshed them and held a training session in preparation for their second game against Bahrain.

On Wednesday 23 March, the players, who started the first game the day before, focused on running and stretching in order to recover. The others did some 4-on-2 and 4-on-4, and spent some time on practicing shots from combinations, as they could not score in their first game.

On Thursday 24 March, the team went for a walk near the hotel and did some stretching in the morning. Then the players went through the attacking flow in the afternoon – from initiating attacks by moving the ball widely on the pitch and increasing the speed to taking shots. They finished their one-hour session with a nine-a-side to get ready for their second game. The team will play the match with a challenging spirit to earn a victory.

Players' Comments

GK #23 YAMAGUCHI Rui
This tour in Bahrain is our preparation for the coming AFC U-19 Championship in October. As I believe each player got himself ready well during yesterday and today’s training session, we’d like to put the first defeat behind us and give a 100% performance in the next game. Tomorrow’s match against Bahrain is essential. So I’d like to get a good result as a team.

MF #15  DOAN Ritsu
During today’s practice session, we focused on accuracy near the goal and the quality of shots, learning from the defeat to Mali. As there is still room to improve, I’d like to continue working on those areas. As we have already lost one game, we must win tomorrow’s match against Bahrain to earn three points. I’d like to face the game with a good spirit.

DF #19  FUNAKI Kakeru
During the practice session, I focused on getting myself in a good condition in preparation for the match against Bahrain. In particular, I worked on initiating attacks up front by sharing forward passes during the building up. As there is still areas to improve on, including not checking out the precise positioning up front or not sharing plays properly, I’d like to fix those problems. We must win against Bahrain tomorrow. We’ll prepare well and win the game.

Schedule

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