On 16 May, 80 days to go until the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. U-23 Japan National Team departed for France to have their final oversea trip before the Olympics. They will play in the 44th Toulon Tournament for U-23 teams. 

19 young players, except MINAMINO Takumi who will join up in France, departed from Haneda Airport. Prior to the flight, the team’s Coach TEGURAMORI Makoto had a pep talk to encourage the players: “this is for Olympics. While you will play against foreign teams many times, I want you all to feel the world standard on the pitch and make use of what you get in the Olympics. We are heading now to test our strengths. We are also going to improve ourselves. Please show off what you can do as much as possible.” 

After 22 hours of journey including a transit, the team arrived in Toulon, France at 23:00 local time. The training started from the morning of the next day. They had a recovery session to relax their bodies after the long journey. The 17 players had stretching exercises, jogging, and 10 minutes aerobic running to warm themselves up.

In the afternoon, they had a light training session using the ball. The temperature in Toulon was 20 degrees with strong sun light. Humidity was only 30% and it was very comfortable climate to be in. The players looked relaxed and well warmed up to get ready for the upcoming activities. For the first day training, two players did not join: MAEDA Naoki stayed in their accommodation due to poor condition, and IDEGUCHI Yosuke had different sessions due to injury. 

Next day, 18 May, they will have a day of two training sessions again. 

Coach and Players' Comments

TEGURAMORI Makoto, Coach
In the Toulon Tournament, the conditions we have are: having a match in every other day, 40 minutes per half, and 4 substitutes. In this condition I hope we can strengthen the players and the team. This competition will give me the chance to see the ideal number of players for each position. We have some players who can play in multiple positions. If they can maximise their advantages and attack the opponent players well, I want to give them chances to play in different positions. 

In this tournament, I want to try all systems including 4-2-3-1, and 4-4-2. Since there are 4 players in the midfield, if I want to use the midfield players in more effective ways, building-up with 3 defensive midfielders can be the option. We don’t know yet who will be called up. Many players this time didn’t play in the Final Qualifier, so it is still quite open. In that sense, they have to be strengthened through this opportunity. There have been many players who got injuries, yet I can say that the team has been strengthened well. There are the players who had to come, and to be improved more to France with us. I think this is a kind of fate. 

To the players I have told them that it is up to them if they can make the most of this given chance. For us, all what we are facing now is chance. I also told them that Brazil, where the Olympics will be held, is 12 hours further than France and humidity is much higher than here by 50%, hence they should not feel it is hard in such a comfortable climate. Accidents in this competition are highly welcomed. I expect some situation which forced the players to work harder such as conceding the opening goal. 

MF #10  YAJIMA Shinya (Fagiano Okayama)
Reflecting upon the previous match against Ghana on 11 May, it was good that I could score and the team won, yet we have issues to address. I have played in two different positions which were winger and defensive midfielder, and I wanted to show that I could score when I was in the defensive midfielder. There are fewer defensive midfielders who can score a lot and this type of player should be advantageous. This is my aim particularly in this year in my club team, and I keep chasing this in the squad team to be called up for the Olympics. 

It’s been a while since I played against strong countries in the Toulon Tournament, and we want to check how much we can compete in the world level. I will try to keep what I usually do; starting up from solid defence and steal the ball well to move the ball up to the front. I want to get the rhythm of the play by doing what I usually do. What is expected to me is to contribute to goals as one of the front players while working well in defending. I will stick to making good results.

GK #12  NAKAMURA Kosuke (Kashiwa Reysol)
In this season I have learned a lot and I feel that my level as a goalkeeper is getting better. This tournament is very important opportunity for us to be called up for the Olympics as well as to be selected as a starting player. Olympic Games is a very important competition for my football life. To test my level in such a precious competition, I want to get ready very well firstly to make a good result in this trip. 

Schedule

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