The U-19 Japan National Team began their team training in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture for the upcoming 2016 SBS Cup International Youth Soccer. After getting together in the afternoon of Monday 8 August, the team worked out in the evening. As there are a plenty of first-time call-ups, coach UCHIYAMA Atsushi stopped the drills repeatedly to correct positioning and explain the right timing to put ball pressure, which all helped the players to enhance understanding of the team tactics.

On Tuesday 9, two practice sessions were held in the morning and afternoon. In the morning, they reviewed the defensive positioning that they learned on the previous day while the 90-minute afternoon session was centred on attacking. On both days, the temperature went over 30 degrees and the environment was very tough for the players. Hydrating themselves frequently, the training was carried out with good amount of urgency and focus. The SBS Cup is scheduled to get underway on Thursday 11 August when Japan will face Costa Rica in the first match. The second match on Friday 12 will see Japan take on the Shizuoka Youth team from the hometown Shizuoka, while they play against Slovakia on Sunday 14 in the third match.

Players' Comments

DF #6  NISHIMOTO Takanobu (Kashima Antlers Youth)
Today we worked on our defensive combinations and attacking build-up. In the defence practice, there were many things to remember such as when to put pressure and when to move up the line. When we were able to get the ball collectively, we took that momentum to our attacking.

In our offence, we move the ball with paying attention to how the third player gets involved and how we prioritise our play in our offence. Sometimes it went well, but we still have imperfections, so we want to improve the quality of each play. We still have one more day before the match, so we want to get prepared well individually and collectively.

DF #15  HARA Teruki (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
We had good practice both in the morning and afternoon. We have got better in putting pressure to get the ball. Also the communication got better among players. We want to keep building good relationships for the match.

MF #14  YASUI Takuya (Vissel Kobe U-18)
I am very happy to be able to be part of this national team activity. We have good environment, and the level of plays is very high. It’s a lot of fun to play here. During this activity, I want to keep trying to score aggressively. I will do my best to get good results in the tournament.

FW #11  TAGAWA Kyosuke (Sagan Tosu U-18)
We were able to have a focused training even in this hot weather. By playing in this high level, I have been able to find my weaknesses. It makes me feel that I have to keep improving. You have to be smart and it’s not easy to share our judgements, but I want to gradually get better in this national team activity. On the day after tomorrow, we will start having matches, so we will get ourselves ready to win all the matches.

Schedule

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