With two more days to go to their semifinal game in the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Jordan, the Japan women's national U-17 team had a practice in the evening of 15 October. In the practice, they warmed up with ice breaks using poles, then moved to 5-on-3 possessions, training as they were divided into the offensive and defensive groups, and went through menu on 5-on-5 plus one free man, which was played in a practical game-style way in a half court. During the practical menus, coach KUSUNOSE Naoki occasionally yelled at the players, and the players kept working as hard as they could throughout the session. They had free training and shooting drills and wrapped up the day's practice to prepare against Spain.

After the practice, there was a press conference at King Abdullah II International Stadium, the site for the Spain game, as Kusunose and goalkeeper TANAKA Momoko (NIPPON TV MENINA) attended. Asked if Japan would win the championship, Kusunose responded by saying: “we have not earned anything, so in order to make it happen, we would like to prepare in the best ways we can and keep winning.”

Coach's and Players' Comments

KUSUNOSE Naoki, Coach
Spain are a strong team and we are happy to be able to play against Spain. Of course, we are going to win. Our players have played four games and may have some fatigue, but I believe that they are going to perform an aggressive game. Regarding that we have been said to win the championship in the end, I'm glad to hear that and feel happy about that. Our players are playing channeling it into good pressure. Yet we have not won anything yet and have not earned anything yet. So in order to make it happen, we are going to prepare ourselves in the best ways we can for the Spain game.

GK #1  TANAKA Momoko (NIPPON TV MENINA)
As a goalkeeper, it's very important to hold them to zero goals, so in order to give them create scoring chances, I'm going to coach our teammates and make them feel safe by doing so from behind them. Japanese players may not be as strong as players of overseas physically, but we want to communicate with ourselves well and appreciating that I can play in it, and hopefully we are going to beat Spain to advance to the final.

MF #21  NOJIMA Sakura (CEREZO OSAKA SAKAI Ladies)
We did 5-on-3 possession, 5-on-5 and shooting practices today. During the 5-on-5, I felt fatigue and made mistakes, so I felt that I needed to improve on things like that. We only have one more day to prepare before our Spain game, but we want to improve our issues and get in the game in the best shape we can be.

FW #14  KOJIMA Seira (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies Youth)
For the Spain game, I practiced, thinking what kind of moves I need to do to become open and rotate the ball better. The Spanish players can reach the ball with one or two steps while Japanese players have to two to three steps to do the same, and I practiced being aware of things like it. We will play our Japanese way of ball and play with the entire squad to beat Spain.

Schedule

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