The Japan National Beach Soccer Team started their first activity of 2017 in Fort Lauderdale in Florida, USA.

The team gathered at Haneda Airport on Tuesday 10 January and took a 20-hour flight to Miami International Airport via Minneapolis. As the players arrived at a hotel in the middle of the night, they had a light meal before going to bed.

On Wednesday 11 January, the following day, the team held two practice sessions to start their training camp in the USA.

In the morning, the players did some light running, passed the ball by hand, and played foot volley at the end in order to recover from their journey.

In the afternoon, the team started with some standing long jumps as a physical test. Then they moved onto practising in a game format to go through attacking and defensive tactics, followed by shooting practice in one-on-ones. They gradually added more players to work-on offensive build-ups in numbers focusing on finishing the play with a shot.

Although the players seemed to be a little tired due to the journey and the time difference, they practised enthusiastically in the excellent weather and environment of the USA.

The team will hold two-a-day practice sessions each day, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, before playing a training match against the USA national team on Saturday 14 January.

Players' Comments

ISO Hiroaki (Sol Mar Praia Okinawa)
We started our training today after yesterday’s long journey. I’m grateful that I can play in this environment. Since the schedule and fixtures of the World Cup Asian qualification have been fixed, we are practising at this camp, aiming to win the AFC Championship to book a place in the World Cup. We haven’t got many days to practice together before the curtain-up of the AFC Championship. So I’d like to understand the team’s tactics well and practice everyday with the pride of playing for the national team.

AKAGUMA Takuya (Dorsole Kitakyushu)
We moved from Japan to the USA yesterday, and started our first practice of 2017 as the national team today. Since it was a practice session just after our journey, it wasn’t a tough one. We focused on many exercises with the ball. As I expect it’ll become physically tougher from tomorrow, we need to perform as a united team to make the most of this training camp. The World Cup Asian qualification will start in March. We would like to win decisively in order to grab a spot in the World Cup. I will practice hard without wasting time to get myself in good condition, as well as becoming ready as a team. I truly appreciate that I can practice and play for the national team in this excellent environment. I will play with my gratitude and pay back by attaining good results.

Schedule

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