In the night of Thursday 25 May, U-19 Japan National Team departed for France from Haneda Airport to compete in the 45th Toulon Tournament 2017. After making the arrival at the team hotel in the evening of the following day, the team took a ten minutes walk to the stadium of their opening and third matches to loosen up their bodies from long journey by jogging and stretching for about a half an hour and checked on the pitch conditions as well.

On the second day (27 May), the Japanese team had two-a-day training sessions held in the morning and in the afternoon. Despite temperatures rising above 25 degrees Celsius, the weather was agreeable with low humidity. With only two days for training prior to the tournament opener, the national squad didn’t have the time to fully recover from the fatigue from long travel or jet-lag, but instead they had gone through a regular practice lasted for an hour and a half each to be in prime form to enter the competition. Before the afternoon training, coach KAGEYAMA Masanaga explained about the team concept as well as their aim for the tournament to his players, and they responded well and spent two productive days in preparation for the coming matches.

Inaugurated in 1967, the Toulon Tournament enjoyed a long tradition of introducing new star players to the world and celebrated its 45th competition this year. In the previous tournament, U-23 Japan National Team competed in Toulon before heading to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. While the age categories to participate in the competition differ each year, the players born between 1997 and 1999 will enter this year’s tournament. Japan will contest for the twelfth time with the U-19 squad with members born in 1998 and 1999.

U-19 Japan National Team in Group A will face against Cuba (29 May), Angola (1 June), and England (3 June) in the group stage and aim to surpass their previous best result of third place set in 2002.

Players' Comments

GK #12 OKI Yuya (Kashima Antlers Youth)
I am very happy to be selected for the U-19 squad and play for this tournament as a Japanese international. It was a long journey from Japan, but it also gave me a chance to talk and get know my teammates better. On the first regular practice day after arrival, two practice sessions were physically tough, but I still managed to have a productive training in a cheerful mood. In the coming tournament, we are looking to attain good results, and improve significantly as a team and as individuals as well.

MF #14 KANEKO Daiki (Kanagawa University)
Comprised of members from the professional clubs as well as the university, J.League youth and high school teams in this tour, our national team may initially find it difficult to coordinate our efforts on the pitch. Despite having only a limited time on this European competition, I will actively communicate with my teammates to unify the team. We are aiming to win the tournament as well.

MF #16 ITO Hiroki (Jubilo Iwata U-18)
Two-a-day training in the morning and afternoon on 27 was physically tough, since we didn’t have enough time to recover from the fatigue from long journey. However, we had a very productive one. As I understand, the first match of the tournament will be important and, therefore, we will make the best preparation possible while keeping a high level of concentration for the opener against Cuba on 29. Currently, U-20 Japan are performing well in the World Cup in Korea, and we cannot be left behind and must strive for excellent results as well.

Schedule

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

[The 45th Toulon Tournament 2017]
＜GroupA＞ England, Japan, Angola, Cuba
＜GroupB＞ France, Côte d'Ivoire, Wales, Bahrain
＜GroupC＞ Brazil, Czech Republic, Scotland, Indonesia
*Three group winners and the best second-place team among all the groups qualify for the semi-finals.