On Wednesday 15 August, one day ahead of their first match at the 18th Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Palembang, the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women's National Team) held an evening training session, which was closed to the media after the first 15 minutes. The team spent time going over their tactics to keep their players on the same page ahead of their match.

After the team has arrived at the athletes’ village three days ago, the players were seen getting into their daily routine, as they no longer showed any signs of fatigue from the long travel. With the players gradually picking up their enthusiasm towards the tournament, more teams of all sorts of competitions were seen arriving to the athletes’ village, creating an atmosphere unique to the Asian Games.

Prior to the opening of women’s football, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held a Match Coordination Meeting to go over the regulations of the competition. Although the tournaments held by the AFC allows teams to register 23 players on their roster, the Nadeshiko Japan have elected to register just 18 players at this tournament. As Coach TAKAKURA Asako described, “We want to demand multiple roles from each player,” their starting line-up as well as their tactics will be deeply affected by their choice to carry fewer players.

The Nadeshiko Japan’s first match of the Asian Games will take place on Thursday 16 August with a 20:30 kick-off time Japan time.

Players’ Comments

DF #5 TAKAGI Hikari (Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara)
The team has managed to conduct the training sessions in a positive atmosphere. Both the offence and defence has been communicating well to combine with each other. I personally feel like I can enter the tournament in a great condition. Although we have won the Asia Cup in April, there are many teams who were not participating in the Asia Cup. We believe this is a stage where we can showcase our strengths, display what we have worked on, and develop even more as a team ahead of the World Cup and the Olympics. That is why we will work hard as a team to win the title. Whenever I am given the opportunity to play on the pitch, I will earn a positive result at whatever position I am placed and challenge aggressively. I will keep my emphasis on the team’s cohesiveness and get involved in both offence and defence.

FW #9 SUGASAWA Yuika (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies)
Ahead of our first match against Thailand, I think the team is in a great groove right now. I personally have maintained a great form, so all we have to do now is to earn results from the matches. Since the inaugural Asian Games, Nadeshiko Japan has only won the title once, so we hope to work hard as a team to win the title this year. We only have one more year ahead of the World Cup, so this tournament presents us with a priceless opportunity to build the team, and I hope to leave the tournament with a good result both as a team and as an individual. As a forward, I would like to contribute to the team’s victory by scoring goals.

Schedule

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

The 18th Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Palembang

Tournament Dates:Sat. 18 August - Sun. 2 September 2018

【Women's】Group Stage
1st Match Thu. 16 August 20:30 [Japan Time] vs Thailand
2nd Match Tue. 21 August 17:00 [Japan Time] vs Vietnam

Tournament Information