Ending one-week training camp in Chonburi for the championship, the players, member of 98JAPAN, refreshed themselves both mentally and physically in southern town called Jomtien. They are going to arrive in Bangkok where the championship takes place in the afternoon of 2 September and resumed training for the match against Hong Kong scheduled on 6 September.

The training was held at Air Force Stadium. The squad is gearing up for the championship and they showed mixed feeling of tension and uplifting in their face. As planes frequently flying over their heads, the players worked on training with loud voice as big as the planes for getting ready for game against Hong Kong. We are shifting to the final stage of preparation.

* 98JAPAN is the nickname for the U-16 Japan National Team aiming to compete in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.

Players Comments

ABE Masashi (Seiryo High School)
It is important to keep the good physical condition by taking balanced meal and water for playing the first match, three days later, in best condition. And I believe we need to raise conditions day by day - tomorrow be better than today, day after tomorrow is better than tomorrow, we should raise our awareness in the training.

TANAKA Ao (Kawasaki Frontale U-18)
My goal was to practice breaking out from second line. I felt it was most productive training so far but I realized it would not lead to improvement unless we take an initiative. As the final qualifier is just around the corner and we must keep ourselves concentrated for doing training tomorrow onwards.

Schedule