Mon. 11 July

“00 Japan”, U-16 Japan National Team have kicked off their training trip in Oman in the Middle East. During this trip, they will have three training matches: two against U-16 Oman National Team and one against U-20 Al-Seeb Club, which is one of the strongest local teams. 

“00 Japan” aims to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 by winning the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 which will be held in September. For the team, this is an important camp prior to the championship in two months's time.

At the meeting held in the Narita Airport, the team’s Coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro told the players “we have only 2 camps before the AFC U-16 Championship in India. We need to win the quarter-final of this championship in order to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017, and there is a high probability that we will play against one of the Middle Eastern teams at quarterfinals. This provides us with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Middle Eastern teams. Let’s make good use of this trip.”

Tue. 12 July

After the 16 hours of journey including transit, “00 Japan” began their training from evening of the same day. A total of 18 players including 4 new members were invited to the trip. In the beginning, the team’s Conditioning Coach CHUMAN Kentaro lead the practice with warm-up and jogging. Then, it was followed by passing and heading exercises and “5-on-5+1 freeman” trainings.

The newly invited members were quite active, trying to demonstrate their strengths. The team moved on to more advanced exercises paying close attention to enhancing communication in both offense and defense. These were done in “6-on-6” and “8-on-7” player games with goalkeepers.

Despite the hot weather and tiredness caused by the long journey and time difference, the players finished the first day of training session in a positive way. They will have the first match against U-16 Oman National Team tomorrow.

* "00 JAPAN" is the nickname of the U-16 Japan National Team that consists of members who were born after 2000.

Players' Comments

KEMMOTSU Takumu（Shimizu S-pulse Youth）
I still remember the bitter defeat against U-16 Mali National Team in the recent U-16 International Dream Cup 2016. We have number of newly invited members. Since we have only two months prior to the tournament, we need to improve the communication level amongst players and, thus, the teamwork. In addition, I further need to work on heading practices, line control and one-on-one competition. In today’s practice, I did not have many occasions to play with the ball. In the match tomorrow, I will try to fight for the ball aggressively and contribute to the team’s victory.

KUMASAWA Kazuki（Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa)
I am very happy to be called up this time. I believe that one of the reasons I was selected this time was because I had been consistently playing for the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League. At this high-level camp, I want to become a better player, utilizing my strengths.
It was my first training day in the team. Unlike when I am playing for the Premier League team, I lacked the confidence in my play. Many of the teammates pointed out that my voice was low and asked me to speak up. However, by the end of the training I was able to understand and communicate with my colleagues better.
In tomorrow’s match, I will try to communicate better with my teammates and demonstrate my strengths including “through-pass” in the danger area.

IZUMI Toya（Vissel Kobe U-18）
I am honoured to be called up for the squad team for the first time. Frankly, I was quite surprised at first. Gradually, I came to realise the great opportunity given to me and began to aspire about the future. I think I was called up due to my strengths in dribbling and passing in the opponent’s half and making direct contribution in scoring in the Premier League. I liked to do the same at the national team.

In the training sessions, I found that the level of my teammates is high and that the requests from the Coach are very detailed. I felt the need to improve my skills to respond to these demands. In tomorrow’s match, I want to demonstrate my strong points such as scoring and assisting goals.

Schedule

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