The U-16 Japan National Team concluded their final activity of 2019, as they made their return from Tunisia on Monday 23 December.

This year the U-16 Japan National Team held a training camp in May, before playing in the International Dream Cup held at Sendai in June. As their third activity of the year, the team travelled to Tunisia from Friday 13 December, where they played a total of three matches, one against a local club team, and two against the U-18 Tunisia National Team. Through these matches, the team was able to gain a precious learning experience.

During their tour in Tunisia, the team paid a visit to the ambassador's residence of the Embassy of Japan in Tunisia, where they interacted with the members of the local Japanese association and JICA's Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV). The representative of JOCV shared words of encouragement, “We are both representing our country at different fields. Let’s continue to give our efforts in each of our fields.”

With the conclusion of this tour, the U-16 Japan National Team have finished all of their activities for 2019. The team is scheduled to hold training camps and participate in tournaments next year.

Coach's Comment

YAMAHASHI Takashi, Coach of U-16 Japan National Team
After holding a training camp in May and playing in a tournament in June, this tour to Tunisia was our third activity of the year. We played a training match against a local club at Sousse, before moving to Tunis, where we played two friendly matches against the U-18 Tunisia National Team. Although we managed to win the first two matches, we lost our final match against the U-18 Tunisia National Team 0-2. Through the three matches, the players showed great intensity to take control of the match and worked hard to initiate the action. However, with our opponent showing great aggression, we played too passively in our final match. The players managed to make the adjustments on the pitch, but it was not enough to come from behind to level the match. This tour has given our players a great learning experience, and I hope the players will utilise this experience to become a better player. I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has supported us and allowed our players to join this team for this tour. Thank you very much.

Schedule

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

International Friendly Match - Tunisia Tour

Dates: Fri. 13 - Mon. 23 December 2019

Match Information