The squad members of the Japan National U-17 Team were assembled on Wednesday 14th at hotel in Narita to kick off their series of activities. The *98JAPAN were eliminated at the semifinals of the AFC U-16 Championship 2014 Thailand last September and lost this year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup berth. The refreshed squad includes eight of the players who felt frustration on the pitch and six newly-selected players. This generation, born after 1998, aimed at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2017 with the team of U-18, composing of players born after 1997. Their objective at hand is to gain international experience with their eyes for a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

The Japan U-17 team will participate in the 11th International Youth Tournament (U-17) in Minsk. Through the relationship in 2013 when SAMURAI BLUE had a friendly against Belarus, the youth team were invited to this tournament. The teams in the tournament include European powerhouses such as host country Belarus, Russia and Czech Republic. Japan will first try to get through the group stage atop among four teams for the second stage, which determines first, second and third places.

The team left Naria early in the afternoon for Moscow. Their trip turned out to be very tough as they arrived in the final destination Minsk the following day on 16th and checked in hotel at 1 a.m. The squad will have practices for two days on 16th and 17th to get ready for the first match against Finland.
Note: 98JAPAN is a nickname of Japan’s national team composed of players born after 1998.

Head Coach and Players Comments

MORIYAMA Yoshiro, Head Coach
I’m so glad that we are able to participate in this tournament. We will be well-prepared not to be scared and to show our ability from the whistle of the first match. There was New Year holidays and players’ condition varies among them. But it’s a rare opportunity to have matchups against those opponents. Players appear to open up to others during the trip today. I’m looking forward to the opening match.

MF WATANABE Kouta (Tokyo Verdy Youth)
Because we failed to get to the World Cup and lost opportunities to have international experience, it’s important to play each one of tournaments coming up. This time, we will have matches against good European teams and stick to a win anyhow. I hope we are able to show our strengths as a team. I will look for what can make it and cannot make it and try hard to end the tournament with as much improvement as possbile.

GK WAKINO Atsushi (Higashi Fukuoka High School)
I will aggressively try to show my ability of how good I can deal with the ball that comes behind the defensive line and how good I can punt the ball. It’s my first time to join the national team, but I will communicate with teammates and fight as a team. We are looking at the championship and personally I will try to keep a clean sheet.

Schedule

※The schedule may be subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.