U-17 Japan National Team held a training session on Friday 13 October in Kolkata City in preparation for the third group-stage game against U-17 New Caledonia.

The Japanese sqaud moved from Guwahati, where they played their first and second match of the tournament, on the same flight as the U-17 New Caledonia players. After a one-hour flight, the team arrived in Kolkata, one of the most highly populated cities in the world. The players adjusted to the local environment at a hotel on that day (Friday 13th), and went through formations and set pieces in front of more than 30 enthusiastic crews from the local media. Then, they visited the stadium to check the pitch conditions and feel the atmosphere inside the stadium, which could accommodate over 68000 spectators.

Since football is very popular in Kolkata, this game has attracted a lot of attention from the local media. Coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro and TSUBAKI Naoki appeared in an interview after their training session and Tsubaki commented surrounded by many TV cameras, “This game is essential to build up positive momentum prior to the Round of 16. There is a good atmosphere within the team, and I’d like to perform well as well.”

October 13th saw the eighth day of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Four groups, namely from group A to D, finished their group-stage games, th tournament gradually started to unveil the fixtures in the Round of 16. Coach Moriyama had been selecting players for each game by considering all three group-stage matches, in order for the entire squad to be in top condition for the knockout stages. The players, who will be on the pitch in the final group-stage game, need to fix the problems that they had in the second game and grab a win to get themselves in top form for the Round of 16.

The third group stage game against U-17 New Caledonia will kick off at 17:00 on Saturday 14 October (20:30 Japan Time).

Coach's and Players' Comments

MORIYAMA Yoshiro, Coach (U-17 Japan National Team)
Even under the pressure of a must-win game, I want my players to show their eagerness and enthusiasm to play and come up to me and say, “I will get the job done and take this team to the knockout stages.” With only four days prior to the first match of the knockout phase, if we show any weakness or laxness during our preparations, we cannot get the team in the top condition. I have also told my players that some of them got to be on the pitch, while the others had to stay on the bench to support the team in the past two games. However, we are advancing to the knockout stage as a united team.

MF #18 SUZUKI Toichi (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
In the previous two games, I don’t believe we displayed the Japanese playing style, which we have been able to do it before getting here. We need to refresh ourselves and fix our problem areas as well. The distance between players on the pitch tends to be too far. As a result, we cannot initiate effective attacks after reclaiming the ball from keeping the defence compact, while we let the opponents use open space to hit us on the counter. Tomorrow’s result will have a huge impact on how we play in the knockout stages. Thus, we certainly need to win this one.

FW #9 YAMADA Hiroto (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
Since our team have many excellent players up front, I have to stay competitive and score more than others to earn a spot in the starting XI. I’d like to work as hard as possible. Japanese forwards are good at handling the ball with their feet. So I’d like to break through the opponents’ defence through combination plays, as well as displaying my strength in exploiting the space behind the backline.

Schedule

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

FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017

Tournament Period：6 October 2017(Fri.)～28 Ocotber 2017(Sat.)

U-17 Japan Fixtures：
1st Match 8 October(Sun.) 23:30 vs Honduras
2nd Match 11 October(Wed.) 20:30 vs France
3rd Match 14 October(Sat.) 20:30 vs New Caledonia
*Japan Time

Tournament Information