The U-19 Japan National Team arrived in Chengdu, China where the Panda Cup will be held, and had training sessions. Japan won this competition last year, and their aim this year is to be the champion again. 

This Panda Cup is regarded as an important competition for Japan in terms of enforcing the team for the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 in October. The following day after their arrival in Chengdu on the night of 13th, they started training sessions in both the morning and the afternoon. 

The temperature went up to 30℃ with high humidity, their morning training began on with pass & control, allowing the players to keep moving with ideas of actual matches. They then ended the morning sessions with a shooting game. In the afternoon, they moved to the match venue Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium to have the official training and changed their tactics. 

A press conference was also held on the same day. From Japan, the team’s Coach UCHIYAMA Atsushi, Assistant Coach KIMURA Yasuhiko, and captain SAKAI Daisuke attended the conference and expressed their motivation for the Panda Cup.

Japan will play against Croatia National Team on 15th, then Czech Republic National Team on 17th. The final match will be on 19th against the host China PR National Team.

Players' Comments

DF #6  URATA Itsuki (JEF United Chiba)
I am excited to play against high level teams with differing characteristics: Croatia, Czech Republic, and China. These matches need to be simulations of the final qualifier in October. Firstly, I want to focus on beating Croatia tomorrow. As a player, I have been called up after a long time, so I want to grab the chance by working well this time. 

DF #5  TOMIYASU Takehiro (Avispa Fukuoka)
This is the Panda Cup which the team won last year, so as a team we will do our best to win the consecutive title. As a player, I couldn’t contribute to the team’s victory since I wasn’t selected for many of the matches last year, so this year, I want to be more proactive to work well for the team’s victory. We don’t have time for the final qualifier in October, so we want to maximise this opportunity to improve the team as well as to get good results. 

MF #18  SUGIMORI Koki (Nagoya Grampus)
I am very grateful for being called up after a long time for this trip in China this time. From tomorrow, we will have 3 matches in 5 days. For the title, I will get ready well as a squad player to contribute to the team. 

FW #13  KISHIMOTO Takeru (Cerezo Osaka)
I am very happy to be selected for the squad after a long time. This time, I will stick to getting good results, paying a lot of attention to scoring. The team won the title last year, so we want to win the title again this year. 

Schedule

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