Following their six-day training camp held in Warka, the U-20 Japan National Team left the camp site on the evening of Sunday 19 May to travel to Bydgoszcz, where their first match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019 will take place. After arriving to the match site, the players rested up to recover from the morning training session and the long travel on the road.

On the following morning of Monday 20, the team was welcomed by the staffs of FIFA and briefly went through the new regulations and policies on anti-doping and integrity. At the beginning of the meeting, a memento was present to the team captain SAITO Mitsuki from FIFA’s General Coordinator Mr. Chris KEMP, who will be in charge of Bydgoszcz Stadium, where Japan will be playing their first match. The orientation given by FIFA has surely made the players realise that the tournament is just around the corner.

The team conducted a training session in the afternoon, where they conducted numerous variations of possession drills, starting from small numbers of players until they finished off with an 11 vs 11 drill. The players showed great intensity on the field to prepare themselves for the first match.

After the training session, the players went back to their hotel to go over their session and discussed ways to heighten the quality of the team.

Players' Comments

DF #5 SUGAWARA Yukinari (Nagoya Grampus)
Ahead of our first match against Ecuador, we have been able to prepare ourselves under a wonderful environment. The South American player are well capable of creating chances from their individual skills, and I am told that the Ecuador National Team consists players who have played in the France Ligue 1 and Serie A matches, so I am looking forward to playing against them. My fellow defender HASHIOKA Daiki (Urawa Reds) has been a regular on this team, but he suffered an injury just ahead of this tournament. Knowing how much he wanted to be here, he must be feeling very disappointed, but he told me to do my best at the tournament. I will fight in behalf of him and all the other players who couldn’t make it with us and strive to advance to the final of this tournament.

FW #18 HARA Taichi (F.C. Tokyo)
With the world stage just within our eyes, the tension is building, but I am personally feeling more sense of excitement. I will enter our training sessions from tomorrow while visualising myself scoring goals at the matches. In behalf of all the players who couldn’t be here, we will give our best efforts at the tournament.

Schedule

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

FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019

Tournament Dates: Thu. 23 May - Sat. 15 June 2019

Group Stage:
Fri. 24 May 2019 03:30 (Japan time)
vs U-20 Ecuador National Team

Sun. 26 May 2019 22:30 (Japan time)
vs U-20 Mexico National Team

Thu. 30 May 2019 01:00 (Japan time)
vs U-20 Italy National Team

Tournament Information