On 7 November, the U-20 Japan Women's National Team had their third day of the training camp in Australia to prepare for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea. The players were divided into 2 groups, and they started with an ‘ice-breaking’ exercises based on tag game. ‘Defence’ was the theme of the morning session, and they went hrough a series of drills including possession exercises and 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 practices.

In the afternoon, the team were subdivided into offence and defence groups. Offensive players focused on shooting and tactics from crosses, whereas the latter spent time for responding to attacks from crosses. They wrapped up the session with six-a-side intrasquad scrimmages on the half-sized pitch.

Players' Comments

GK #21 ASANO Natsumi (CHIFURE AS ELFEN SAITAMA)
Today we focused on defence. I paid attention to getting myself ready while giving instructions to my teammates. At times, I was too concentrated on the ball and forgot to call out the instructions. I attempted also to watch the whole of the pitch carefully in today’s practice sessions.

In the up-coming World Cup, we have to raise the leffectiveness of ‘first defence’ by improving the speed of approaching the opponents, covering and switching defensive players. Furthermore, if we were to coordinate our efforts in defence, we need to have a common understanding among teammates. In doing so, we need to talk to each other proactively and share ideas. We will work hard and improve ourselves for the World Cup practicing even intensely within the team.

MF #7 SUGITA Hina (INAC KOBE LEONESSA)
We had an excellent training enabling us to check who will be the first defender and when we need change (switch) our positions, depending on the different game-time situations. In the afternoon, we were divided into defence and offence groups and we trained separately. In the offensive end, we worked on the same set of plays repeatedly in order for us to send better crosses or take finer shots. In the side-a-six intrasquad scrimmages, I was able to focus on what we have practiced in the previous sessions. However, there were still issues—lacking the accuracy of shots or not focusing on shooting even when I had the possession right in front of the goal. I will keep up my hardwork and improve on those aspects.

Schedule

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