It was the third day for U-23 Japan National Team in Qatar.

In the morning on 5 January, they took on weight training. Separated into three groups, they pushed themselves hard in order to get their conditioning up enough to play through the upcoming tournament.

The afternoon had a field practice at Al Ahli Stadium just as the previous day. They worked out enthusiastically at the stadium where Japan experienced "the Agony of Doha". The squad went through passing and controlling drills in groups of six or seven players, fitness training focused on jumping, and the "4 servers +1+7-on-7" possession drill before moving on to getting separated to offence and defence for functional training. In the end, they engaged in a 10-on-9 scrimmage to simulate the friendly match against U-23 Syria National Team to call it a day.

After dinner, they had the first team meeting in Qatar. Based on the video footage of the match against Uzbekistan in December last year, the improvements necessary both offensively and defensively were reviewed.

There are only eight more days before the first match of the AFC U-23 Championship (serving as the final qualifiers for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics). 6 January will have a match against Syria which can be a meaningful cornerstone for the qualifiers.

Coach and Players' Comments

TEGURAMORI Makoto, Coach
Midfielder ENDO Wataru is not available for the Syria and Vietnam matches. So we will play those two matches total of 180 minutes with 19 field players. We will keep paying attention to conditioning. We have players with different backgrounds such as guys who are used to playing 90 minutes, who are not yet and who finished their regular season early. I will play some of those players from the beginning of a match and others for both matches. By using various approaches, I want to put high priority on getting our conditioning ready by the first match on 13th.

In the match against Syria, I will try different line-ups of players, but I think it will be good if we can play the same level of collective football on both ends of the pitch no matter who gets to play. We will try to control the match by paying attention to possessions and direct plays. If we allow less goals to our opponents, the probability of us winning gets higher. So just as we have done so far, we want to stay aware of defending collectively. Also how we defend after we make counter-attacks by using direct plays will be one of the keys.

In terms of attacking, it’s important whether we can take advantage of our width and depth on the pitch and keep the good balance in between. Being able to play against a Middle Eastern country means a lot, because there are some players we didn’t’ bring for the last Qatar trip. We will save our increasing sense of urgency until the first match on 13th, and in next two matches, we want to play football without worrying about too much.

DF  IWANAMI Takuya (Vissel Kobe)
It’s easy for us to adjust here, because we were in Qatar once (in December last year). With everyone on this 23-man final-qualifiers roster together, I am feeling a sense of unity in this team. I am pleased that I can start playing football right after this New Year got started, and I am highly motivated to represent Japan.

I have experienced playing in the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, and I personally think the first match of a tournament is the most important. I think the match against DPR Korea will be a very difficult match, but winning the first one will make us feel much better. So I want to get focused on the first match. Every match in the group stage will be tough, but I want to advance to the knock-out stage by winning everything.

MF  IDEGUCHI Yosuke (Gamba Osaka)
Partly because we had a camp here in Qatar in December last year, this environment is no problem, and staying here is comfortable. We have a little less than ten days before the first match, and we all are being able to work out with good excitement. I may be the youngest on this squad, but I don’t care so much about it. No matter when I get my playing time, I want to stay prepared to help my team. I want to show my strength of aggressiveness on the ball to take it and then get involved in many scoring opportunities. Every match is important, but the first one tops the rest.

I personally have experience of losing to DPR Korea in the AFC U-19 Championship 2014, so I want to get a revenge. There is some pressure on us, because the ongoing Olympics appearance streak is at stake, which is now 5 straight Olympics. But more than that, I look forward to it. I want to come home with a spot in the Olympics.

FW  ASANO Takuma (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
We came to Qatar with a mindset that we would win it no matter what. Our generation can never afford to stop the standing Olympics appearance streak, which gives us a sense of nervousness. And we also look forward to it. There are both feelings. We have a good chemistry within this team. We are not over-tensed and over-relaxed. It’s just a good balance of atmosphere, which we want to carry over to the first match. Every match will be played here, and we can’t have much time to prepare for each one of them.

We will have to play one after another, but once we win the first one, we can get onto a good momentum and come out for following matches with a good mindset. I am here to play the forward position. I will take advantage of my trademark quickness and get involved in scoring. That’s my job. I will do good preparations to fulfil my job as a forward as much as possible and help my team win. I will show everything I got to win the ticket to the Olympics.

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