U-23 Japan National Team, who are in the middle of the AFC U-23 Championship Qatar 2016 (Rio de Janeiro Olympics Asian Qualifiers Final Round) had their training from 10:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. Japan Time) on 17 January, the day after they defeated Thailand 4-0 at their second group stage match.

Just as the next day to the first match, the practice took place in two groups. The group of the 11 starters in the Thailand match as well as ONAIWU Ado who got on the pitch at the beginning of the second half started the session with running with bare feet. As the team’s conditioning coach HAYAKAWA Naoki instructed, the players started jogging slowly around the field with relaxingly talking to each other. Then, they went through other recovery regimen, spending time for taking care of their body.

KUBO Yuya and MINAMINO Takumi, who were subbed in later in the second half, were joined by the eight other players who did not play in the previous match took on drills with the balls under the watch of coach TEGURAMORI Makoto. Starting with warm-ups and 6-on-3 passing drills, they flawlessly worked on attacking flows such as from vertical feeds from centre-backs to finishes and from crosses from the sides to finishes. The two goalkeepers, SUGIMOTO Daichi and NIEKAWA Ayumi, thoroughly prepared themselves separately with the goalkeeper coach SATO Yohei.

There have been news reports considering this U-23 Japan National Team "quiet", but a lot of players were heard quite often on the pitch including laughter before and after the workout and serious encouraging words during it. The accuracy of plays were surely being improved by every detailed request between players.

Captain ENDO Wataru says of the team’s chemistry.

"Of course you can say the chemistry is good because we are winning. But before (when the team were labelled as "soft"), many of our workouts didn’t last very long and we had more of conditioning sessions for matches and practice matches. The Qatar/UAE trip in December and the training camp on Ishigaki Island gave us long enough time to spend as a team. Because of that, we naturally started communicating with each other more loudly on the pitch."

Coach Teguramori agrees with his captain, saying "the players are coming together as one." "The communication among the staff is also close and detailed. And above all, the meals our chef NISHI Yoshiteru cooks are helping us the most," adds the coach smilingly.

He also says "it seems all kinds of management are working well," and that statement has been proved with the match outcomes. The team are still composed and concentrated even with the top spot in the group already secured.

18 January will have an official practice at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium, the venue for the third match against Saudi Arabia.

Coach and Players' Comments

TEGURAMORI Makoto, Coach
We got ourselves the top spot out of the group stage, but we need to show good enough performance against Saudi Arabia. In next match, we are in a situation where we can try several different things. In the night before the first match and the second match, what we had to do was very clear, so I could have a good night sleep. But last night, I was thinking about what I want to do in the third match, and there were so many and I couldn’t fall asleep because of that. Then I fell asleep but I woke up two hours later. Of course we can take advantage of the Saudi Arabia match, but it’s not that we are ok to lose. I want to keep training my players as I give opportunities to all the players.

DF #17  MISAO Kento (Kashima Antlers)
Of course I want to play on the pitch. But at the same time I am working on my assignment day in and day out. In order to show on the pitch how much I have improved, I want to think only about showing my strength as much as possible and keep helping my team. I think my job is to outplay physically-strong players on the ball and at 1-on-1 situations.

MF #19  IDEGUCHI Yosuke (Gamba Osaka)
I have prepared myself even before this tournament got started, so my conditioning has no problem. I want to get playing time, and of course it’s disappointing that I am not getting it, but it is more important for this team to be putting good results. We have secured the top spot in this group stage, but if we can go on to the knockout stage with three straight wins, that will push our back forward even stronger. For that, I want to make plays that can help the team win, if I get to play.

FW #16  ASANO Takuma (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
We started off the Thailand match fairly well, but we couldn’t score there and that made it difficult for us. I myself had chances to score, so it’s important not to miss those chances. There were a little too many situations where we lost the ball, so that needs improvement as well. My fellow forwards, SUZUKI Musashi and Kubo Yuya, scored goals, and that’s another motivation factor for me. If I get to play next, I have got to put up a good result as a forward. The team got the first place in the group stage, but the third match against Saudi Arabia is still important for us to keep playing good matches in the knockout stage.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Schedule

*Local Time

AFC U-23 Championship Qatar 2016 (Rio de Janeiro Olympics Asian Qualifiers Final)

Group Stage 3rd Match
Tue. 19 January - 22:30 (Japan Time)
Qatar/Grand Hamad Stadium
U-23 Saudi Arabia National Team vs U-23 Japan National Team
Live broadcasting across Japan by tv asahi Group from 22:25
More information