The U-21 Japan National Team had the third day of the Thailand and Bangladesh tour.
In their first morning session of the tour, the players completed a running programme and practiced passing and controlling the ball in pairs in order to acclimatise to the heat. The temperature was 29 degrees C and the humidity was 59%. They finished the morning session with ten sets of 15 second-interval running.
In the afternoon, they appeared at a press conference hosted by the Football Association of Thailand. Teguramori Makoto, the head coach, thanked the Football Association of Thailand for the invitation and, in front of the local media, expressed enthusiasm for the coming match. Worawi Makudi, the President of the Football Association of Thailand, was also there, which implied the coming match had high-visibility.
In the evening, the players held their second practice session. They had some physical training to ‘acclimatise to the heat’, passed balls around in groups of seven, and practiced their tactics. Although the players seemed a little tired from the 19-hour journey the day before and the two practice sessions in the heat, they seemed to be filled with a sense of satisfaction.

Comments

GK 1 NIEKAWA Ayumi (Jubilo Iwata)
I’d like to make the most of the experience in this South-east Asia tour. I hope I’ll find my own way to acclimatise to the heat during this tour, so that I can use that tips in the qualifying round. As we’ve come from the cold in Japan to the heat, I occasionally have some difficulty breathing in the practice session. I’d like to acclimatise properly by pushing myself more. I’d also like to cooperate with Kushibiki Masatoshi and Yoshimaru Kenshin in order to make the goalkeeping unit better. Also I’d like to appeal my advantages – the height and the coverage, and learn from their advantages to improve myself.

MF 16 OHSHIMA Ryota（Kawasaki Frontale）
I’d like to take it easy, considering my condition, as we’ve come from the cold in Japan to the heat in South-east Asia. I’ll play a lot to get used to this heat. As we’ll also travel from the cold in Japan to the heat in South-east Asia in March for the qualifying round, it’s very beneficial to experience it beforehand. We focused on getting ourselves into good physical condition today. I expect we’ll practice more tactics from tomorrow, and I’d like to understand them well in order to bring them into the game. There are many differences from the training at my own club team. I’ll learn as much as possible, as it’s valuable experience.

MF 3 ENDO Wataru（Shonan Bellmare）
During this tour, I’d like to focus on getting used to the heat in South-east Asia. I’ll make sure I sweat enough. I’d also like to learn the team’s tactics in the practice session and bring them into the coming two games. The delay of the flight yesterday was actually a very good experience. As it might happen again before the qualifying round, I think that was a positive thing to experience. On our first day, I think we all focused on acclimatising to the heat as a team, which is our theme of the tour.

Schedule