The Beach Soccer America national team arrived in Japan last night for a series of International Friendly Match, which will be held at Ginowan Tropicalbeach in Okinawa on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June.

The players seemed to be a little tired, as they transferred to Naha Airport shortly after their arrival at Narita Airport in the late afternoon. They will have a good rest at the hotel, getting ready for the coming matches from tomorrow.

Head Coach and Players' Comments

German LAVERDE, the head coach
I really appreciate that we are invited to Japan. As these two friendlies are good preparation for Japan before the World Cup, we’d like to play well to make them good games. Of course, whenever we play, we focus on winning. In the meeting earlier, I told the players to play bearing in mind ‘enjoying beech soccer’.

#1 Chris TOTH
It’s tough to schedule official practice matches after a long flight. I can see the players are tired. Having said that, I believe we’ll recover very quickly, as the hotel and the environment here in Okinawa are excellent. I know Japan is a very strong team, who will participate in the World Cup. I’m sure that playing two matches against them will be great experience for me as well as for the team.

#10 Giovanni GARCIA
The Japan national team is excellent, with great skills, who can compete at the World Cup. As America cannot take part in the championship, it’s a pleasure to play against one of the strong participating teams. I’d like to support Japan fully, so that they can get ready well before the World Cup. So I’ll get myself into good condition for that first.

Staff

Coach
German LAVERDE

Players

GK
12 Aldo BALSANO (Miami United)
1 Chris TOTH (San Diego Sockers)

FP
10 Giovanni GARCIA (Miami United)
5 Lewie VALENTINE (US Sand Soccer)
3 Ryan FUTAGAKI (Chicago Fire)
18 Jayro MARTINEZ (California State University)
8 Andrew FELD (University of San Diego)
13 Shay SPITZ (Hong Kong Rangers FC /HKG)
6 Jason SANTOS (California Davis)
9 Alessandro CANALE (University of California, San Diego)

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change.