At a practice facility of Wuhan Sports Center, where the tournament matches are to be held, SAMURAI BLUE had the final workout ahead of the first match of the EAFF East Asian Cup 2015 against DPR Korea on 2 August.

The training started at a little past 5 p.m. when the thermometer showed 35 C of heat. Under strong sunshine, the players, motivated for the match next day, worked on the regimen with remarkable focus under the supervision by coach Vahid HALILHODZIC. 

The training itself was uncharacteristically intense for one day before a match. It started with passing drills simulating real-match situations and went on to scrimmage in a half-sized pitch before getting separated by their position for more skills training.  

After the practice, every player looked satisfied and ready to play matches even only with two days of preparation period.

The campaign for their back-to-back title will begin with the first match against DPR Korea at 6:20 p.m. on 2 August local time (7:20 p.m. Japan time).

Players' Comments

DF #15   NIWA Daiki (Gamba Osaka)
I want to show “my own style of play” at the same time as I enjoy playing in this tournament.

I think true elite players can make a difference even in away matches and that’s somebody I want to be. I want to put up a clearly recognizable result. Opponents are feeling the same heat, so I don’t want to make any excuses and I will even play with using this severe condition as our advantage.

Our only goal is to win the championship. They say you can gain some through losing, but I think what you gain through winning is much bigger than that. We want to play the first match altogether incorporating both players on the pitch and off the pitch.

DF #14   FUJIHARU Hiroki (Gamba Osaka)
We were the champions of the last time. We want to play as a team to win it again. If I play to the 100% of what I can do, I think I will be able to show my plays.

MF #2   TANIGUCHI Shogo (Kawasaki Frontale)
Japan won the last time in this tournament. We all including team staff and players are here with a strong determination to win it again. The tournament gets started tomorrow. By winning the first match against DPR Korea, we want to get good momentum moving forward.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Schedule

EAFF East Asian Cup 2015

Sun. 2 August - Sun. 9 August
China/Wuhan

More information