Ahead of the opening match of the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 Qualifiers against Mongolia, U-15 Japan National Team, nicknamed 00Japan, had the final tune-up in a 70-minute session in the evening of Tuesday 15th. After warming up their body with a light exercise and an irregular form of passing drills, the players played an 11-on-11 intrasquad game for 30 minutes. With a moderate feeling of tension, they went through where to position themselves and when to start moving.

In the run-up to the tournament, Japan and Mongolia teams held a press conference. Japan coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro said, "Because we don't know everything about the U-15 Mongolia National Team, all we need to do is just do our utmost from the beginning of the match to show what we have prepared. We have made a good preparation during the past camps. Tomorrow we will be focused and go for a victory." The Japan boss expressed his enthusiasm for the match tomorrow.

The 00Japan will face U-15 Mongolia National Team on Wednesday 16 September.

* ”00 JAPAN” is the nickname of the U-15 Japan National Team that consists of members who were born after 2000.

Players' Comments

DF #16   IWAI Ryuji (Yokohama F・Marinos Junior Youth)
We were somewhat able to improve timing of through balls and side attacks during the camp in Sugadaira compared to the camp in Chiba. It is dry in Mongolia and we needed to have a bit of time to get used to it.

But now we don't have any problem including condition. By facing each one of everyday's training sessions seriously, we've got a great unity as a team. In tomorrow's match, we will try to dominate right after the kick-off and win the match in the end.

MF #10   FUKUOKA Shimpei (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15)
Mongolia is located in a high altitude, and it's hard to maintain our condition in such an environment. It was great we were able to experience the Sugadaira camp beforehand. We learned to be able to control the level of fatigue and recovery.

In the Sugadaira camp, our risk management when attacking was ensured well, but our problem was we didn't have so many effective passes to up front. We are focusing on that point during the game-style training in Mongolia. Tomorrow we will try to score early and play the match in our pace. Then we all will get together to grab a win.

FW #9   KUBO Takefusa (F.C. Tokyo U-15 Musashi)
In the Sugadaira camp, I was able to get involved in team's goals but ran out of steam in the late part of the match. The stamina is what I need to improve. I've been getting used to the environment of Mongolia, and I'm in good shape. Today we had a final tune-up to go through what to do. Our combination is also getting better as a team. Tomorrow we will go all out with pride as Japanese internationals for the sake of people who have supported us.

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.