The Japan Beach Soccer National Team departed Japan on Saturday 20 August and arrived at late night of the same day in Ordos of the Inner Mongolia, China, the site for the Continental Beach Soccer Tournament 2016.

The tournament will be held from 23 to 25 August with eight participating teams from Asia, determining their placements.

The following day (21 August), the team had an official practice at a specially-built stadium, which was installed inside the sports centre at Ordos. This will be their game site.

In the meeting before practice, they made sure they understood their objectives of this trip and the meaning of playing as a member of the national squad. They also shared the thoughts that this tournament would be very important toward an international friendly against Tahiti, which will be held in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture in September, and the Asian Beach Games.

Because the time for the official practice was limited, after a brief warm-up, they quickly moved to a 5-on-5 game-format training and wrapped it up with shooting practice. “Let’s attack aggressively. Don’t be scared,” said Japan coach Marcelo MENDES. They played actively in order to showcase themselves in the limited time and ended the first day positively.

Japan will have their final training before the tournament on the 22nd, preparing for their first game against Thailand the following day.

Players' Comments

FP ＃5  NAKAHARA Yuki (Aveldage Kumamoto BS)
Surrounded by the high-level players, I appreciate the chance given to me to experience in a tournament against Asian countries. The tournament will kick off the day after tomorrow and we will have to prepare ourselves well in the limited time, reflecting upon what we’ve done in our daily practices. In addition, mentally, we need to be ready to face new challenges. Personally, I want to make this a valuable trip.

FP ＃16  SATO Eisuke (Tokyo Lequios BS)
This is my first overseas trip, and I am very thankful to be here and to those who supported me. This is the first chance for me to face foreign teams, so I would like to showcase my strength and contribute to the team as much as possible. In order to do so, I want to work harder every single day.

Schedule

*Local Time
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.