The Japan Beach Soccer National Team, who had been preparing for the coming international friendlies, held an official practice session from 13:00 on Friday 16 September at Akashi Okura Beach in Akashi-city, Hyogo.

Since the official practice was only for one hour, the players did some warm-ups on a side pitch prior to the session. During the official practice, they worked on attacking in a four-on-three formation and did a five-a-side to prepare for the game on 17 September.

Many people stopped to have a look at the novelty of beach soccer near the match site, occasionally oohing and aahing over the national players’ acrobatic performance.

The team attended a meeting at a hotel in the evening. They reviewed their Chinese tour on video to share their achievements and tasks. They also watched the Tahiti national team’s games to understand the opponent’s character.

The long-waited international friendly against the Tahiti national team will finally be held from 13:00 on Saturday 17 September at Akashi Okura Beach.

The Japan Beach Soccer National Team had held seven training sessions in total in four days since Tuesday 13 September in order to get themselves in the best condition. Although Tahiti is a strong team, having won second place in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup last year, it is anticipated to be good match if Japan can put into practice their achievements in training.

Coach's and Players' Comments

Marcelo MENDES, Coach
I’m very pleased that we held a long training camp in preparation for the international friendly against Tahiti. We have improved both attack and defence through our seven training sessions. The players are highly motivated, and are getting ready to play really well on Saturday and Sunday. We’re confident we can perform well. I hope many people will come to the site to support us.

GK #1  TERUKINA Shingo (Sol Mar Praia)
Today we had the final training session before the international friendly against Tahiti. Since we have shared our tactics, attack and defence during this training camp, all we need is individual preparation to earn a win. The opponent, the Tahiti national team, uses similar tactics to ours. Although it’s comfortable for us to play against them, their plays are more accurate than ours. So I’d like to stay highly focused. I believe the level of Tahiti is higher than Japan. However, as it’s a great opportunity for us to understand our current level by playing against them, I’d like to look for a good result.

FP #7  TABATA Teruki (Tokyo Lequios BS)
I really look forward to playing against one of the strongest teams in the world, Tahiti. I’ll play my hardest in tomorrow’s game to show off our tactics in attack and defence, which we have practiced through our training, to see how well we can play against a top-level team. I will also challenge myself to improve in many areas, and look for a good result and performance.

Schedule

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

International Friendly Match

Japan Beach Soccer National Team vs Tahiti Beach Soccer National Team
[1st Match] 2016-9-17(Sat.) Kick-off 13:00 ／Entrance 11:30
[2nd Match] 2016-9-18(Sun.) Kick-off 13:00 ／Entrance 11:30
Hyogo Prefecture／Akashi Okura Beach [Free]

More Information