The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Jordan, which will determine the best team of their generation, will kick off on 30 September. Japan captured the title in Costa Rica in 2014. They are looking to repeat the feat this time. Coach KUSUNOSE Naoki talks about his team's challenge for the upcoming tourney in a two-part interview.

――U-17 Women's World Cup is around the corner.

Kusunose：This is a tournament we’ve desperately been waiting for, and we are so excited about it. I would like to take off for Jordan with our players and get ready for the tournament.

――It's been a year and a half since the team was formed back in February last year.

Kusunose： It was my first time to coach female players, so I was a little nervous earlier. There were so many things I did not know. Furthermore, I didn't know the criteria to qualify for the nation team in the U-16 generation. When I began observing the players, I was impressed. “Oh, these 15-year-old, 16-year-old girls can do this moves and that moves". 

But after that, when we finished runner-up as we fell to DPR Korea in the 2015 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship in China, we realized the top level in Asia. It was important experience for me to travel to see teams in Germany, Italy and Spain and understand the global level. It might feel it’s been a long time, but it’s actually been short since we formed the team.

――What did you pay attention most as to forming your team?

Kusunose：The base of our team is not to lose the ball. Japanese players’ strengths are teamwork, techniques and sincere attitudes. Taking advantage of what we currently have, we’ve established this team. In selecting players, we picked the group that would be the core of the team first, yet we tried not to guarantee them their spots. 

――Did you do anything special to stimulate competitions between your players?

Kusunose：We emphasised on whether the players have their own standards. Rather than competing with other players, it’s about how much you improve, how much you see through your own development. For example, when you time a middle-distance run, if one finishes faster in the second attempt than in the first, we will keep calling them up. All our players are serious and work on each given task at full stretch, so they all seem to accomplish it, though.

――What are the selection criteria for the players that compete in this tournament?

Kusunose：One is whether you have a tough personality. To come through in a sport like football, running fast or having techniques isn't enough. You are also required to use your brain and have tenacity to come through in tough times.

When you are playing a good game, there’s not much of problem no matter who you use. But when you are in a tough situation, it’s a different story. It applies to your daily life, too. When you are pressured, you can decide to run away and hand it to someone else or try to solve it yourself. When you are in a difficult situation, you are tested as a human being as well.

――What kind of players do you feel attracted by?

Kusunose：Though you have average techniques, your teammates assembled at your room during a training camp — you can say that person possesses leadership. In your daily life, a player, who takes care of stuff others don’t really like to do, will work harder on the pitch as well. The real question is when your game is on the line, what kind of players do you want to go with. Thinking of that, I don’t think whether you can use the ball well really matters. Our Japanese players we have for this tournament can compete at difficult situations.

――Since the period that the team can get together is been limited, how did you try to understand the individual traits of the players?

Kusunose：I’ve talked to the players naturally. Players, who think of what they are supposed to do to contribute to the team, are working hard, while we are not watching them. They know it’s not easy to improve in short training camps, but they are still working hard. I know which players are like that while talking, and they write their own issues and strengths on their own notebooks. When I hear from their club coaches, some of them practice in their own ways. Your passion to want to be on the national team and compete at global tournaments come out in your daily life.

――Do you have your policy as a coach?

Kusunose：It’s enjoying. Not just football, but sports are meant to have fun. When I am working on sports, I get excited naturally and when I laugh, other people laugh too. It’s one of the attractions that sports can make people happier, so I don’t think it’s right to quarrel with your teammates during a game. I want to say let’s do it positively, and when you play with positive mind-set, you’ll get some luck, that’s what I believe.