On Wednesday 1 August, the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women's National Team) held an official training session at TOYOTA Park, the match venue in which they will face the Australia Women’s National Team the next day.

With the team given just one hour to train, the session started from a warmup routine, followed by practical drills featuring passing, ball control, possession, and taking shots. Japan has lost to USA and Brazil in consecutive matches and the team displayed their strong intention that they couldn’t afford to lose three matches.

The training session ended at 3pm and some of the players took their time to walk through the city of Chicago before and after their evening meal, as they were seen relaxed ahead of their third and final match of the tournament.

After suffering two consecutive loses in the tournament, Coach TAKAKURA Asako concluded the meeting by stating, “We have fought against Australia twice in the Asia Cup, and we both know how we play. They are a very strong team with speedy players up front, and the match can really go either way. Let’s prepare ourselves well and earn a victory at the end.”

The final match against Australia is scheduled to kick-off on Friday 3 August 6:50 Japan time.

Players' Comments

#18 GK YAMASHITA Ayaka (Nippon TV Beleza)
During this tournament we took an emphasis on our build-ups to possess the ball and reduce the minutes we have to play defence. At the Asia Cup in April, although we won the title, we felt a sense of urgency that we still have more work to do. Since then, the team has communicated well and made progress little by little. In next year’s World Cup, while we strive for the results, we still must take an emphasis on our quality of plays so that we can be supported by more people. We will strive for better quality as a team and as an individual.

#6 DF ARIYOSHI Saori (Nippon TV Beleza)
In our final match against Australia, while we strive to earn a victory, we would like to also challenge our tasks we’ve found at the Asia Cup in April and what we saw in our previous two matches. Ahead of next year’s World Cup, this tournament gave us a great opportunity to face the world’s best teams such as the USA, Brazil, and Australia. It is up to us to challenge with quality and utilise this precious experience to improve ourselves towards the World Cup.

#12 MF SUGITA Hina (INAC Kobe Leonessa)
This was my first call-up to the Nadeshiko Japan and I got very nervous at first. As much as I understood that this is a great opportunity for me, once I’m actually here I was more anxious than anything. During the previous two matches, I have spent most of my time on the bench, so I haven’t been able to feel the top-level plays in first hand yet, but I have been able to nurture my sense and build my image thus far. It has been a great learning experience for me as the quality of the training sessions and the collective efforts made not only in offence but in defence has given me great inspiration. I have been able to feel the speed, power, and techniques at a level in which I have never seen before. I will utilise this experience to strive higher levels and work hard to earn a spot here at a regular basis.

Schedule

*Local Time, Japan time indicated within the parentheses
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

2018 Tournament of Nations

Tournament Dates: Thu. 26 July - Thu. 2 August 2018
Live broadcasting scheduled on NHK BS1
Information on live broadcast(Japanese website)
Tournament Information