The Japan Football Association announced the SAMURAI BLUE squad on 1 June for the Kirin Challenge Cup 2015 match against Iraq on 11 June and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers Round 2, combined with the AFC Asian Cup 2019 UAE Qualifiers, against Singapore on 16 June. Eight players who were selected to the squad and play for a European club assembled on 1 June after their league's season came to the end. Today as the second day of their training, they worked up a sweat with morning and afternoon training sessions.

The eight players who joined the team on 1 June were KAWASHIMA Eiji (Royal Standard de Liege/Belgium), YOSHIDA Maya (Southampton FC/England), SAKAI Hiroki (Hannover 96/Germany), SAKAI Gotoku (VfB Stuttgart/Germany), HASEBE Makoto (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany), KIYOTAKE Hiroshi (Hannover 96/Germany), OSAKO Yuya (1. FC KOLN/Germany) and HARAGUCHI Genki (Hertha BSC Berlin/Germany). While the European-based players worked on physical training to tune up their condition in the morning, they went through circuit training with balls in the afternoon and ended the day with a small-sided scrimmage at the end.

Players' Comments

KAWASHIMA Eiji (Royal Standard de Liege/Belgium)
As the season of the league finished, I need to work on conditioning. We are having rational training, so I want to put a strain on my body and get myself in good shape for the upcoming matches from now on. I'm motivated by training with other three goalkeepers and will work hard to show my presence to get the spot to play a match.

YOSHIDA Maya (Southampton FC/England)
I think we haven't worked on such physically-demanding training before in a national team camp. I strongly feel head coach's passion. Everyone finished his season and came here, so they may be extremely tired. I think the head coach is trying to adjust our condition to get into training in form when other teammates join us. I'll definitely keep up with it. We are told it's not worth giving a position to us if we fail to survive, so I'll go out with a sense of urgency.

JFA-TV(Japanese version only)

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change.