After moving up to the top spot in their group on 8 October in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Asian Qualifiers Round 2 with a 3-0 victory over Syria, SAMURAI BLUE flew to Tehran, Iran on the same day ahead of an international friendly against Iran on 13th.

They packed hastily right after finishing the match and having dinner before heading for the airport around the time the date changed. The squad landed on the Tehran soil at 4 a.m. in the morning. After the immigration, they had breakfast at their hotel and rested their body. Their first training session in Tehran started at 5 p.m. at PAS Stadium.

Those who started the match the night before had light workouts such as jogging and stretching, then went back to their hotel earlier and had recovery training there. Meanwhile, the rest of 12 players remained on the field and worked on game-style training. Every player seemed to be working hard, aiming to get a starting spot in the following match.

The international friendly against Iran will kick off at 5 p.m. (10:30 p.m. Japan Time) on 13th at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Players' Comments

GK   NISHIKAWA Shusaku (Urawa Reds)
Syria were the team who didn't easily give up a win as they pushed forward and had physical intensity. But by keeping them away from scoring on the defensive side, I believed definitely we would get a win. That was a good result.

Individually, I'm experiencing lots of things by playing matches. And it’s important to keep winning in a clean sheet as a team as well. A lot of tough battles are waiting for us. We will take advantage of this experience.

DF   NAGATOMO Yuto (FC Internazionale Milano/Italy)
Before the Syria match, our coach said, "When you feel tired, it means the opponents feel tired twice you feel." And he told us the opponents would go down (working rate wise) for sure and we can make it through by counterattacks.

That was what we intended, but we had some situations where we could have given up a goal in the first half and had a couple of dangerous moments in the closing minutes of the second half, too. It's good we kept them scoreless. Even so, it's going to be harder in the final qualifying round. We need to improve what we should improve.

MF   HASEBE Makoto (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany)
Syria were totally different from our past opponents, pushing up aggressively. They played well, so I thought persistence was the key. And they came forward and got momentum. So I felt we could find space behind their defensive line. It was good we had opportunities to come through with a single pass. 

But we need to take a look at ourselves allowing chances. We passed the ball to feet too much. We can talk more about having more variations. There should be more opponents just like Syria who leave strikers up front. I think there are some other options we can try out in the next match.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Schedule

International Friendly Match

10-13 (Tue.) - kick off at 22:30 ＜Japan Time＞ (subject to change) 
Iran/Azadi stadium
Iran National Team  vs  SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team)
More information
Announcement from Iran Embassy of Japan – To people who come for the match against Iran – (Japanese version only)