On Saturday 24 March, a day after their international friendly against Mali National Team, SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) held a training session just outside of the city of Liège in Belgium. The team trained in preparation for their game against Ukraine National Team in the KIRIN CHALLENGE CUP 2018 in EUROPE scheduled for Tuesday 27 March.

Despite the dark wintery sky from the day before, the team was welcomed by a warm spring sunlight as the players started the session with a meeting at the centre of the pitch. Coach Vahid HALILHODZIC, who attended the match between France and Colombia after Japan had drawn with Mali 1-1 the day before, told his players enthusiastically using gestures, “we have very limited time before the World Cup, but there are many tasks that needs to be taken care of. You must understand thoroughly what your strengths are as a Japanese player.”

The team was divided into two groups during the training session – players who started the match against Mali, and the reserve players, including midfielder NAKAJIMA Shoya (Portimonense S.C.), who came off the bench and scored the equaliser just before the final whistle.

The former group spent time to recover from the match by running, stretching, and some core trainings, while the latter group practiced using the ball in small areas with goalkeepers, in variations from one-on-ones to five-on-fives.

Midfielder OHSHIMA Ryota (Kawasaki Frontale), who had been replaced due to discomfort in his left calf during the match against Mali, was sent to the hospital for check-ups and did not participate in the training session. Defender UGAJIN Tomoya (Urawa Reds) conditioned himself in a separate session due to pain in his right knee, while defender ENDO Wataru (Urawa Red Diamonds) checked out his condition by running, while partially joining the training session.

Defender MAKINO Tomoaki (Urawa Reds) commented, “we need to share what we lacked and what we accomplished as a team and learn from them in preparation for our next match against Ukraine.” Forward OSAKO Yuya (1.FC Koeln) also noted, “after playing a match, we must build-up on it for the next match, and I believe we will get better as a team.”

82 students and their families from the Japanese school in Brussels paid a visit to the training session. The kids posed for photographs with the players and coaching staffs on the field prior to the session. They followed their favourite players from the stand during the practice session, holding banners given by the players. Applause exploded whenever a player scored in the mini games.

Players' Comments

DF #20 MAKINO Tomoaki (Urawa Reds)
We were keen to earn a win yesterday, which was necessary for us. One of the things we must improve on is our unity as a team. We must be more in sync with each other both in offence and defence. Staying loyal to the team rules are important, but we have to come up with ways to surprise our coach in a good way. In that sense, Nakajima’s attitude towards scoring goals and his dribbling skills are something we haven’t seen in our team.

MF #10 MORIOKA Ryota (R.S.C. Anderlecht/Belgium)
I was hoping to create more goal-scoring opportunities. I should have made more runs in front of the goal to create more chances.

MF #16 YAMAGUCHI Hotaru (Cerezo Osaka)
We were indecisive on where to apply pressure and how to limit our opponents’ options. We were all unsure, and we were all thinking differently. That was probably the biggest reason we couldn’t function well as a team. We need to create more time with the ball and talk to each other on the pitch. That’s something we can start working on.

FW #8 HARAGUCHI Genki (Fortuna Düsseldorf/Germany)
I was observing the match thinking if I was on the pitch, I would use my speed to penetrate the space behind the opponent’s defence line. We were able to get by their man-marks, so we just need to force more turnovers or create more two-on-on situations to improve our attacks. But our focus should be more on our defence, rather than our offence. When facing stronger opponents, we must think of the best way possible to earn the points. In that sense, there are many things we must pursue with a realistic mind-set.

FW #15 OSAKO Yuya (1.FC Koeln/Germany)
It’s disappointing that we couldn’t score the opener, and we allowed our opponents to score first. It made me realise how hard it was to come from behind trailing against an African team. Penetrating the space behind the defence line is important, but we also need to find one or two passes that can lure the opponents. By baiting them into those passes, the runs made in space becomes more critical. That’s the kind of thought process we had to share as a team, but with many new players it was difficult. After playing a match, we must build-up on it for the next match, and I believe we will get better as a team. We must reorganise and prepare for our next match.

Schedule

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

SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) vs Ukraine National Team
Tuesday, 27 March 2018 Kickoff at 14:20 local time (21:20 Japan time)
Belgium/Stade Maurice Dufrasne
For more information