Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni spoke about his high expectations for his players at an official news conference at Arena Pernambuco on the 13th June as the Asian side was set to face Cote d'Ivoire in their first match in the 2014 FIFA World Cup at the same place.

The Japanese team, who arrived in Brazil on the 7th and have worked on their final tune-ups in the outskirts of Itu, which is located in the northwestern part of Sao Paulo State, flew to Recife on the 13th.

It seemed that Zaccheroni had felt good about his team's developments. ''First matches are always important for any teams at such a big stage like the World Cup. Our whole team are in very good physical condition and are ready fro the game,'' the Italian coach said.

''I'm curious to see what kind of battles we put up and how much we have improved in this tournament. I believe that our team have progressed, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how we will play in our first match tomorrow,'' he added.

As the team arrived in Recife, the team got to work in an official practice at the venue. At the early portion of it, which was open to the media, the players worked on easing their bodies by going through some short running and physical training using balls, while checking on the pitch condition.

Cote d'Ivoire, meanwhile, places 23rd in the latest FIBA rankings (Japan's 46th). They faced Japan in an international friendly in Switzerland right before the World Cup in South African four years ago (Japan lost 0-2). Afterwards, the African side, under head coach Sabri Lamouchi, who took the helm in May of 2012, have qualified through the World Cup qualifying. It will be their third straight World Cup finals for them and they look to make their first knock-out round this time.

For Cote d'Ivoire's official practice session, midfielder Yaya Toure and forward Didier Drogba, both of who had been uncertain to play in the match due to injuries, appeared on the pitch along with their teammates.

Asked how he'd think of Cote d'Ivoire, Zaccheroni replied, ''each team try to show their own brand of football in this tournament. Cote d'Ivoire is no exception and they will try to put up everything they have, including their physicality.'' Zaccheroni also took a question about his starting lineup for the next day's match. ''I have it in my mind already, but we still have 24 hours to think about it. We would like to pick ones who have the best physical conditions and can perform to their best,'' he said.

Enrique Osses of Chile will be the main referee for the Japan-Cote d'Ivoire match.

Comments

Alberto ZACCERONI, Head Coach
Any team should pay the best effort they could possibly do, and try to emphasize their own strengths while they try to hide their weaknesses. Of course we are going to put up our strengths, and we have come up with wonderful outcomes in the last four years. I feel like we are united now. I'm not going to make any promise publicly, but I have a faith. This team has certainly improved. In the past, this team were only able to play well at home, but they made great strides afterwards, and each player has been able to show good battles even overseas. We couldn't excel people's expectations in last year's Confederations Cup, but in the next 12 months, we have amasses even more experiences. This tournament is tests for us. I'm thrilled to see what kind of results we can have in these tests.

MF HASEBE Makoto（Eintracht Frankfurt （Germany））
To have a better result in this tournament in Brazil, we have pursued to play like Japan was supposed to play in the last four years, and it was very good four years. We feel like we have done the best preparations, so I'm so excited about ourselves as we play the match tomorrow. We received a lot of wonderful cheering from the people in Brazil and Japan in last year's Confederations Cup. I believe that a lot of people are coming from Japan for this time, so we would like to get some edge with the atmosphere at the stadium when we take the pitch.

Sabri LAMOUCHI, Head Coach
It's significant for Cote d'Ivoire to be at this stage, and I'm proud of our team. Since they fired coach Zaccheroni, Japan have made progress in the last four years, improving their scoring and winning the Asia Cup. They are playing very well, and they have speed and are high at their technical level, while they have disciplines. I think that tomorrow's match will be a tough one, but I feel like we are in a preferable group compared in the tournaments in '06 and '10, so we would like to stay late in the tournament. In order to qualify through the group stage, we would like to play well in tomorrow's match first. We hope to have a battle with a way to give some troubles to Japan.

JFA-TV

Schedule

※Broadcast time is Japan time.