U-16 Thailand Women's National Team participated in the J-GREEN SAKAI Lady's Festival U-15 in preparation for the AFC U-16 Women's Championship 2017 to be held in September in their home country.

The team arrived in Japan on Friday 20 January and held a training camp at J-GREEN Sakai. The two sets of the training matches the Thai girls played against JFA Academy Sakai were three 25-minute games on Monday 23 and a 40-minute game and two 30-minute games on Wednesday 25. JFA Academy Sakai won both matchups 5-2 (1-1, 4-0, 0-1) and 10-0 (2-0, 6-0, 2-0), respectively.

In the J-GREEN SAKAI Lady's Festival U-15 on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29, the Thai side finished third in the group stage with two wins, one loss and one draw before playing in the Knockout tournament between the 4-teams of the same position in each group in order to decide the final ranking. They beat Bangladesh in a penalty shootout but lost the next one, finishing the tournament in 10th place among 20 participating teams.

Group Stage

vs JFA Academy FUKUSHIMA　0-3 (0-1)
vs INAC KOBE LEONESSA U-15　1-1 (0-1)
vs Bingo Fuchu TAM-S　1-0 (0-0)
vs Vispo Sayama　2-1 (1-0)

Play off Tournament

vs U-16 Bangladesh Women's National Team　1-1 (0-0)  PSO4-2
vs Aosaki FC Hanako Clover’s　0-2 (0-1)

Off the pitch, the Thai players and staff members looked delighted when they saw snowfall for the first time in their life in Osaka on Monday 23. Furthermore, they had a great time visiting Osaka Castle and shopping in Osaka.

On Thursday 26, Poompanmoung, president of The Football Association of Thailand, came to Japan to visit J-GREEN Sakai and watch Thailand Women's U-16 National Team matches.

Comments

RACHATA THUNPEPCH, Assistant Coach
I'm grateful for the support from the staff members of the Japan Football Association, J-GREEN Sakai and DREAM CAMP. The main purpose of both going through the training camp and participating in the tournament was to get ready for the AFC U-16 Women's Championship to be held in September at home. Furthermore, I wanted my players and staff to learn Japanese hospitality, discipline and courtesy. We learned a lot from the training and the practice matches we had during our stay in Japan, and those turned out to be an invaluable experience. It was a tight schedule during the J-GREEN SAKAI Lady’s Festival U-15, and that was also an excellent experience. We were able to understand the issues we have as a team, so we will work on them in future training.

AMORNRAT JOMPA, Coach
The opponents were formidable teams with quickness and excellent technical skills. We learned and experienced quite a lot during this camp. The training environment was great, and we were able to spend a fruitful time here. They offered a wide variety of food choices at the lodging as well. Everything was quite delicious.

KITTIMA SOMSRI
I'm thankful for the warm hospitality of the Japan Football Association and J-GREEN Sakai. Thanks to the J-GREEN Sakai's support, we were able to focus on football. I feel we gained a special experience in this camp. I sincerely hope we have another camp in Japan.