The third phase of the JFA Elite Programme Women’s U-13 this year is a Korea Republic trip, which is a part of the Korea-Japan Sports Exchange Program. On Sunday 13 November, the 20 players selected from all over Japan arrived at Haneda Airport and held the opening ceremony. After a 2.5-hour flight taking them to Gimpo Airport in Korea Republic, the squad rode a bus for 4.5 hours to the Mokpo National Training Centre. It was already 30 minutes before midnight when they arrived at the facility.

The second day of the trip on Monday 14, they had a training session in the morning and a practice match against a local junior high school team. The fatigue from the long trip on the previous day was a concern, but the young women’s squad came out victoriously after three 25-minute periods with the total score of 2-0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0). They frequently exhibited the defensive scheme they were taught in the most recent training and the match turned out to be very productive with both realization of their progress and more work ahead to do.

In the evening, coaches NISHIMURA Yousuke and TOSHIMITSU Chiharu and team doctor HASHIMOTO each gave a lecture to the players, which made the day even more fruitful.

Coach's and Players' Comments

NISHIMURA Yousuke (Hokushinetsu Region Coach of JFA National Training Centre / Amamiya Hospital)
This group of players includes 80% of them who never had a trip overseas. So I told them that what’s ordinary in Japan may not be so ordinary outside of it. So the promises we make at the Elite Programme such as “observe, feel and act” and “play aggressively without fear for failure” need to be carried out with full strength both on and off the pitch. I told that to the players at the beginning of the programme. The training in the morning was centred on defence. We made sure that we would try to rob the ball aggressively and that we would communicate and collaborate with each other to rob the ball with a specific intent.

The training match in the afternoon showed that we had a very high level of awareness on defence, which we worked on in the morning, often went for the ball aggressively and played without fear for Korean players’ strong intensity on the ball and fighting sprits at the level that we normally don’t experience in Japan. I realised that those things would be carried over to the upcoming match we play against the Korean National Team. But we also made many mistakes in terms of attacking including the execution right after we robbed the ball. So we will work in tomorrow’s training in order to get better at taking initiative both offensively and defensively. I have high hope that for these players and the improvements we make in these six days.

YAMASHITA Asako (Okayama Yunogo Belle U-15/U-18)
We couldn’t communicate with each other well because it was the first day and there were some players we hadn’t met before. But we started talking with each other more and more and on the second day we became better as a team. In the morning on November 14, we worked on defence. At first we focused too much on defending itself and we didn’t pay attention to what to do right after we rob the ball. But our coach told us that we need to attack as we play defence. So after that we practised with that in mind. In the afternoon, we played against Korea Republic’s junior high school players. I was given the important role of being a captain, and I thought it would be a very good experience. My position was centre back, and I could coach my teammates from the back, rob the balls and position myself effectively. We were able to show what we worked on in the morning, so we want to keep showing in matches what we learn in practise.

ISHIKAWA Kurara (JFA Academy Fukushima)
Today we had the first practice and the theme was about defence. There are some teammates that I meet for the first time, so in the beginning we had a hard time to communicate. But as we got used to each other, we started enjoying playing together with smiles. We never let the opponent in front of you beat you. We throw out our bodies to defend our goal. Those are the things we tried to execute in the practice. In the afternoon, we played against junior high school players in Korea Republic. There were some mismatches in size and speed, but we took advantage of our passing qualify and attention to details to make up for our weaknesses. I think we were able to defend in the way we practised in the morning, so that led to the 2-0 result. Me personally, I was able to score one goal, so I say it turned out to be a good match. What we still need to improve are how we move without the ball well after we rob the ball and how we play with the ball as we move around. So we want to make sure to improve those aspects in the match against Korea Republic tomorrow.

OMIYA Hiro (Ehime FC Ladies MIKAN)
Today, we had the first workout and a match in this Korea Republic trip. In the workout, we mainly practised defence and paid attention to every detail so that we would be able to use that in the upcoming matches. From the warm-up at the very beginning, we were expected to be very vocal. As we got used to it little by little, we became so. Also it was good that we could communicate with each other stating our opinions during break time. To me personally, the coach’s words of “if you can’t talk on the pitch, you can’t make it at the national training centre,” stuck in my mind. And in the training match, when I saw the opponents huddle up being very vocal, I was a little nervous that we might get outhustled. But once the match started, we took advantage of what we learned in the practise. I was very happy that we won the match. Tomorrow it will be an important Japan-Korea Republic rivalry match. I want to do my best to show what we were able to do today. And for that, I also want to remember what I learned in the lecture such as an ideal diet.

SATO Chihiro (FC Bayern Tsuneishi Ladies/JFA Academy Imabari)
The training in this morning focused on the themes of “defence” and “collective interception”. I usually play a more offensive role, so I hadn’t been aware of the importance of defence that much. But today, I practised this way, and I was reminded that robbing the ball can be connected to offence and eventually goals. And in the afternoon, we played a match with the defence we worked on in the morning in our mind. The opponents were taller and bigger, and that made me worry a little bit. But we huddled up and fired up each other by saying “we will win this one!” Once the match got started, we communicated with each other, robbed the ball, took it to our offence and won the match. Tomorrow it’s against Korea Republic’s national team. We want to do our very best to win.

Schedule

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