Beach Soccer Japan National Team, who are staying in Dubai, held two training sessions again, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
In the morning the players practiced on the local beach and attracted many people, who were enjoying the sun and the sea in their swimsuits. The players spent a lot of time checking their tactics, especially in defence. Then they finished with some sprints on the beach. As it was the first time they had had a beachside practice session since they came to Dubai, they enjoyed a cool-down in the sea after the training.

After lunch break, they played a practice match against a local club team, Al-Ahli, which is a very competitive club team with several players from the Portuguese national team. It was the perfect opponent for Japan to practice with in preparation for the Asian Beach Games. The players had a meeting and reviewed their matches in the Intercontinental Cup before they left the hotel for the game.
Although Japan conceded a goal or two in each period, they won the match 6-4, because of the four goals they scored in the second period. However, they learned that they still conceded a goal from their mistakes, which was the same problem in the Intercontinental Cup and remains an issue to be fixed.

Comments

Marcelo MENDES, Head Coach
It was very meaningful to play against Al-Ahli, which has some Portuguese national team players, such as Madjer and Belchior. I saw some improvement in defence, which we’re working on now. I was also pleased to see the young players becoming more confident through their experience in the Intercontinental Cup. They won the game and gained some more confidence before the Asian Beach Games, which was very good.

MATSUO Naoya (Pracia YAMAGUCHI)
We checked our tactics and had some light physical training in the morning today. My brain is fully working during the practice session, as I have to learn some new tactics and the modifications from the Intercontinental Cup in this limited period. In the afternoon we had a practice match against a local club team. Although we kept the ball probably too long in the first period, we could follow the tactics. In the second period, I could score from some complex passing. We tried eagerly the passing and dribbling combinations. As we had a good result in the practice match just before the Asian Beach Games, I’d like to keep up this good momentum in order to play well in the championship.

AKAGUMA Takuya (DORSOLE KITAKYUSHU)
In the morning, we checked the tactics and did some running. In terms of tactics, we mainly focused on defence. Then we had a practice match against a local club team in the afternoon in final preparation for the Asian Beach Games. We aim at winning the championship in the Asian Beach Games. Personally, I’d like to firstly focus on defence and try hard to contribute to the attack. I’ll do my best to win the championship as a united team, with the support from my teammates, the coach, the staff and all the supporters.

Schedule