On 15 November, Beach Soccer Japan National Team took on the final tune-up for the first match against Malaysia in the Asian Beach Games. As Beach Soccer began its matches today, Japan’s first match is scheduled on the Day 2 of the event.

The practice started at noon when the sun is at its highest. As soon as the players started working out, their faces were drenched with sweat in the heat. Defence was the focal point of the day’s practice. They worked on when to put early pressure up front and when to stay back by making sure how each player on the pitch communicates with each other, makes decisions and position himself.

After dinner, a meeting was conducted where head coach Marcelo and the players huddled up arm in arm and motivated themselves saying “Nobody can break our link. We will win the championship!”

The first match against Malaysia will be kicked off at 11:00 am local time on 16 November.

Comments

TAKIGUCHI Takashi (NO SOCKS YOKOHAMA)
Finally, it’s our first match tomorrow. The match was postponed and the opponents got changed, but it’s a positive change for us considering this humid heat in Thailand, the time difference between here and Dubai, and the trip we made. In today’s practice, we could make sure the changes we made in Dubai. It will come down to how well we can play as a team. So we will put out everything we have to win the championship.

SUGITA Tetsuji (SHONAN SPREAD1545)
Today’s practice was centred on how to defend as a team. We have played hard in Okinawa and in Dubai. Every little misunderstanding can lead to a goal allowed right away, so it was very good that we could make things sure again before the match tomorrow. We will remind ourselves of the fact that we are a part of the Japan delegation with other athletes in this Asian Beach Games, and we will have extra motivation and play our match.

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