On 31 July, Nadeshiko Japan had a final training session before their opening match at the EAFF Women’s East Asian Cup 2015, which will be held on 1 August in Wuhan, China. The team arrived at the training venue at 10 o’clock in the morning and started the session with warming-up exercises. Then they checked set plays in some mini game styled sessions for about 1 hour. 

Japan faces Korea DPR in the first match. Japan has five wins, five draws, and five defeats in the previous matches against Korea DPR. In the most recent match Japan lost 1-3 in the final of the Asian Games last year, is remarkable but the recent 5 matches since November 2010, are one win, three draws, and one defeat, shows that Japan has been an equal force as Korea DPR.

This match will be very important one for the victory of this EAFF Women’s East Asian Cup and for the future AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. 

Midfielder KAWAMURA Yuri (Vegalta Sendai Ladies) has been selected to be the team captain yesterday and she expressed her motivation. “The first match is always difficult. Korea DPR’s advantage is counter-attack. We want to unite well to keep our level of play, not being mentally defeated by their momentum.

There are many players who are in the squad for the first time, but we won’t give up and will do our best, being humble as we always are, and in the end we want to win all 3 matches.”

The players have been self-motivated to build up the team in this limited time. Some experienced players have led video meetings that have been the routine of Nadeshiko Japan. The match against Korea DPR Women’s National Team will kick off at 6:20 pm (7:20 pm in Japan).  

Players' Comments 

FW #9   SUGASAWA Yuika (JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies)
Since there are the players who are in the squad for the first time, I want to do my best to share how we play as a squad particularly with the front line players. We will pay attention to keeping a consistent defense as a team, good pass work, and finishing in front of goal.

Korea DPR is good at pressing defense from the front line, and moving the ball to the front, so we want to negate these advantages as much as possible. To win the upcoming matches, I want to contribute to the team by scoring goals. 

FW #15   TANAKA Mina (Nippon TV Beleza)
The EAFF Women’s East Asian Cup is starting soon. As a FW player, I want to make good combination with my teammates and see if I can go behind the defense or receiving the ball on my foot.

I will support the central mid-fielders and give pressure to the opponent’s centre-back players to make sure we can defend from the front line. We want to find our rhythm to make a good attack. As a team, we all will stick together to win the next match.  

Schedule