The Japan Under-16 national team hit the mid-point of their on-going training camp at Sugadaira.
They got to work on adventure programme for the first two days and then went through two-a-day training both Wednesday and Thursday. Climbing up the sky slope after their morning practice gave the players hard time, perhaps harder than they would think it would be. Yet the tough times and experiences they have gone through here will channel into their significant energy to achieve their ultimate goal to gain a spot in the Under-17 World Cup through the AFC Under-16 Championships.

In the morning, they worked on their cardiopulmonary function around running menus, with the guidance of athletic trainer Namiki. In the afternoon session, they entered with fundamental training and the moved to practical, demonstrative training.

The team are scheduled to have another two-a-day training in the morning and afternoon on Friday as well.
They are determined to have better preparation so they would be able to work on their training menus with higher concentration in their remaining three training sessions.

*98JAPAN is the nickname for the Japan Under-16 national squad, who aims to compete in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile

Comments

YOSHITAKE Hirofumi, Head Coach
The players went through pretty tough physical training, and it actually pushed them to the limit. But the more they were pushed, the more energetic they got, the more united they got and the more active they got. Not just motivating with outer factors, but we would like them to motivate themselves from inside of themselves by developing their independencies.
On our offensive plays before the goal, in order to have an image to score a goal with more than six men, we repeatedly trained to create free players that would face forward in the mid field, calculating back from the finish situations. We also repeatedly worked on making our decision making quicker on the next plays so we could elaborate our finish. When the players came up with image quicker, they would make better shots.
No matter when, where and no matter who we play against, we would like them to have better performance to score goals.

FUJIMOTO Kanya（Tokyo Verdy Junior Youth）
I've been particularly aware of a one-touch pass and long shooting in this camp. Because you have long shots, your could succeed in your killer passes, so I would like to use them properly depending on the situations. I would also like to actively go through physical training so I can maintain a better condition until the final qualifier.

HANYA Yosuke（FC Tokyo U-18）
We had physical training and training using balls. We worked on the physical training, being aware of our forms and breathing. Also in our shooting practice, I was able to make shots by loosening my body. I want to capitalize on this in our upcoming games, not forgetting this feeling.

ABE Masashi（Seiryo High School）
It'll be important for us how much strict we can be on ourselves. By working in these high altitude environments, I would like to develop my physiques and take advantage of it for my performance in the final qualifier. As far as my play goes, I think that I need to go boldly. Not that I play with someone else's instructions, I would like to go out there with the mind-set to do something on my own and I would like to work on our training with that in mind.