Javier Aguirre, the head coach of SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team), appeared at a press conference at the Newcastle Stadium, where the first game of the group stage against Palestine in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia will be held the following day, and noted: "I expect the best championship in defense of our Asian Cup title."

The Japan National Team, who won the previous championship in 2011 and have five titles in total, aim to become back-to-back champions. The players held a pre-competition training camp in Cessnock near Newcastle from 3 January, following the domestic training camp from 29 December. They have been continuing their final preparations in Newcastle since 9 January. Aguirre commented: " there is a brilliant atmosphere in the team", showing his confidence in their preparations.

When asked about the difficulty of the first match, the head coach noted: "I told the players to play with high intensity from the beginning of the match without condescension to our opponent as though it was the last minute in the final." He also pointed out that "as Palestine is participating in a big championship for the first time, we have to watch out for swift counter-attacks with big ambition and a hungry spirit."

The Palestine national football team won the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 and earned the place in this championship. They rank 115th in the FIFA World Ranking, while Japan rank 54th. Japan will meet them for the first time. Ahmed Al-Hassan, the head coach of the Palestine national football team, told of the difficulties of gathering players to prepare for the national team due to the domestic situation. He revealed the fact that the defender Haytham Theeb could not join the national team, as he was not given permission by his employer.

Although the head coach Al-Hassan displayed wariness over Japan, saying: "Japan have won the Asian Cup for four times. I expect a very tough match." He explained their advantages as being that "Japan haven’t got much information about us." He noted: ‘we’d like to play fair with a good spirit in order to get through the group stage."

Ramzi Saleh, who has 107 caps in his 15-year career for the national team, commented: "coming to this championship has always been my dream. I’d like to show that we can play well against Japan, one of the top teams in Asia."

It turned rainy and cool after the heat of the previous day. The 23 players of SAMURAI BLUE held an hour-long training session on the pitch altogether. At the opening of their session, under the gaze of media, the players passed the ball around and dribbled in the limited area, and then moved on to practice passing in the wider area in order to check the condition of the pitch.

When the midfielder Hasebe Makoto was asked about the challenge of becoming back-to-back champions, he commented: "this championship is unique. Our experience brought us here. We’d like to focus on what we need to do to win this championship."

Japan will play in Group D. Their first match against Palestine will kick-off at 18:00 （16：00 Japan Time) on 12 January. Japan will play against Iraq on 16 January, followed by the match against Jordan on 20 January.

Head Coach and Players Comments

Javier AGUIRRE, Head Coach (SAMURAI BLUE/Japan National Team)
The players, who experienced this championship four years ago, mentioned that the first match was very tough. I told the players to play from the start of tomorrow’s game as if it were the last minute of the final. It’s vital to sustain high intensity and play without condescension to the opponent. I’ve seen with my own eyes the Japanese players’ attitude of following the rules and making an effort, which is admirable as a professional footballer and a person, since I took up this position. Although we haven’t done anything special in our practice session, there is a good atmosphere in our team. We respect the 15 other teams taking part in this championship. However, we’d like to play our style to defend our Asian Cup title, and make this championship a brilliant one.

MF  HASEBE Makoto (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany)
I experienced the opening matches in the Asian Cup and in the World Cup and do understand the importance of them. I’d like to prepare perfectly to focus on the game against Palestine, getting a good result and building up positive momentum for us. I personally watched two Palestine games and thought they were a very good team with a compact defence and swift attack. The vital thing is to play our game in a good condition. Although Endo Yasuhito has tried looking for back-to-back titles once, it’s a new challenge for most of us. Having said that, I believe our past experience brought us here. To win this championship as a single tournament, I’d like to focus on what we have to do. (In terms of the match-fixing allegation,) I can say with absolute certainty that it’s nothing to do with the head coach. One of the advantages of this team is trusting each other. We are united for the same goal.

DF  MORISHIGE Masato (FC Tokyo)
I am going to start the game carefully as anything can happen in the first match and prepare and stay calm should anything unexpected happens. It is important to quickly recover the ball once we lose the ball for a counter attack and carry out risk management. Having a common purpose among us, I want to minimize an easy mistake. The goal is to win the cup but it is important to battle the game as a team united.

DF  YOSHIDA Maya (Southampton FC/England)
The other side’s information is limited and having played against the middle east countries before, I want to reduce mistakes and make more chances for goals. Following the previous cup, I had experienced various international matches in last four years. Regardless of the championship the first match is always difficult to play and tend to take an extra care but I am going to keep myself cool and solve each one of situation we face in the course of the game.

DF  NAGATOMO Yuto (FC Internazionale/Italy)
My teammates know my passion for not required to explain it in words. I stick too much for realizing an ideal style and it goes wrong if the egoism overwhelms the spirit of sacrifice for the team. The key is how much contribution I can make for the team. If I can do that, I believe we can reach to the top.

FW  OKAZAKI Shinji (1.FSV Mainz 05/Germany)
As it has been a quite long training camp, I feel like it is finally starting. I suppose the team condition will get better as we play more games. Running diagonal to the side and try to appear in different areas taking advantage of interactions and take risky position for the other side, I want to play aggressively for touching the ball frequently and scoring in the end.

MF  KAGAWA Shinji (Borussia Dortmund/Germany)
The Asian Cup being a short-term tournament, the first match is definitely important. There were many opinions when we had a team meeting but nobody disagreed with one thing, battling for Japan with our spirit united. Trying not to paying too much attention on winning back-to-back championship, I want to go for the game as usual as possible. You can never go without a pressure and I want to overcome it. Personally I believe I can give a positive impact on the team if I express to win the team and that is something needed to advance in the tournament.

Ahmed Al Hassan, Head Coach (Palestine)
Japan is four time winner of the AFC Asian Cup and an excellent team with successful international record. Playing against that team tomorrow and it is going to be a difficult game and I suppose Japan has almost no information about us although they might have seen us playing in the AFC Challenge Cup. We want to do our best with all the players here and the good spirit. I have a difficulty calling up squad to begin with and want to play longer as a team and aim to raise standard of Palestine football for winning the group stage.

JFA-TV

Press conference day before the match against Palestine

Official training day before the match against Palestine

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