On Saturday 6 June, Nadeshiko Japan had a training in the morning in Vancouver, of which they opened the first 25 minutes to media.

The players coming out onto the pitch started warm-up with relaxed expression on their face, and it was done in the same manner as the warm-up before a real match. UTSUGI Rumi said of the plan “We tried to simulate the time schedule before and during the warm-up precisely to get the feel of the pre-match routine.”

During the warm-up, which was separated into field players and goalkeepers, field players loosened their body and made sure every routine drill one by one under the supervision of physical coach HIROSE Norikazu. On the other hand, goal keeper coach MAEDA Nobuhiro was with the goalkeepers, who went through cross ball dealings, catching, throwing and other fundamental skills. 

Although the training finished just in an hour, but the team also spend time off the pitch for getting themselves ready by sharing their ideas and reviewing combinations.

Meanwhile the opening match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 between Canada and China was held with 4 pm as being the kick-off time, which Canada eventually won 1-0. The big tournament finally started a series of heated contests. 

Players' Comments

MF ＃7   ANDO Kozue (1. FFC Frankfurt/Germany)
Needless to say about running hard for the team, I want to play toward the goal and fire as many shots as possible. Nadeshiko Japan as the reigning defending champions are expected to go through the group stage for sure. But in any tournament, the first match is always difficult.

Switzerland will come out to play against us with challengers’ mentality to have nothing to lose. So we have to outplay them. If we can’t do that, we won’t be able to reach the final. It’s important to play one match at a time with our own challengers’ mentality. I don’t think we will be able to dominate everything and win, and we don’t try to win clean. We will win no matter what. We will try to be patient even when things are not going our way. Our strength is our attitude never to give it up, and we want to play always with that mentality.

FW #17   OGIMI Yuki (VfL Wolfsburg/Germany)
The preparation has been good both physically and mentally. We have heard that Switzerland we face in the first match would aggressively attack the ball up and early. But it doesn’t guarantee that they really do that in the match, so we have to anticipate every possible scenario and look for ways to go behind their defenders or to the space between their midfielders and defenders depending on how they react.

Last four years, I have taken many different paths and become able to play different styles to score goals. Mentally I think I can come out to the matches without impatience nor worry. I think I am in a position to lead this team, so I hope I can show my responsibility on the pitch and lead my teammates with my own examples.

DF ＃4   KUMAGAI Saki (Olympique Lyonnais/France） 
It’s just two more days before the first match. We all know that the first match is important and we have prepared ourselves for it. I am in a good shape personally and our team have done what should be done so far.

Against other teams in the world, we can’t beat them by average height, but we can never allow them to beat us only by set-pieces. So we have paid great deal of attention there in practice. We need to focus on defending with everyone together. I think I am personally supposed to do what I am expected to do. These four years, I have played overseas and I experienced a lot of things that we can only experience overseas. In that regard, I am way better than four years ago, and I want to show that on the pitch.  

FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015

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