“00JAPAN,” who are making a trip in Uzbekistan, held practices in the morning and afternoon on 29 February. 

In the morning session, because they had some fatigue from the day before's travel, the players worked on core training, not using ball, under the instruction of conditioning coach CHUMAN Kentaro. Setting the number of reps, like in push-ups, they tried to raise their condition, talking to each other.

In the afternoon, they had training using the ball, on the assumption of the next day's game. Going in the training, for the players who were slow to prepare and move, coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro gave them harsh advices. It straighten them up and quickly moved to passing and combination following their warm-ups. 

Their staff told the players to have image of how much they can have advantages in passing and receiving them collectively against their opponents who are superior physically. They moved to menus to like 3-on-2s, 4-on-4 plus 3 freemen, 5-on-5-on-5, looking for their quick judgments playing in narrow spaces. In an 8-on-7 practice, they worked on switching between offence and defence and how to keep the defensive line and how to provide passed to up front, and they would stop the plays every time there was something wrong, checking their positioning. They wrapped the day up with an intrasquad game.

The Central Asia - Japan U-16 Football Exchange Programme will kick off on 1 March. “00JAPAN” will take on the U-16 Iran National Team in their first game.

"00 JAPAN" is the nickname of the U-16 Japan National Team that consists of members who were born after 2000.

Players' Comments

DF #2  KUWAHARA Kaito (Avispa Fukuoka U-15)
This is the first overseas trip since I was called up by the national team, so I want to get used to the life and atmosphere of a foreign country and try to show how much I can perform against the world's strong opponents. In our physical examinations, my strengths and weaknesses got clearer, so I would like to overcome my weaknesses and develop my strengths. In today's training, I was able to work on my core training well, so I felt light with my body and could focus on the training in the afternoon. The opponents we will play tomorrow beat us last year, so we want to definitely beat them this time.

MF #6  KIDA Hinata (Cerezo Osaka U-15)
I want to get in this tournament as if it is the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016. The circumstances are different from the championship, but I would certainly like to play like I've always played, no matter what kind of circumstances with patience. I've gotten better on my jet lag, so tomorrow, we want to become one and post a win over the opponents whom we could play in the championship.

MF #8  KOZUKI Soichiro (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15)
In the championship, we are going to play against our Asian rivals, so we want to challenge them who are superior physically, taking advantage of our strengths like tactically. You don't really have a chance to come to Uzbekistan, so I would like to learn other things like their food and culture, outside of football. 

I'm a little tired with our long travels, but I thought that we needed to become particular about caring for our physical management and precaution preparing for our next day's training. In today's training, we had good preparation like core training and strategic menus. Both as the team and an individual, we still have a lot of issues to improve, but we would like to do our best in tomorrow's game against the U-16 Iran National Team, fighting until the very end.

MF #15  SUZUKI Toichi (Cerezo Osaka U-15)
I would like to try and see how much I can come through with my dribbling, which is my strength, against our opponents, who are superior physically and are faster. We worked on our core training in the morning, and it actually made our bodies lighter. We have a good mood inside the team, so we would like to support with each other and speak louder to contribute to our victory, whether I will get to play or not.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.
*Local Time