On Thursday 28 February, the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women’s National Team) travelled to Nashville, Tennessee ahead of their second match at the 2019 SheBelieves Cup.

With the team drawing 2-2 against the USA Women's National Team on the day before, the team spent their morning at the gym to recover, as the players were seen on the treadmill and stationary bicycle to loosen their bodies. With their second match against the Brazil Women's National Team coming up in two days, the players trained just enough to work up a sweat.

After taking lunch, the team travelled to their next match site, Nashville, Tennessee. The two-and-a-half-hour flight took them to the southern part of America, where the climate is rather warm, especially compared to their previous match site in Philadelphia. Upon arriving to the city known as the “Music City,” the team was welcomed with variety of tunes of the guitar at the airport.

Once checking-in to their hotel, the team held a meeting to go over their match against the USA Women's National Team. When going over the film scenes where they conceded the goals, Coach TAKAKURA Asako asked her players what had to be done at the given moment. In response, the players looked back and mentioned, “We could have done a better job in communicating with each other,” “Our positionings were not decisive,” “We need to keep ourselves on the same page in terms of defence.” The meeting allowed the players to keep in mind that strong teams like the USA will surely capitalise on their mistakes, and that they need to make fewer mistakes in their next match.

Japan will face the Brazil Women's National Team in their second match of the 2019 SheBelieves Cup on Saturday 2 March with a kick-off time of 13:00 local time (Sunday 3 March 4:00 Japan time), and the match will be broadcasted live on BS Fuji.

Players' Comments

DF #12 OGA Risako (Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara)
(Looking back on her Nadeshiko Japan debut) I was very nervous at first. I had zero experience facing foreign teams, and the speed and power excreted by the American players exceeded my expectation. However, after playing for a while, I realised that I was enjoying the match. I entered the match as a left fullback, and even though I have played the position during my high school career, back then I was playing on the right side, so I struggled to adjust to the difference. I came into the match with the intention to give my best in defence, but the speed shown by the opponent’s #23 was shockingly fast. Her speed was something I have never experienced before. I was beaten many times during the match, but there were also moments where I managed to respond against her in one-on-one situations, so that’s something I feel proud of. We will now face Brazil and England, so I hope to utilise the experience I gained in the match against USA and do a better job when similar situations occur in the upcoming matches.

FW #11 KOBAYASHI Rikako (Nippon TV Beleza)
The USA exerted great amount of pressure. However, I feel like I may have exaggerated their pressure in my mind. It would’ve been better if I got myself more involved in our plays to find my rhythm. During the match, I wasn’t able to receive the ball effectively and my timings were off. After watching the game film, I thought that we needed more ball movements and better timings to initiate our attacks. We still have two more matches, so we hope to utilise what we felt in our match against USA and create a good momentum to score goals.

FW #13 IKEJIRI Mayu (Suwan WFC/Korea Republic)
I was able to enjoy myself in my first ever match as a member of the Nadeshiko Japan. Although it was a complete away match, there were many people attending the stadium and the atmosphere surrounding the match was very positive. I had a feeling that I was going to be given an opportunity to play, but once I was called up, I was really pumped up. The world’s number one team showcased great speed and power. There were many situations where I would normally win the ball but couldn’t today, and the overall level was something I don’t get to experience at a daily basis. I regret that I rushed my shots too much. If I could have converted the few opportunities I was given, we might have won the match, so I feel responsible as a forward. We worked on our timing to receive the ball and our responses to cross balls in Fukushima, so we hope to utilise that in our next match to score goals and earn positive results.

Schedule

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

2019 SheBelieves Cup

Tournament Dates: Wed. 27 February – Tue. 5 March 2019
All 3 matches involving Japan will be broadcasted live on BS Fuji
Tournament Information