Tue. 13 September

The U-16 Japan National Team, nicknamed “00JAPAN,” had their practice on the third day since they arrived in India on 16 September. In order to strengthen their training intensity with three days left until their first game in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship against the U-16 Vietnam National Team, they changed their original one-a-day training schedule to a two-a-day, going through menus to emphasize both on quality and quantity. Toward the first game, the players seemed to have high concentration in the training while the entire team had a mood as if anyone could play in the contest.

Meanwhile, MATSUMOTO NAGI (Cerezo Osaka U-15), was added on the team at night. Now the team had all the 23 boys for the tournament.

Wed. 14 September

On the fourth day, the Japanese team had training in the afternoon like the previous day. Before the training, the team visited GMC Stadium, the venue for their opening game of the tourney, and the players checked the feelings of the pitch. This day, they had two meetings, one each in the morning and afternoon, and watched videos of the U-16 Vietnam National Team that their technical staff made to have better image for the game. Also, they watched a video in which former players who had competed in the AFC U-16 Championship and FIFA U-17 World Cup encouraged the current Japanese players. Those senior players said of the importance of experiencing the tournament while they also advised that they should enjoy it. The 00JAPAN players raised their motivation even more toward the tournament.

Players' Comments

FW #14  TANAHASHI Akito (Yokohama F・Marinos Youth)
Because of the injury I got before the trip, I haven't been able to join the team practice, but I could play with them from today. We only have two more days until our first game, but I would like to get my condition back and prepare so I can play to contribute to the team. Every team will be tough opponents and we are going to have to play tough games, but we would like to get on top of Asia. India's circumstances are the toughest among the countries I've been to, but I want to get in the tournament making adjustments to the circumstances.

MF #15  KOZUKI Soichiro (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18)
This tournament is a finally qualifier for next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup, so we would like to have concentration every day and develop our unity as a team. In order to advance in this tournament, I think that any games of ours against any countries will be difficult, but this is a tournament that we've aimed at since we formed this team, so we would like to conclude it with a good result. We came to India in June for a training camp, but the different circumstances affected us that time, so based on the experience, we would like to play in better condition, being careful about our conditioning. It's a great opportunity for us to experience this Asian qualifier before we play at the global stage, and I would like to learn as much as we can and grow further.

DF #16  KEMMOTSU Takumu (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)
I've grown my confidence while I've played on this national team. I want to show my confidence and strengths that I've earned here and contribute to the team so we will keep winning in this tournament. This past half a year, our team have worked on winning heading battles with opponents. In games, we would like to play physically before our own goalmouth and don't lose in one-on-one battles. It's quite important to get through this qualifier to go to the World Cup, so we'll get nervous, but we would like to enjoy every single game.

Schedule

*Local Time
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.
*If India, the hosting country of 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, advances to the semifinals, the playoff matches will be held on 29 September and 2 October deciding the fifth place among the four losing teams in the quarterfinals.

AFC U-16 Championship India 2016

2016-9-15(Thu.)～2016-10-2(Sun.)
More Information