Japan's national team, who will participate in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, flew from Haneda Airport on Thursday 21 July. 

In the morning, the team left the hotel in Chiba, where they had held a training camp until the previous day. The midfielder YAJIMA Shinya (Fagiano Okayama), who had finished the J2. League the night before, joined the participating members, including their chief culinary staff NISHI Yoshiteru, at the airport.

National Team coach TEGURAMORI Makoto articulated the purpose of the trip in front of media at the airport: “football will be the first to start among all the other sports. Whether the Olympics becomes more exciting or not is up to us. Therefore, we will get there first and stay there until the last moment before coming home to an enthusiastic welcome.”

Japan Airlines, a supporting company of the Japan National Team, held a departure ceremony prior to boarding. Coach Teguramori and the team captain ENDO Wataru (Urawa Reds), as the representatives of the team, received flowers, a commemorative model plane, and a message flag.

In the ceremony, Teguramori expressed his wishes: “we’d like to prepare ourselves well and concentrate on winning the first match, so that we can set the right tone for the entire participating athletes of the Japan National Team.” Endo added further with enthusiasm: “we’ll leave for Brazil with a sense of responsibility and a spirit to play for our country and get ourselves in top-playing condition. We’re determined to bring a medal back home.”

The team will arrive in São Paulo on Friday 22 July after transiting flights in Europe. Then they will transfer to a domestic flight to head to Aracaju, located in the north eastern part of the country on the coast, where they will hold a training camp. 

The men’s football tournament will start on Thursday 4 August, the day before the opening ceremony. Japan will play in Group B with Nigeria, Colombia, and Sweden. 

Coach and Players' Comments

TEGURAMORI Makoto, Coach
We were advised by coach HAYAKAWA Naoki to stay awake until this morning, in order to avoid any jet lag. I felt relaxed at departure. We know what we need to do to get a medal. So we reviewed about the essential points among players and coaches –controlling our emotions, not being irritated or putting stress on each other, and not saying anything negative. Although the training camp in Chiba was very short, I felt the enthusiasm amongst the over-aged players for the team. We’d like to display our strengths on the pitch, beat Nigeria in our first game and make the Olympics exciting. We have huge responsibly due to Nadeshiko Japan’s absence. We’ll bring a medal back home.

DF #3  ENDO Wataru (Urawa Reds)
It’s finally beginning. I will try not to get too excited and stay relaxed to handle the time difference during my flight. We communicated thoroughly with the over-aged players. If we can acclimatise to the local environment swiftly, we can condition ourselves well before the match. I’d like to prepare through our practice sessions. I’ll bring myself up to 100 % to ensure my best performance, so that we can bring a positive result back home.

Schedule

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