One day after their rout win against Honduras, SAMURAI BLUE - the Japanese men’s national team - practiced in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on 15 November.

After they checked on their connected moves, members who started in the Honduras game, including AC Milan forward HONDA Keisuke, Borussia Dortmund midfielder KAGAWA Shinji and VfB Stuttgart defender SAKAI Gotoku went through light menu, such as jogging and stretching.

Other members who did not have opportunities to play in the game like Gamba Osaka midfielder KONNO Yasuyuki, Sanfrecce Hiroshima defender SHIOTANI Tsukasa and Nagoya Grampus midfielder, who came in in it as a substitute, played four-on-fours and five-on-threes to check their supporting moves. Then they worked on shooting drills with goalkeepers and four-on-four mini games.

A crowd of 3,500 fans observed the practice, and after that, the players came to the children to sign their autographs for them, who were assembled in a corner of the stands.

Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder HASEBE Makoto competed on the latest national team under Javier Aguirre for the first time, taking the ancho role at the bottom of the central field. ``Because we won yesterday, I feel comfortable fatigue. We have another game coming up, so we want to prepare,’’ he said.

The team moved to Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai, the site for their next match in the 2014 Kirin Challenge Cup against Australia, on 18 November. The Australia game will be Japan's final international friendly before next January's Asia Cup.

Comments

MF ENDO Yasuhito（Gamba Osaka）
I have yet to watch the video so I don’t know the details, but we had connecting moves and had put some change of pace, and we had good goals. Overall, we played smoothly, and we played well both offensively and defensively. We switched positions with Hasebe, who was playing in the backfield, trying not to make the distances with the players up front. The mistakes our opponents made helped us a little bit, but I think we played without problems. On the national team, only a limited number of players can play on the pitch, and if you want to keep being there, you have to have a result. Even while I wasn’t called up, I thought that I’d have a chance as long as I’d shown my performance on my club, having definitive goals. As I played on the national team for the first time in a while, it made me think that the national team was a place to play and I got to reassure that it was a great feeling to be here. I would like to keep going trying not to forget that feeling.

FW MUTO Yoshinori（FC Tokyo）
Australia is stronger than Honduras, so it will be a tough match for us. It will be important for us to win it and get some momentum toward the Asia Cup. Inui had some positive result yesterday, but I want to have some outcomes, too, whether I start or come in as a substitute. We have a possibility to face Australia in the Asia Cup, but I will have to perform to my best even if they try to eliminate my strengths. I think that the team would get more energized by our younger players competing more, so I want to play and no matter what positions I’ll play, I will have to come through.

FW INUI Takashi（Eintracht Frankfurt ）
(On his goal against Honduras) I was running down expecting Honda would provide a pass like that. He gave me a perfect pass, and I only had to put it in. In terms of how to defend and pressing, I just followed what Sakai was instructing. We have so many great players around and it is a difficult position, so I want to showcase myself even more.

MF HASEBE Makoto（Eintracht Frankfurt ）
The anchor role can’t afford to make any mistakes, so I try to play in easy ways than difficult ways. Balance and passing percentage of over 90 percent are needed. I studied how to build up and defence at the position by watching Xabi Alonso. We have a lot of young players with potentials, so we hope to raise our game by competing with each other. We didn’t have many occasion that we caught off-balance by Honduras, but against stronger teams, we will need to flexibly adjust to situations. I haven’t seen the recent games of Australia, but they’ve got Cahill and he’s really good in heading, so it will be important for us to take care of second balls.

JFA-TV

Kirin Challenge Cup 2014

Tue. 18 November 2014    SAMURAI BLUE(Japan National Team) vs Australia National Team
Yanmar Stadium Nagai/Osaka Kickoff 19:20(plan)/Open 16:20(plan)
TV Broadcast: National live broadcast on FUJI TV

More information