With two more days before a second Asian qualifying match in the 2018 FIFA World Cup against Cambodia and midfielder KAGAWA Shinji (Borussia Dortmund) arrived back from Europe, SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) held a practice with the entire 23-man squad at Saitama.

Kagawa, midfielder HARAGUCHI Genki (Hertha Berlin), defenders NAGATOMO Yuto (Inter Milan) and MAKINO Tomoaki and latest-addition MARUYAMA Yuichi (F.C. Tokyo) having arrived, the team checked their tactics closing the practice, except for the first 15 minutes.

“I can concentrate on football and am satisfied with the content,” said Kagawa, who has played well having assists and goals in the last three games of the German league this season. “The national team is a different place, so I need to change my switch, but I want to keep my image for scoring goals.” The last time Kagawa scored for the national team came in June's Singapore match.

Cambodia have already played a pair of games in the second qualifying, which began in June, and have not scored a point as they lost to Singapore 0-4 and Afghanistan 0-1. Cambodia are expected to play with five backs to play defensively, looking to score from counter attacks against Japan. So for Japan, how they will capture the defence will be a key.

“If they play passively, you are going to have to attack on your own and create chances by getting inside and work with different players, so the players on the side will play important roles,” forward USAMI Takashi (Gamba Osaka) said. “If I get to play, I want to play like that a lot.”

Maruyama, who participated on a national team practice for the first time, said: “I didn't think I'd be called up for the national team this early. I want to feel the plays of the top Japanese players and be here as long as I can.”

The team will hold an open practice session at the game venue, Saitama Stadium 2002, to make their final preparation for the Cambodia game.

The game will kick off at 7:25 p.m.

Players' Comments

MF   KAGAWA Shinji (Borussia Dortmund)
What you are required and football are different between the national team and club because the coaches are different, but I would like to do what I'm required to do for the national team while I want to perform what I'm doing at Dortmund.

I think that I'm asked to receive the ball forward, playing collectively with the players up front, and show my ability in before-goal situations. No matter who we play, we want to play our own football and firmly win the game under the pressure of winning at home.

FW   USAMI Takashi (Gamba Osaka)
If they play passively, you are going to have to attack on your own and create chances by getting inside and work with different players, so the players on the side will play important roles. If I get to play, I want to play like that a lot.  

If the opponents come hard against us, it's important for us to get canny and skills to take advantage of that. On playing in the left side at the club, I think that I'm getting a lot better in terms of getting closer to the goal from the side, so I only need to have some results.

DF   NAGATOMO Yuto (Inter Milan)
On playing against a defensive team, I think the sides will be the key. If you attack from the sides and win 1-on-1 situations, because once you get past one defender, their marking will start collapsing, so you are going to need to do that.

I'm a side back, so what I have to do is to play defence first, and because they will look to have some counter attacks for sure, I need to stop that and put up my own strengths. I want to focus only on winning and play as the whole team.

DF   YONEKURA Koki (Gamba Osaka)
I'm playing on the left during practices. Whether you play on the right or the left, you have to be aware of your body angle, but as far as offence, there's no problems either way. I think that it's the true pro to exhibit what you can do at the place you are given, so I just want to do my best wherever I play.

It's one of my strengths that I can battle with an opposing player, and unless I show that during practices, I won't be able to put that up in games, so I want to do that from practices. I want to play defence first to show my strengths.

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