One day after they clinched a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup with a win over Jordan, the Japan men's national team, dubbed SAMURAI BLUE, flew to Sydney, the nest site for their match and had a light workout on 21 January.

Japan, who qualified through the group stage with three straight victories, practiced for about an hour at a field near Sydney from the evening. The players who started in the Jordan game focused on recovery menus, such as running and stretches. Defender MORISHIGE Masato, who hit hard in his face during the game, tried to care his body with slow moves in particular.

Other members warmed up by exchanging passes first, and then worked on a practice in which they attempted to finish from buildups. Head coach Javier Aguirre and coach Stuart Gelling joined in it as defenders, putting pressure on the offensive players who'd launch crosses.

Aguirre was also busy for observing his players' moves, such as pointing out for those who weren't moving their bodies as their coach would tell them to do during stretching.

Meanwhile, players like Kagawa, who chipped in for the team's win by scoring his first goal in nine games against Jordan on the previous day, looked laid-back and had an occasion that they responded to the requests of the fans who were at the practice to sign autographs and take photos together.

This day, four persons who represented the Japanese community school in Sydney, including their head of the student council, visited the practice and handed a supportive banner to the team. The banner had colorful letters of SAMURAI BLUE, which were actually painted with hand prints of the student at the school, and the team and the visitors took a photo together with the hand-made banner.

The Japan team, who are seeking their fifth championship and the second consecutive title in the tourney, will square off against the United Arab Emirates, who qualified through Group C as the second seed, in the quarterfinals on the 23rd. The team will have an official practice session at Australia Stadium, the game venue, on the 22rd.

Comments

MF HASEBE Makoto (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Kagawa's goal was big both for himself and for our team. With the goal, he can move forward and our national team will make further progress to get stronger. We are going to have to deal with the win-or-go-home situations so we want to buckle down even more. Not just we are required to play a beautiful football, but we are required to battle as well. The UAE have a lot of good players up front and are a complete team that they've played together as a team since they were younger generations. But if we can play our own brand of ball, I believe we are better. From this point on, there are no easy opponents. We want to get in every game with high concentrations. A real strong team has the ability to outperform such a tough team.

DF YOSHIDA Maya (Southampton FC)
We are going to have to deal with real battles from this point on, so we want to play being united as a team. One mistake could cost us a game more than before, and that said, you have to take advantage of one chance and connect it up front, so we think that we are going to have to be accurate in any portions. The UAE have technical up front and have many players with high agilities, and we have an image that they try to come at you based on their combination plays from the middle and sides. I caused problems for the team in the previous tournament, so I want to contribute to the team as much as I can this time. We will have played the game with two day's rest, so we want to remove our fatigue as much as possible, and it will be important on how much we can get in the game switching our mentality. We will be aware that it will be a one-and-done game, and want to play hard on the ball. Our goal is to win the championship, but at the same time we want to play one game at a time.

MF SHIBASAKI Gaku (Kashima Antlers)
I only played for a few minutes yesterday, but it was meaningful for me to be able to get my knack back, and because it was right before game ended, I thought it was my role to finish it securing the ball. (While I was on the bench) I've been getting the images of what I'd do once I get in, so I think that I understand what kind of battles we are in in this Asian Cup. We are required to have higher techniques in the middle field, so we need to communicate with each other firmly, and because players like Endo and Hasebe have played together for a long time, I hope to be part of them and contribute to the team putting out my own traits as well. I would like to chip in for the team in many phases, such as our buildup, connections in the mid-field, taking off to up front, passing and shooting.

FW MUTO Yoshinori (FC Tokyo)
I settled in after getting involved in scoring the goal for the first time in the tournament. Actually I am bit relieved but I don’t want to be satisfied with this and look to do the same in the upcoming matches. Reviewing the scoring scene, I just followed head coach’s advice for running to the side space and send a cross from there and that’s exactly how it turned out to the goal. I was pretty nervous and stiff in the first match but I guess the mistake I made in the first game helped me play better in the following two games. I don’t feel uneasy playing as center forward. Hard-working and the play for ball possession are something I requested to do and I am going to keep on playing that way.

JFA-TV

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