Japan's World Cup team practiced to prepare for their next match against Greece for about a couple of hours at their base in the suburban area of Itu, Sao Paulo State, on 16 June.
The players' families visited there and observed a part of their practice session from a building right by the pitch. The families were greeted by head coach Alberto Zaccheroni before the practice. The families arrived at the team base on the previous night, and the players enjoyed their reunification occasion with their family members in their spare time.
Defender Konno Yasuyuki seemed relaxed as he got to meet his family. ''I didn't have a meal with them, but had some time to talk. It was great,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Japan Football Association president Daini Kuniya and JFA honorable president Ogura Junji, escorted by Noriteru Fukushima, the Consul General for Japan in Sao Paulo, made a courtesy call on the Antonio Tuize, the Itu mayor, a few hours before the practice session.
President Daini told Tuize his appreciation for the city for having accepted it as the camp site for Japan during the tournament. As Daini handed a JFA pennant and a Japanese jersey with No. 10 and the mayor's name on the back, Tuize was all smiles with the jersey in his hands with the applauses by the city officials from behind. In return, the mayor presented the JFA some memorial articles, including memorial stamps that were put in a frame.

Itu organised a public viewing site for the 14 June Japan game.
The Japan squad are scheduled to hold practice at the same place on 17 June, and will fly to Natal, the venue for their second match, on the following day.

Comments

FW HONDA Keisuke（AC Milan/Italy）
(On the Cote d'Ivoire game) It was more shocking for us to not put up what we couldn't put up our strengths than the fact that we lost. Of course, I have to admit that our opponents were superior to us in terms of the power balance as they wouldn't let us do it, but we could have taken other options but didn't. We were not prepared enough to do so and it was shocking to me. To me, it was a matter of our mental status, so it's not a difficult thing to correct. I believe that as we make adjustments in our mentality, we have a lot of possibility to change our football. Why we lost is clear for us, and we're working to not make the same mistakes.

DF KONNO Yasuyuki（GAMBA OSAKA）
We all know that we have our backs against the wall. Our next opponents have their backs against the wall as well, so it'll for sure be a very difficult match to play. Our strength is in our offence. We need to have elaborate communication between us and organise our team compactly, otherwise we will have a tough time to get the ball even if we have an edge in our individual skills because they are physically stronger. Unless we get united, we are not going to have our strengths as the Japanese team. But we displayed all the bad things that we could have, so I'm not too worried. We expect ourselves to show our good offence against Greece.

MF AOYAMA Toshihiro（SANFRECCE HIROSHIMA）
While it'll be important for us to play with a good content, we will ultimately be asked to come up with a result we want. We all want to win and are all on the same page on that, and we need to be clear on what we have to do to achieve that. (On Natal, the match site) Since the temperature will be high, what makes the differences will be depending on how much we can play with the momentum in the 90 minutes. We are working on putting out our strengths in our preparations, and we have to show that in order to win. We will have to do nothing but play with a determination. We are going to exhibit what we've done in the last four years and win the next one. We are confident about that.

MF ENDO Yasuhito（GAMBA OSAKA）
(Regarding the next game) we won't have to change anything largely. We couldn't show what we'd done all the time, so we will only have to do it, both offensively and defensively. Our opponents will be different opponents, so we are just focused on putting put our traits. When opponents are different, you may be able to do things differently, while there are things we may be able to do when we change ourselves. All the reflections we had from the Cote d'Ivoire match will not be applied for the Greece match. So we need to study Greece's traits, and since we were too passive in our previous game, we need to be bold in our pressing and attacking so we can exhibit our strengths.

JFA-TV