SAMURAI BLUE: Nagatomo, Okazaki join other European-based teammates #football

Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:32:49 +0900

SAMURAI BLUE had the third day of their camp for the KIRIN CHALLENGE CUP 2015 match against Iraq on 11 June and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers Round 2, combined with the AFC Asian Cup 2019 UAE Qualifiers, against Singapore on 16 June.

The squad had hard-running training under Halilhodzic's passionate coaching in the unfavourable rain that started from the morning. As the days go by, the intensity level of the camp increases, and the players take on one drill after another with support from team staff.

In the afternoon session, NAGATOMO Yuto (FC Internazionale Milano) and OKAZAKI Shinji (1.FSV Mainz 05) joined the team and worked on conditioning separately from the eight players who had already started a string of training.

Players' Comments

NAGATOMO Yuto (FC Internazionale Milano/ Italy)
I heard from the players already starting the training like “The training has been tough," but me and Okazaki had a separate workout today and it was enjoyable run. Our head coach said to us, "I'm eager to help Japan get stronger." And he added, "Since you weren't able to put up a good result at the World Cup in Brazil, each one of you seems to have lost confidence. At first, I want to get your confidence back. To achieve that, I want you to go out for this year's matches with a determination to win all of them." He has strong passion and strictness, but at the same time I really feel he has warm heart and love as a person. Japan have lots of quality side backs. I'll try to work hard to showcase myself including the experience I've got until now.

KIYOTAKE Hiroshi (Hannover 96/Germany)
We have been going through good training. (With our coach,) we discussed like we still have more to improve. Improving my condition is the priority, because how much I can show my own performance when getting tired is important. So the training we are working on is really necessary. I want apparent results that we can recognise, and our head coach discussed my stats in the league I'm playing in. I will keep that in mind, stay hungry and keep up my work.

JFA-TV(Japanese version only)

Interview - NAGATOMO Yuto (FC Internazionale Milano/Italy)

Interview - KIYOTAKE Hiroshi (Hannover 96/Germany)