Japan confident of repeating success
Defending FIFA Women’s World Cup champions Japan finally landed in Vancouver Monday, quietly confident about their chances of winning the tournament final at BC Place Stadium on July 5.
The Nadeshiko are the last of the four Group C teams to arrive in the city — following the earlier arrivals of Cameroon, Ecuador and Switzerland — and open their 2015 World Cup campaign with a match against the Swiss at BC Place on June 8.
Japanese captain Aya Miyama knows there’s added pressure on any team that comes into a tournament as defending champions.
“Of course we do have a little bit of pressure,” the two- time Asian Football Confederation Player of the Year said through an interpreter at Vancouver International Airport.
“But we want to play as a team and enjoy the tournament and be champions again.”
Japan beat the U. S. on penalty kicks in the 2011 World Cup final after legendary Japanese attacking midfielder Homare Sawa scored late in extra time to tie the game and force the shootout.
Sawa, 36, will appear in her sixth World Cup this year, the same number as 37- year- old Brazilian midfielder Formiga — more than any other male or female players in World Cup history.
Miyama said there haven’t been many changes to the Japanese squad since the memorable 2011 victory, which she sees as a good thing.
“I think the team has become more mature and we have more experience as a team,” she said.
Japan is the second oldest team in the 2015 Women’s World Cup, with an average age of 28 years and four months. The U. S. has the tournament’s oldest team, with an average age of 29 years and five months.
Striker Yuki Ogimi said besides Japan, tournament favourites will include the U. S., Germany, France, Brazil and Switzerland.
“I think it will be a difficult tournament but we’re confident in ourselves and hopefully we can defend the title,” she said.
Head coach Norio Sasaki’s side favours a possession game that relies on teamwork, short passing and technical excellence — a style that helped them win their first Women’s Asian Cup last year.
Ogimi said the Nadeshiko didn’t obsess over getting ready for the first Women’s World Cup to be played on artificial turf surfaces.
BC Place — which will host nine World Cup matches — had its new $ 1.327- million Polytan turf surface installed last week.
“We haven’t trained on artificial turf in Japan but I’m not anxious about the turf,” Ogimi said.
Japan will train on artificial turf at Thunderbird Stadium at the University of B. C. this week before shifting to another Vancouver training facility with a similar surface.