New Japan captain Ko Itakura aims to steady the team after Wataru Endo’s departure ahead of their World Cup opener.
NASHVILLE (United States): New Japan captain Ko Itakura vowed to bring the team together after their preparations for Sunday’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands were rattled by the departure of his influential predecessor Wataru Endo, Kyodo News reported.
Following a training session near their base camp in Nashville, Tennessee, Ajax defender Itakura revealed Friday that a meeting involving all the members of the squad, including Endo’s replacement, forward Shuto Machino, is expected to be held once they arrive in Dallas later in the day.
“We’re having good, high-intensity training and the mood is on the up, but we can go up a notch and further generate that sense of being one team,” the 29-year-old said.
Half of Hajime Moriyasu’s 26-man squad are at a World Cup for the first time and Itakura, who was in the same position four years ago in Qatar, said those with experience want to set the tone this time.
“I’ll look to remove as many anxieties as possible before the first game and share what everyone is thinking,” he said. “The senior players generated a certain type of atmosphere in meetings at the last tournament and that’s something that only those who experienced them know.”
“It’ll cover the mental side of things of course, but also what we’re doing as a team currently. We’ve been checking tactics and I want to hear if players are worried or facing difficulties as it’s important everyone heading into the opener is feeling comfortable.”
Itakura also stressed the need to get defensive basics right when the Samurai Blue take on the country that he plies his trade in at Dallas Stadium.
“We shouldn’t give any room for them to exploit,” he said. “We certainly understand how good their players are after analysing each of them individually and have been working on how to cope with them in training.”
“Tiny details can decide the outcome of a match and before going into tactics, we as a team must get things right with basics like one-on-ones and second balls.”
Japan have played the Netherlands once before at a World Cup, losing 1-0 in the group stage in South Africa in 2010.
