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[SPOTV News = Reporter Shin In-seop] Japan’s national team hit immediate complications upon arrival in Monterrey.
On June 3 (KST), Chunichi Sports reported the squad flew on a charter from Narita and landed after roughly a 12-hour flight. The 26 players named to the World Cup roster were due to begin full training that day, but an unexpected issue surfaced as soon as they arrived.
Chunichi said the turf at the elite Monterrey club Japan had planned to use fell short of expectations, prompting a last-minute change of venue.
The Monterrey facility offered top-tier amenities — saunas, cold plunges, high-oxygen recovery capsules, a modern gym, treatment rooms and meeting spaces — everything a national team would want. Still, an on-site inspection judged the pitch unacceptable, and staff scrambled to secure an alternate training site to protect the camp’s preparation.
Training times were also overhauled. A session originally scheduled for 5 p.m. local time was moved up to 10 a.m. The camp’s initial goal was to help players acclimate to North and Central America’s punishing heat, but with evening temperatures milder than expected the staff decided to push conditions by practicing in the hottest part of the day.
▲ Source | Sports Hochi
Unpredictable local weather added to the strain. Skies were clear until the squad landed, but clouds rolled in as they approached Monterrey airport. Just before reaching their hotel, the team was hit by a sudden downpour with heavy thunder and lightning, complicating the schedule further.
Japan opens its World Cup campaign on the 15th at 5 a.m. against the Netherlands, then faces Tunisia at 1 p.m. on the 21st and Sweden at 8 a.m. on the 26th. With about 12 days until the group-stage opener, the staff is prioritizing internal checks and final lineup tuning over additional warm-up matches.
Head coach Hajime Moriyasu said they’d thoroughly reviewed conditioning with the physical staff and were advised that ample training sessions with U-19 practice partners would be sufficient ahead of the tournament. “Therefore we decided not to play an exhibition,” Moriyasu said. “I double- and triple-checked to make sure it was the best decision.”
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