England are gearing up for their quarter-finals test against current holders, Japan after emerging from a very tough group. They’re’ ‘feeling fine’, reports KATIE MISHNER.
The last time the these two teams met in this tournament was also in the quarter final stage, in 2008 in NZ, and a lot has changed since then, including many of the players featuring in those squads progressing to star for their country at senior level.
Both teams are undefeated so far in their campaigns but a stylish Japan side are the only team to record three wins.
John Griffiths and Bristol City midfielder Flo Allen were present at the pre-match press conference to speak about the game. They calmly assured those present that they’re not underestimating to task in hand, but are equally confident that they can compete with their Asian counterparts.
Q: What are the team’s expectations for the next game?
Flo Allen: We are all ready for it, and obviously we want to win the game. It will be a really tough test but we want to do the best we can.
Q: Do you think that Japan is the best team so far in the tournament?
John Griffiths: The Japanese team are very good, as are all of the other nations competing. The African nations tend to play physical, the Asian nations tend to be technical, and the European nations play very organised. There are very different blends of styles to play against all the time and as Flo says, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.
There are 16 teams that are the best in the world in this competition, and we are one of those and now we are down to the final eight – and in World Cups anything can happen.
We are very prepared and we aim to be going through to the semi-finals and latter stages of the tournament. We are playing against a very good team but they will play against a very good team also.
Q: What are the points you have to be careful about when you play against Japan?
JG: Japan are traditionally a very good team, and it’s great that two good football nations meet again like the senior sides did in the semi-finals of Canada 2015. Japan will be very technical, they have very good pedigree and I quite admire the style because I like football to be played in a purist way. They will have good runners, we have the physical capability, so it’s going to be a good test for both nations.
Q: USA played 90 minutes in defence [against Japan] and it was very tiring for the team. You can’t play 90 minutes in defensive way so are you going to use an attacking strategy?
JG: We started slowly in our first two games in the tournament. It’s the first time in eight years that we have played on the world stage at this age group so, it was good for players and staff to experience what this level is like again.
We began to hit form at the right time, which is most important, if you look at Germany when they played at Belarus in the Euros, and they drew their first two games and they hit form as they were going to the finals, then went on to win the competition. We played much much better against Brazil but there’s still a lot of learning to take from that.
I think in any game where you are preparing to play against the best, you have to consider attack and defence, it will be very risky just to sit back and defend and not think how you are going to score goals like we did against Brazil and we needed the win there. For us, the knockout stage came one game early, when we played against Brazil, we experienced what it’s like to have to win a must win game.
Q: In two of your games you have scored in the last minutes, what will be the key against Japan?
JG: The key is concentration, if you don’t focus it costs you goals.
In the Korea game we conceded three silly goals from set plays. Against Brazil, we were the much better team, but we conceded one goal from a defensive error, so four mistakes over two games cost us four goals. Against Nigeria, our defence was resolute and we didn’t really have much to say but they had a lot of play in our half, so for us it’s about cutting down the number of mistakes, focus and concentrating. Most important that we are resolute and we work hard to the end. That’s where we got the goal.
In the Euros we played Germany and were losing 4-3 and we had a couple of chances right at the end to bring it to 4-4 so for us, we compete right until to the end. We need to show that we are resilient.
Q: Are you mentally ready as a whole team?
FA: Everyone is feeling fine because we know are ready for the game, we are all focused and we want to be in it untll the end. This is just the next step to get there.
Q: You have been through a tough group, what are the positives of this?
FA: Our group had been really tough but we managed to get out of it, but we are really focused going to this game. It will take a lot of concentration, a lot of hard work but hopefully after the 90 minutes we’ll be in the semifinals.
