(dr) Tigers
Opening of the Tigres training center
The Japanese team has already changed training locations twice (in two days). The fields “were not up to par” for the tournament.
The “Saltillo case” at the 1986 World Cup was much more than sloping pitches: a positive doping test for Veloso, a hotel that wasn’t the best, games with amateur teams, alleged prostitutes at the training camp, financial demands from players, strike and “war” with the federation.
And yes, a sloping training pitch in Saltillo, the most famous Mexican city of all time for Portuguese football.
Precisely 40 years later, precisely a few days before a World of football, and precisely in the Mexico, o Japan is having problems.
The Japanese team has already changed training location twice in two days during its preparation in Mexico.
The training camps, according to the AFP agency, were in bad conditions, essentially in lawns.
The Japanese were going to train at Tigres de Monterrey’s new training ground (opened just a week ago), but the grass was in terrible condition due to bad weather; then they went to a university camp, which was supposed to be for Japan’s under-19s; and they moved again, to a training field used by the Club de Fútbol Monterrey.
Takefusa Kubo, Real Sociedad player, commented to journalists: “The pitches were not up to World Cup standards.”
And next Tuesday he will move again, to Nashville, USA.
Even with these unexpected logistical changes, players are “calm”, assured the technical director of the Japanese federation, Masakuni Yamamoto.
“We came to this conclusion (to change training locations) because we were looking for a better environment. It’s because of the bad weather, so We can not do anything with it. We want to ensure that we prepare thoroughly”, says .
In the group stage (Group F) of the 2026 World Cup, Japan will play against the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden, between the 14th and 26th of June.
