The rain that had been falling until yesterday has stopped, and it's cloudy but muggy.
After a late breakfast, we trained from 10:30 AM.
After a 10-minute run and a 4-on-2 drill with all players, the team split into a recovery group and players with limited playing time for further training.
Since tomorrow's knockout tournament will have a penalty shootout if the scores are tied, we practiced penalty kicks at the end of training.
For the last penalty kick, even the interpreter took a shot, and it was a great strike, but goalkeeper Shigaki saved it without reading the situation, leading to boos from everyone and a lot of excitement.
At the same time, the Chinese national team, our opponent tomorrow, was also training on the adjacent pitch.
In the afternoon, after resting in their rooms, they participated in a cultural exchange program starting at 4:30 PM.
The exchange program held in the dining hall was a team competition to make dumplings quickly.
First, everyone practiced how to wrap dumplings after being taught by the tournament staff.
For the main event, two members from each team competed on stage. For Antlers, players Yasutsuka and Oyama represented the team.
Player Oyama would peel the dumpling wrappers and place the filling in the center, and then player Yasutsuka would wrap the wrappers to finish, increasing their count through this coordinated effort.
The result of the competition was an unexpected victory.
The team received a commemorative gift from the owner of the host team. The winning players and coach were interviewed.
After the exchange program, we all enjoyed the many dumplings made by the players for dinner.
From 8 PM, we held a meeting and watched match footage of the Chinese national team, who we will face in tomorrow's knockout tournament.
We divided into groups and analyzed the footage based on given themes, then presented our findings to each other.
The players shared their impressions from watching the footage, so I believe they formed a good mental image for tomorrow's match.
The meeting concluded, and the day's activities ended.
The knockout tournament begins tomorrow. The quarter-final match against the Chinese national team will be at 2:30 PM (local time).