Daizen Maeda: “I didn’t get the time to play in the game against El Salvador, so I don’t know if I can play at the game against Peru too. However, if I can play in that game, I have to do my best to bring assists and goals to our team.
“As left winger, I think more assists are also part of what our manager requires me, so I need to show my attitude to challenge to do it during the game. I think our manager is probably thinking of letting me play as left winger, but Mitoma is in the same position.
“To be honest, I feel that it’s a pretty tough competition for me. If I’m given the opportunity to play as left winger, I feel that I can’t survive if I don’t show my strengths that are different from Mitoma’s characteristics. Even if our manager tells me to perform the same as the other left wingers, I probably won’t be able to do it.
“That’s why I want to win the competition against them by performing that only I can do, such as breaking through opponent’s defense due to my own strength, speed. In particular, rather than receiving the ball at my feet, I would rather run effectively towards behind defender, so during training, I’m preparing to implement the strategy in the game while communicating with my teammates.
“My awareness of running forward on the pitch has been stronger since the World Cup. We realised at Qatar World Cup that in order for our team to win games in the world, we have to play faster and faster. That’s why we’re all working on it now.”
And after this we hear from Reo Hatate and Kyogo on the next page…
