We play Japan at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi on Friday, November 14, 2025, in the 2025 Kirin Cup. This match comes on the heels of our qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, Canada, and the United States of America. It's our second visit to Asia in just over three years, and Otto Addo has been answering questions on our opponents, player availability, and much more. Read every word from the press conference at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi:
On commiserations to families of souls that perished during Wednesday’s Military recruitment exercise at the El-Wak Stadium
I'd like to speak about something else. We had a serious matter in Accra, where six people died, and the Black Stars surely first of all want to send out our deepest condolences and sympathy to the families, and friends of those who died, and we pray for those who are still in hospital. It's a really serious matter that happened during a military recruitment. And there was a stampede where people died, and we are really thinking about them, and we want to just send out our deepest condolences.
On the match against Japan
We are very, very pleased to be here. This is not our first time, we know the Japanese Federation has a very, very strong team. I think so far everything went well with the organisation and so on, and we are looking forward to that match. It will be difficult for us, but I know we also have the strength to beat Japan. We started very well, and like I said, it's going to be a tight match, and I'm looking forward to it.
On Salisu and Asare arriving late and their conditions
We will see today. Surely, we have to fight with the time difference, then also, we have some issues here and there. So, Salisu had suffered an injury after his last match in France so he was getting some treatment, so that's why he came late. We'll see today if he can train. We have some other issues here and there, but I think he's very healthy. Due to the time difference and the long travel, we have to see how he feels to see if he can play.
On transformation of Japan since we last played them
With the result of beating Brazil 3-2, you can see how Japanese football has developed. It's still developing, so it's going to be very tough for us. But we also have developed, we have a lot of young, hungry players on board. We have a team, I think, on bad days, we can struggle, but on good days, we can beat everyone. We showed at the last World Cup, at least also that we were close to beating Portugal, we beat South Korea, so I think we have a competitive team and we're looking forward also to make the next step.
On the strength of Japan
Yeah, I think they still have a variety in the same system, so they can stay in the low block, where they look like defending the 5-4-1, but also out of this system, they can press very, very high. And to be honest, this is how I expect them to play against us. And, you know, so they have good transition moments, they have a good work rate and work ethic against the ball but also with the ball with high run capacities, and then surely, they have their individual players, which is the one good attribute. They have Kubo who can go one against one, good strikers, strong with quality in the air, to score goals out of crosses, and they have a strong and experienced defence, with Itakura, for example and, yeah, we know their qualities, we see them playing in Europe in good teams and I think we're prepared well to face them and, like I said, I'm looking forward to playing against them tomorrow.
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