Japan Football Association President Saburo Kawabuchi said Saturday he will propose that Japan's World Cup squad hold a training camp in the J. Village training facilities in Fukushima Prefecture before leaving for tournament hosts Germany.
Kawabuchi said he will convey the idea to national coach Zico, who usually calls up his players to training camps in Chiba Prefecture prior to Japan's matches overseas.
Asked about Kawabuchi's proposal, Zico said the J. Village is a strong candidate for the site of a pre-World Cup training camp, which will begin shortly after Japan's home friendlies against Bulgaria on May 9 and Scotland on May 13.
Zico's men will leave for Germany in late May and play Germany in Leverkusen on May 30 and Malta in Dusseldorf on June 4 in their final warm-ups for the World Cup finals starting on June 9.
Japan will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia in Kaiserslautern on June 12 before moving to Nuremberg to take on Croatia six days later. They will meet five-time world champions Brazil in their final Group F match in Dortmund on June 22.
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