Japan's World Cup squad will hold a weeklong training camp in the J. Village training facilities next month and leave for tournament host Germany on May 26, Japan Football Association President Saburo Kawabuchi said Friday.
Kawabuchi said the training camp will begin May 17 or 18 and end May 24, two days before the national squad moves to its base camp in Bonn for their campaign in soccer's showcase event running from June 9 to July 9.
Japan coach Zico and his players will take on Bulgaria in Osaka on May 9 and Scotland in Saitama four days later in the Kirin Cup tournament prior to the May 15 deadline for submitting the final 23-man World Cup squad to governing body FIFA.
In its final tuneups, Japan, appearing in its third straight World Cup, will play Germany in Leverkusen on May 30 and Malta in Dusseldorf on June 4 in friendly matches.
Japan will begin its World Cup campaign against Australia in Kaiserslautern on June 12 before moving to Nuremberg to face Croatia six days later. It will meet five-time world champions Brazil in its final Group F match in Dortmund on June 22.