On the second day of the expedition, two training sessions were held in the morning and afternoon. The morning session took place on a natural grass field. Many children were playing soccer at the same facility, and whenever FC Tokyo starts training, they are always surrounded by many spectators (and recorded on video). Whether it's the atmosphere of the training or the attention on Japanese player development, training in a different environment than usual will be a good experience for the players.

FC Tokyo's practices always have many spectators

Natural Grass Field Practice

In the afternoon practice, we confirmed the defense of set plays in preparation for tomorrow's game. The intense training, just like a real game, received high praise from coaches of other clubs, saying "FC Tokyo's training is very disciplined and the players are also focused."

Conduct focused training	Set Play Confirmation

Now, let me introduce you to the "Guangzhou Evergrande Football School" that is currently on a training expedition here. This school was established as a subsidiary of "Guangzhou Evergrande", the reigning champion of the ACL last year. It is a boarding school equipped with 48 fields, a gymnasium, a library, student dormitories, and accommodation facilities. "Evergrande" is the name of a huge Chinese conglomerate. They also have a partnership with Real Madrid, and I saw many Spanish coaches there. The number of students exceeds 2,500 and has even been certified by Guinness. However, not all 2,500 students are elite selected through a selection process. Rather, anyone can enter as long as they can pay the tuition, similar to a soccer school and boarding school (elementary and middle school combined) in Japan.
Before coming here, I thought it was a football elite education institution with a scale of nearly 3,000 people. However, according to the staff, the school operation is not covered by only the students' tuition fees (which are quite high), and a large part of it is borne by Evergrande. It also seems to have a strong aspect of social contribution as an Evergrande company, as it creates a lot of employment opportunities in the local area.

The facilities are very clean and the food (of course, authentic Chinese cuisine!) is delicious. The climate is also great, and the people are very polite, making it a very good training environment. When thinking about the future of the players, it might be better to struggle a little more. I want to leave a good result in the tournament starting tomorrow and repay this environment.

Practice Court 48

The number of students has also been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.