Japan’s national team has been at its base training camp in Nashville, Tennessee, for a week now and has already played its first 2026 World Cup game — a 2-2 tie Sunday against the Netherlands at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Texas.
But a short stop in Mexico before all of that caused some controversy.
En serio, ¿nadie pudo prever algo tan elemental en Nuevo León?
A siete días del Mundial Japón tuvo que cambiar sus planes para entrenar en las instalaciones de Rayados de Monterrey por las pésimas condiciones de las canchas que recibió en la UANL.pic.twitter.com/f8irirefSU
— Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) June 4, 2026
“Liga MX embarrassment: Japan ditches Tigres’ facilities after poor pitch conditions” read a headline in Diario AS following Japan’s attempt to practice earlier this month in Monterrey, the city where it will face Tunisia on Saturday, June 20.
Additionally, video of Japan’s practice at the Tigres Training Center (CET) went viral on Mexican social media, fueling criticism of the Liga MX club as images showed patches of dirt and a bumpy pitch.
The CET is a year-old complex that is separate from the team’s home stadium, nicknamed “El Volcán,” on the campus of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL). Tigres UANL are a professional club in Liga MX.
Japan’s players found the field in rough shape with uneven areas, and coaching staff expressed concern about the risk of injuries.
“It was hard, there were holes … it wasn’t good,” Japan midfielder Take Kubo said, adding that players were hesitant to go all out.
So Japan shifted that same day to the UANL’s School of Medicine fields — which also showed “visible signs of wear,” according to Diario AS.
By the next day, the squad had moved again, this time to El Barrial, the training center of the Monterrey Rayados. Regarded as one of the nation’s top facilities, it is now serving as the base camp for Tunisia.
Six national teams originally opted to set up their base camps in Mexico. Later, Iran switched from Arizona to Tijuana to give Mexico seven teams — compared to 39 in the United States and two in Canada.
Japan’s venue shuffle during its five-day stop in Mexico turned into a story Monterrey was not expecting.
The delegation did not formally blame Tigres UANL, but the scenes from CET added to wider concern about Mexico’s readiness to host base training camps and practice sessions for other World Cup teams.
Originally, Estadio Universitario, known as “El Volcán,” was supposed to host Japan’s practices as well as a practice for Sweden ahead of its Sunday night game in Monterrey against Tunisia, which Sweden won 5-1.
But FIFA deemed the field unsuitable and selected CET as an 11th-hour replacement.
Japan, which arrived at its official base camp in Nashville on June 8, will return to Monterrey this week for its second of three group-stage games: Saturday vs. Tunisia at Monterrey Stadium (BBVA), the modern, 51,000-seat home of Liga MX’s Rayados.
The Group F clash will also have a milestone attached: It will be the 1,000th match in World Cup history.
With reports from Diario AS, Japan Times, Infobae, ESPN and Players of Life
