Japan's Blue Samurai have defied expectations at this year's World Cup, but coach Akira Nishino admits there's one thing the team hasn't practised: penalties.
That's despite both Russia and Croatia relying on heart stopping spot-kicks to secure their places in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
"We've never practised penalty kicks as a team," Nishino told reporters on Sunday in Russia, the Sankei Shimbun daily said.
"I don't think it is really useful to practise for a penalty shootout," he added, saying it was impossible to recreate the pressure players would feel in a real penalty situation.
"Individual players who wanted to be ready trained on their own, but not as a team."
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