Japan pick ‘lucky town’ as World Cup base camp

Japan’s national football team has picked a happy hunting ground as its base camp for next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa, press reports said on Monday.

They will be lodged at a plush golf resort in George where Japan’s Ai Miyazato and Rui Kitada won the inaugural women’s World Cup of Golf in 2005.

“George is a lucky town for Japan,” Japan Football Association president Motoaki Inukai told Japanese media on Sunday as he toured the Fancourt hotel and country club in the city by the Indian Ocean.

“We will need luck as the football World Cup will be a tough campaign,” he added. “It is beautiful with greenery and our players can focus on their battles.”

The 613-hectare hotel resort, surrounded by an electric fence, has three golf courses designed by Gary Player, 150 luxury rooms, a conference centre, a spa, and a variety of restaurants including a sushi shop, the reports said.

The Blue Samurai will be accompanied by chefs from home and they will train on a rugby ground to be replenished with turf after the rugby season.