The 93rd All Japan High School Soccer Tournament had its final on Monday 12 January at Saitama Stadium 2002.

Final

Maebashi Ikuei High School (Gunma)  2-4 (1st 0-1, 2nd 2-1, ext.1st 0-1, ext.2nd 0-1） Seiryo High School (Ishikawa)

See more details here (Japanese version only)

The final was competed between two leading high school teams who were both contending for the first crown in their history. While Maebashi Ikuei reached the first semi-final in two years and the fourth in their 18 appearances overall, Seiryo made the 25th appearance for the 16 consecutive years and became runners-up at the last tournament.

As both teams went on aggressive attacks from the start, in the 11th minute, Seiryo gained a penalty kick through a careless mistake from Maebashi Ikuei’s defender. Maekawa Yuta netted it in the right side of the net to open the score. The match saw frequent transitions between offence and defence as both teams created goal-scoring opportunities. But the tenacious defence by both sides kept the score as 1-0 until the end of the first half.

After the break, Maebashi Ikuei, showing aggressive football, levelled the score in the 53rd minute, when Noguchi Tatsuhiko picked up a long goal kick from goalkeeper Yoshida Shun that went close to the penalty area and fired it to the back of the net.. Maebashi Ikuei kept the attacking momentum even after that. In the 55th, Watanabe Ryouma took the ball up in the left flank and penetrated into the middle. After showing a beautiful change of direction, his shot gave his side a one-goal lead. Seiryo also showed attacks from swift transitions from defence to offence. In the 64th minute, after Ota Sakaki fed a cross ball from the left flank, Harada Wataru, who went up in the middle, headed home to get it back on level terms. The seesaw battle continued afterwards, and both were unable to score before the match entered the extra-time match with a 2-2 tie.

Both teams did not lose energy and speed even after 90 minutes, showing intense fighting on the ball and a contest with offensive and defensive efforts back and forth. Seiryo finally broke a deadlock in the 95th minute and the 110th minute with Moriyama Taiki’s two powerful winners into the net.

At the 93rd tournament held at the Saitama Stadium 2002 for the first time by “SHUTO ITEN (meaning Football mecca relocation), Seiryo claimed the top spot amongst the 4154 schools throughout Japan after they climbed up one by one reminiscing the disappointment they experienced last year when they just fell one win short for the champions.

Click here for list of excellent players (Japanese version only)