The final day of the JFA 5th U-18 Japan Futsal Championship took place on Sunday 5 August at Xebio Arena Sendai. The day featured two matches, the third-place match and the final, where Seiwa Gakuen High School Soccer Club FC (Host Region/Miyagi) and Sakuyo High School (Chugoku/Okayama) fought for third place, while Fugador Sumida Falcons (Kanto1/Tokyo) and Teikyo-Nagaoka High School (Hokushinetsu1/Niigata) faced off for the national title.

3rd Place Match

The third-place match featured a great battle where the two teams exchanged blows one after another. Seiwa Gakuen FC took the initiative in the first half as they entered halftime with a 3-1 lead. Sakuyo High School rallied back in the second half as OISHI Yuto scored a goal in the 25th minute from a power-play, cutting their deficit in half. With five minutes remaining on the clock, Sakuyo’s KURODA Tomoki scored the equaliser, but Seiwa’s MIURA Ryuya scored his second goal of the match in the 38th minute, which proved to be the deciding goal. As a result, Seiwa Gakuen High School Soccer Club FC became the recipient of the bronze medal.

Final

The final match that kicked off at 12:30pm, turned out to be a blow out. With the two teams already have played each other in the group stage, Coach SATO Toru of Teikyo-Nagaoka High School shared his approach, “We took emphasis on the early minutes of the match,” as they conceded early in the match in their previous encounter. This approach proved to me effective as the Teikyo side scored the opening goal. The goal came in the third minute, when team captain KOIZUMI Yoshihito intercepted the opponent’s pass before sending the ball to HARUYAMA Misaki, who converted the opportunity with a one-touch goal.

The goal gave Teikyo-Nagaoka the momentum as they extended their lead to three goals after NASHIMOTO Yumeto scored consecutive goal in the 10th and 17th minute. The team showed great concentration in defence as well to keep their three-goal lead into halftime.

In efforts to get back into the match, the Falcons applied aggressive pressure in the second half, but their approach led them to accumulate team fouls. In the 31st minute, they conceded their sixth foul to give Teikyo-Nagaoka a spot kick from the second penalty mark. The kicker, HIROSE Futo calmly converted this spot kick to give his side a four-goal advantage. In the 35th minute, Nashimoto assisted SEKI Kento to close the doors on the Falcons, as they notched in their fifth goal.

The Falcons made their final effort to fight back as they utilised their power-play to create chances. In the 39th minute, AMARI Toua managed to give back one goal, but their efforts would end there, as Teikyo-Nagaoka High School took down their second national title in three years with a 5-1 victory.

Teikyo-Nagaoka High School’s Haruyama was named as the tournament MVP, while the Fair-play Award went to Seiwa Gakuen High School Soccer Club FC.

Coach and Players' Comments

HIRAI Takumu (Seiwa Gakuen High School Soccer Club FC)
After yesterday’s match, we have reset our minds and told each other, “Whatever it takes, let’s win tomorrow’s match and finish in third place.” We have played against Sakuyo in the group stage, so we knew what to expect. Each player stayed composed and played solid defence. The goal I scored against the opponent’s power-play was the most exciting goal of my life. The crowd got ecstatic, and it was a great moment. It’s probably the best moment of the season. I have been practicing the punt kicks in our football trainings as well, so I was anticipating scoring one like that.

SATO Yusuke (Fugador Sumida Falcons)
Simply put, the Teikyo-Nagaoka side were better than us. We prepared ourselves to respond when their pivot, #11 (Haruyama Misaki) held onto the ball, and how to cover ourselves when their dribbler, #18 (YAOITA Gakuto) came attacking, but unfortunately, they beat us and it’s very disappointing. We tried to defend against the stronger and better opponents with a collective approach, but it didn’t work out as we planned. They created numerical advantage from their counter attacks and always finished their sequence with a shot, and their ability to convert their opportunities were very impressive. We want to play them again and seek for revenge. I am not sure if the Teikyo-Nagaoka side will come play futsal again, but if we have the opportunity again, we would like to win the match next time. We managed to surpass last year’s result of third place, but we really wanted to win the title. I hope our second-grade team will achieve our goal next year.

SATO Toru, Coach (Teikyo-Nagaoka High School)
I am glad we won the title, and more than anything, I am happy that our players were able to obtain such wonderful experience. We worked on the details as the tournament progressed, such as the set-plays, the defensive approach against power-plays, and all other tactical aspects. We kept our emphasis on utilising the pivot. We wanted to simplify our usage of the pivot and worked on how to get the pivot involved in our offensive approach. I though the final would be a much closer match, but after winning against Sapporo Otani High School yesterday, we managed to get ourselves in a good mood in the semi-final, so we wanted to enter today’s match the same way. Things turned out in our favour as we managed to score many goals.

KOIZUMI Yoshihito (Teikyo-Nagaoka High School)
I was named into the national tournament squad after the Hokushinetsu qualifiers, so I want to thank everyone who has fought for the team to come this far. Facing a power-play for the first time, as a defender, it was very scary, but I managed to enjoy every little moment during the match. The toughest match was perhaps the match against Sapporo Otani High School in the quarterfinals. They were quick in transitions and consisted players with great speed and power. Once we overcame the match against them, we found ourselves more relaxed and gave us the confidence to enjoy the remaining matches. So that was a crucial match for us.

3rd Place Match: Seiwa Gakuen High School Soccer Club FC vs Sakuyo High School

Final: Fugador Sumida Falcons vs Teikyo-Nagaoka High School

JFA 5th U-18 Japan Futsal Championship

Tournament Dates: Thu. 2 - Sun. 5 August 2018
Tournament Venue: Xebio Arena Sendai/ Kamei Arena Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
Tournament Information
Internet Live Streaming "JFA TV"(Japanese website)