Pick-up Match

Jubilo Iwata（J1） 2-2(PK: 5-4)（0-0, 1-1 ext. 0-0, 1-1） Honda FC（Best Amateur Seed）

On 21 June, 32 second-round matches of the 97th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship were held, and Jubilo Iwata faced Honda FC at Yamaha Stadium.

Honda FC compete in the Japan Football League (JFL) consisting of 16 amateur teams, unlike Jubilo Iwata who play in the top division of the J.League. Against the professional side, Honda with a high level of motivation to cause an upset in the early round of the Emperor’s Cup attacked aggressively and looked for chances from sending deep and incisive passes, causing their coach IBATA Hiroyasu’s to caution his players at halftime, ‘There is no easy way out. Take your time and keep possession and play our style of football’.

In the 3rd minute, Honda fashioned their first chance off a long feed from the backline. FURUHASHI Tatsuya combined with his other forward pair HARADA Kai to enter the penalty area and threatened Iwata, but failed to attempt a shot at goal. Their menacing attacks continued as they found open areas to string passes, exploited the space behind the defensive line and broke through the defence effectively with skilful moves. None of them resulted in a desired end product, but certainly the JFL club showed that they were fully capable of causing a ‘giant-killing’ in the first half.

However, it was Iwata who opened the scoring in the 59th minute. Despite being unable to create many chances in the first half, it was a simple attack from the left flank that gave them the lead. SAITO Kazuki contested the cross in front of the goal, and MATSUMOTO Masaya tapped in the deflection from the opposing goalkeeper.

Even after conceding the opening goal, Honda continued to showcase their attacking style of football. In search for an equaliser, the JFL club orchestrated their chances with give-and-goes and combining swift passes triangularly with three players, and attacked from both flanks. Then, the much awaited goal came in the 72nd minute, after Harada was illegally taken down inside the box and Furuhashi converted the spot kick.

Carrying on carefully and waiting for the best timing to substitute their players, both teams failed to score the decisive goal in regulation time and entered overtime all squared at one all.

Once again, Iwata reclaimed the lead from two substitutes combining to score a go-ahead goal in the second half of extra time. In the 117th minute, displaying his strength on the ball, ADAILTON found KAWAMATA Kengo suriging into the box, and the Iwata’s forward made amends for the missed chance moments before by composedly dinking the ball into net.

With only three minutes remaining, Honda came up with an amazing last-ditch effort to level the game. In the 120th minute, SUZUKI Yuya on the overlap did well to control a difficult pass by stretching leg and found TOMITA Yuya inside the penalty area. Despite his attempt hit the left goalpost on the far side, the deflection was netted home with composure by an 18-year old substitute TONO Daiya. With this dramatic goal in the closing moments of overtime, the winners of this thrilling match were now to be decided on penalties.

Tense moments continued until the end of penalty shoot-out. None of the kickers missed the target, but both goalkeepers successfully blocked three of those attempts until the seventh round. The game finally came to an end with Iwata’s keeper MIURA Ryuki saving the shot from the eighth kicker. Once being a goal behind on penalties, Iwata secured a place in the third round thanks to the fine saves by the guardian of their goal.

Match Report (Japanese version only)

Coaches' and Players' Comments

NANAMI Hiroshi, Coach, (Jubilo Iwata)
Prior to the match, Match Commissioner said to me, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Honda FC win the match. It wouldn’t be a giant-killing.’ This gave me another reason why we can’t lose. Clearly it was firing me up, but observing the wonderful skill level of Honda FC and their excellent vision in exploiting open areas, I really felt both side had an equal chance of winning. Considering the performances of both teams, it was not surprising to see the game went to penalty shoot-out all squared at two all.

However, I must add that it was important that we secured a place in the next round as well as extending the winning streak from the J. League matches. I expect a tough contest in the third round from Shonan Bellmare as well. Today, I advised my players that it all depend on whoever is on the pitch to capitalise the given chance. At the end of the day, it was surely an important achievement that they earned a chance to play in the subsequent round by themselves.

MIURA Ryuki (Jubilo Iwata)
It was my first appearance after joining the team. Not being too concerned with how I felt, I still wanted to perform well and continue the excellent form the team was in entering the match. Something clicked, and I felt this might be what I’ve been searching for in the game. I would like to capitalise on this experience and make a good preparation to get a chance to play in the league matches as well. In the penalty shoot-out, I was determined to save as many kicks as possible. I was so focused that I was not counting how many shots I stopped during the penalties, but when I blocked the fourth and last spot kick, I was thrilled. I want to take this experience and improve further.

IBATA Hiroyasu, Coach (Honda FC)
I felt performing well is simply not good enough. Winning is what really matters at the end. However, the relentless effort put forth by my players probably impressed a lot of spectators of this match. We were nervous at the beginning, and finally got settled in the second half. I must say our ball movement was somewhere between 50 to 70 percent of what we are capable of. We certainly had a high motivation level going against the top-flight Jubilo of the J. League, but we might have given them too much credit as well. If we simply trusted on our ability to build-up plays and create chances to score goals, the outcome might have been different. However, regardless of the result, I will praise my players for fighting until the end of the match.

SUZUKI Yuya (Honda FC)
A few days ago, I was told that the coming fixture is the ‘classic Tenryu River Battle’, being played for the first time in 25 years, but I had no clue of what it really meant. However, I thought winning against Jubilo, the closest top flight J.League team geographically, would certainly be a big plus for promoting football in Shizuoka prefecture. Thus, it was regrettable that we couldn’t come up with a win. I am disappointed also that I couldn’t show the academy kids who came to cheer us that our top squad can even beat a J. League outfit.

Young players’ presence to support us from the stands including our league matches is a big motivation for us. It is such a shame that our Emperor’ Cup campaign, where we can challenge the J, League teams, is over. Now, we will focus on the league matches and win the JFL by overwhelming the peers. I want my academy players to always be proud of their team, and I would work hard to become a good role model for them as well.

【First Round】Saturday 22, Sunday 23 April
【Second Round】Wednesday 21 June
【Third Round】Wednesday 12 July
【Round of16(Fourth Round)】Wednesday 20 September
【Quarter-finals】Wednesday 25 October
【Semi-finals】Saturday 23 December (National Holiday)　
【Final】Monday 1 January 2018 (New Year's Day)

Tournament Information