On Saturday 28 October, the 39th Empress's Cup All Japan Women's Tournament went underway and eight first-round matches were played at four different locations: Moka City Sogo Sports Park Athletic Field (Tochigi), Fujieda Sogo Sports Park Athletic Field (Shizuoka), Yokkaichi City Chuo Ryokuchi Athletic Field (Mie) and Asupa Goshiki (Hyogo).

Pick-up Match 1

FUKUI SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL attached to FUKUI UNIVERSITY of TECHNOLOGY（Hokushinetsu2/Fukui）0-4（0-2, 0-2）FUJIEDA JUNSHIN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL（Tokai4/Shizuoka）

The first match held at Fujieda Sogo Sports Park Athletic Field saw the encounter between Fujieda Junshin, the runners-up at the Inter Highs School Festival, and Fukui High School, who qualified for the All Japan High School Women's Football Championship from getting through the Hokushinetsu Regional Qualifiers. The match-up of the two elites in high school women’s football in Japan did not disappoint the audience with intense battles from the beginning of the match.

It was Fukui High School who made the first highlight of the match. In the 12th minute, KOBAYASHI Kazune broke through the left flank and went past a defender with her excellent dribbling skills to fire a shot, but hit the left goal post. First-grader forward MIKIDO Megumi tried to put the deflection into the net with her right foot, but just missed the target.

The next chance then came to Fujieda Junshin in the 24th minute. IMADA Sara exploited the space on the right to collect a pass from the backline and sent a cross ball to the middle, where NAMIKI Chinatsu successfully met for the opening goal.

After taking the lead, Fujieda Junshin got settled and played with better composure. In the 35th minute, Imada sent a cross and AOKI Natsumi, who was converted to the forward position only this summer, evaded the challenge of the opposing goalkeeper to slot it into the open net to double the advantage for her side.

Fujieda Junshin’s momentum did not slow down even in the second half. Aoki netted a right cross from Imada and extended the lead 3-0. Fukui High School attempted to turn things around by changing from back four to three-defender backline, but continued to struggle defending against the Fujieda’s side attacks and allowed them tack on another goal in the 81st minute. OHARA Ranna’s fourth decided the match and sealed a place in the second round with a comprehensive victory.

Match Report (Japanese version only)

Pick-up Match 2

JFA Academy Fukushima（Tokai5/Shizuoka） 2-1（1-1, 1-0）Yamato Sylphid（Kanto4/Kanagawa）

The second match between JFA Academy Fukushima and Yamato Sylphid started under cold rain.

Both sides put effective pressure on the ball and the match stayed in the balance until JFA Academy broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute. After collecting a ball from goalkeeper CHIKAZAWA Rena, YONEI Honoka found IWAI Ran, who surged up the right flank and delivered a well-weighted cross between the Yamato Sylphid’s goalkeeper and the surrounding defenders. The ball defelected off the opposing keeper and hit Fukushima’s KADOWAKI Mai before going directly into the net.

Despite scoring the much-awaited opener after enduring a long tough stretch without conceding a goal, JFA Academy let the lead slip away only two minutes later when YAMAZAKI Yuki scored an equaliser for Yamato before the match went into halftime.

In the early part of the second half, Yamato’s defence prevented JFA Academy from making effective offensive surges. However, the academy team gradually started to take control of the match. Thereafter, both coaches brought on new players from the bench, but it was JFA Academy who took advantage of the fresh players and went ahead in the 80th minute. Substitute SHIROWA Reina cannoned a right-footed strike into Yamato’s goal to help her team edge a close contest with a final score of 2-1.

JFA Academy Fukushima will challenge the Nadeshiko League’s defending champions NIPPON TV BELEZA in the next round.

Match Report (Japanese version only)

Coaches' and Players Comments

KUBO Naoya, Coach（FUKUI SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL attached to FUKUI UNIVERSITY of TECHNOLOGY)
We came up with a game plan and played accordingly. We created chances, but couldn’t finish our attacks with a goal. It is not surprising that every team we face in a national tournament is a quality team, and what matters there is how much we can show our strength. I believe that we showed our strength today, but still didn’t get the desired result. One of the positive takeaways is that if we can play to our strength, then we can evenly match with the elite high school teams like Fujieda Junshin.

NAMIKI Chinatsu (FUJIEDA JUNSHIN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL)
In the first half, the opponents stayed back and we struggled to attack effectively. We sometimes needed to dig ourselves out of a hole, but still were able to score a goal and put ourselves back in rhythm. Speaking of the opening goal, Sara (IMADA) broke through the opposing defence, and I decided to move up to the front of the goal just as we practised. A good ball came to me and all I did was to put it into the back of the net. We are competing in the tournament as a representative of our hometown Fujieda, and I am glad that we could come up with a win at home.

YONEI Honoka (JFA Academy Fukushima)
In the early part of the game, we lacked compactness and faced tough stretches. The opponents were athletic and unbeatable at times in one-on-one battles, but we played and got through the difficult period as a team, and went on to perform much better in the second half.

In the second round, we will be facing NIPPON TV BELEZA (Nadeshiko Division1). We want to try and see how much we can play against them, as we don’t have many chances to play with such a quality team. I am really looking forward to it as well. We will go all out and challenge them, and show everything we have to play a match without any regrets.

FUJIMAKI Aiko, Coach (Yamato Sylphid)
After playing for 90 minutes, we were inferior in every aspect of the game including competitive spirit, individual skills and stamina. In the rain, we tried to shoot even from distance, but were not able to get to the loose balls. One of the reasons why we couldn’t score was that we didn’t have any players in the area where they were most likely to score. It gave us a mental boost when we tied the match in the first half. We came out strongly to take control the beginning part of each half, and it would have been better if we could play with the same energy level throughout the game.

Other Fixtures

Saturday 28 October
11:00　FC KIBI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Charme  0-4（0-3, 0-1）JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA LADIES U-18
11:00　Nittaidai Fields Yokohama Satellite B  5-1（4-0, 1-1）TOKAI UNIVERSITY FUKUOKA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
11:00　NIIGATA UNIVERSITY of HEALTH and WELFARE 4-3（2-1, 1-2 ext. 1-0, 0-0）OKAYAMA PREFECTURE SAKUYO HIGH SCHOOL
14:00　TSUKUBA FC LADIES  2-2（0-1, 1-0 ext. 0-0, 1-1 PK0-3) FUKUOKA J ANCLAS
14:00　SENDAI UNIVERSITY  3-0（2-0, 1-0）NIPPON TV MENINA
14:00　TOKUYAMA UNIVERSITY  0-3（0-0, 0-3） KONOMIYA SPERANZA OSAKA TAKATSUKI

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

For more highlights from JFA TV

Tournament Period：28 October 2017(Sat.)～24 December 2017(Sun.)
First Round　Sat. 28 and Sun 29. October
Second Round　Fri.3, Sat. 4 and Sun. 5 November
Third Round　Sat. 11 and Sun. 12 November
Quarter-finals　Sat. 18 and Sun. 19 November
Semi-finals　Thu. 21 December
Final　Sun. 24 December

Tournament Information