After getting underway on Sunday 3 January, JOC Junior Olympic Cup The 19th All Japan Youth Women's Football Tournament, enters the semi-final phase on Wednesday 6.

［Semi-final 1st Match］

Urawa Reds Ladies Youth (Kanto 1/Saitama)   vs   Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls (Kansai/Osaka)

Kanto's powerhouse and Kansai's home side square off against each other. Urawa Reds Ladies Youth, who reached the championship final for two consecutive years, won the trophy of the Kanto qualifiers by edging Nippon TV Menina 1-0 and came out to this tournament as Kanto's first representative. In the first match, the Urawa side cruised to a 7-0 win over Vicsale Okinawa FC Navita (Kyushu 2/Okinawa), who claimed fourth place last year. Urawa won through the second round when they took the initiative in the match and eliminated Albirex Niigata Ladies U-18 (Hokushinetsu/Niigata) 3-1, who scored nine goals in their opener. The core players who got disappointing memories at the two past final matches come out for the battles.

The counterparts are Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls, the only west Japan side who reached the last four. Cerezo slammed Oita Trinita Ladies (Kyushu 1/Oita) 10-1 in the opening match and Clubfields Linda 15-1 in the second round. Cerezo have shown their dominant offensive capability, but coach TAKEHANA Tomoya does not let his guard down. "We have been successful in piling up goals, but you can't be careless when defending," says Takehana. He is looking forward to the semi-final match, adding "we as a team come here to win the championship. By playing against Urawa, we can find where we really are." U-15 players from their subsidiary team are also scheduled to come to cheer for their upper class peers at the match held in their hometown Osaka.

［Semi-final 2nd Match］

JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies U-18 (Kanto 3/Chiba)   vs   Nippon TV Menina (Kanto 2/Tokyo)

Last year's third place side JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies U-18 and Nippon TV Menina face each other in the second match of the semi-finals. JEF grabbed a 5-0 win over Aosaki FC Hanako Clover's (Chugoku 1/Hiroshima) in their tournament opener. In the second round, the Chiba side saw off AS Elfen Saitama Mari (Kanto 4/Saitama) 1-0 and advanced to the last four. Led by KAMOGAWA Miho, also playing for the senior team, and KOYAMA Yurina, coming back from injury before this tournament, JEF look for their maiden championship. "This could be the last match for the third graders. We will challenge the defending champions and hopefully finish with happy tears," says coach KONNO Yuiko ahead of the big match.

The opponents Nippon TV do not have a good record against JEF in the Kanto League with one draw and one loss. "This contest will be the last matchup this season, so we hope to cap it with a win," says Menina's coach TERATANI Mayumi. And she explains the importance of players' mental preparation for the sixth straight title, saying "some of our players played last year, but almost all the players from last year graduated. I want my players to challenge on the title as if this is our first, rather than the back-to-back title. With the team centred on second-year captain MIYAGAWA Asato, the players who played last year and junior high students also join the team. You must see the way the diverse players – such as talented first-year junior-high-student KINOSHITA Momoka – show their chemistry while playing together.

JOC Junior Olympic Cup The 19th All Japan Youth Women's Football Tournament

Sun. 3 January 2016 - Thu. 7 January 2016
J-GREEN Sakai/Sakai City, Osaka
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