Pickup Match

Shimizu S-pulse Youth　3-2（1st 1-1、2nd 2-1）　Aomori Yamada High School

The match between Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka) on a three-match winning streak since the season opening and Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) with no victory yet in the season, turned out to be quite an entertaining match.

Early in the match, Aomori Yamada allowed the first goal from their own mistake in their half. After that they showed brisk ball movement and tried to attack the Shimizu goal. At the 30th minute, a corner kick by Kishimoto Yui led to the goal by Tandai Aito to tie the match. Even after that, they didn’t loosen up their pressure defence and the counter-attacks, which Shimizu’s Head Coach Oenoki Katsumi recalls after the match as “overwhelming”. At the 56th minute, Kitajyo Toshiyuki broke through Shimizu’s defence on the left side and assisted the goal by Noguchi Yuki, which gave Aomori Yamda 2-1 lead.

On the other hand, Shimizu started utilising substitutions to turn the match around. Mizutani Takuma, who got on the pitch after the opening of the second half, led the offense, which patiently and gradually moved closer and closer to the Aomori Yamada’s goal. Nishizawa Kenta said after the match “We could create good momentum by using effectively both middle of the field and sides.” Then at the 80th minute, Shibata Yusuke who was also subbed in earlier attacked an opening in Aomori Yamada’s defence for the match-tying goal. That ignited Shimizu’s offence for a few more attacks late in the match. At the 89th, Nishizawa received a cross feed from the left side and struck the goal for the win. The victory gave Shimizu 4-0 record since the opening and the secure lead from the rest in the standings.

Comments from coach and players

OENOKI Katsumi,Head Coach （Shimizu S-pulse Youth）
Their unconventional 3-4-3 formation made it very tough for us. Especially early in the match, we couldn’t set up our attacks. We could pass it around but didn’t bring it close enough to shoot. This match gave us an assignment, which is getting better at finding a hole in the opposition’s defence as you keep attacking. We also need to have more players calling for a pass, which is to give more choices to the player who has the ball, and also keep moving it with a good rhythm. But it was good for us to get three points despite playing a tough match. Players like Shibata (Yusuke) got out on the pitch late and still performed. I give credit to that kind of patience.

NISHIZAWA Kenta（Shimizu S-pulse Youth）
The game-winning goal was not that hard. The ball just came to me, so all I should do was laid it in. We lost the lead and gave it away down the road, and it was a tough match, but we kept our poise. We have been confident because of the winning streak we are on. Shibata came out and tied the match. That got us going and we got our momentum back. Even when we struggle, we don’t panic because we have good strikers who don’t miss good opportunities. We have a good mood and momentum among the team. I think we can win against anybody now.

KURODA Go,Head Coach （Aomori Yamada High School）
It’s has been only several months since this roster was set, and we are still looking for the way we play, but that can’t be our excuse. In the last ten minutes of the match when we allowed them the lead, there were chances for us to score. If you can’t take advantage of those chances, we have to keep practicing. There are so many things that we have to get better at offensively and defensively. So we keep working on them and get ourselves better prepared by fall. Being able to playing hard and stay focused throughout the match, in other words performing at the high level until the last minute, will be our mission. If we can’t be tough enough to do that, we can’t win in the premier league. So we have to keep practicing.

NOGUCHI Yuki（Aomori Yamada High School）
We lost a goal early, but I thought we would be okay if we kept our composure and kept playing our style of football. Actually we could tie the match in the first half already. But how we played after we gained the lead with 2-1 was a disappointment. The last match against Ichiritsu Funabashi, after we got the 2-0 lead, we lost our focus and blew the lead. We talked about it before this match, saying “We will play hard until the finish.” but….We get more and more opportunities to attack match by match, so now we have to find the answer as a team on how to actually win a match.

Other Results

Ichiritsu Funabashi High School　1-0（1st 0-0、2nd 1-0）　Kashima Antlers Youth
Tokyo Verdi Youth　4-1（1st 1-1、2nd 3-0）　Consadole SapporoU-18
JFA Academy Fukushima　1-2（1st 1-1、2nd 0-1）　Kashiwa Reysol U-18
Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth　3-3（1st 1-0、2nd 2-3）　Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa

Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba) got the first win of the season after beating Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki) by Fujii Taku’s go-ahead goal at the 80th minute. Nakano Masaomi scored two goals to help Tokyo Verdy Youth (Tokyo) to top Consadole Sapporo U-18 (Hokkaido) 4-1. Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba) edged JFA Academy Fukushima (Fukushima) in a close 2-1 contest and remained high in the standings. The match between Mitsubishi Ryowa SC Youth (Tokyo) and Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School finished as a draw as both teams scored three goals and acquired one point.