The second day of the 24th Vermont Cup All Japan U-12 Futsal Championship was held on Monday 5 January. The final matches of the group stage were held to choose 16 teams for the final round, and the quarter-finalists were decided by knock-out style games on the same day.

The last matches of the first stage were exciting until the last whistle, as they played for a place in the final round in which only the top teams in each group and the best two of the second teams in each stadium can play. In Group D, the last match was between AS Kofu Futsal Club (Yamanashi) and MEGUMINO FC OWLS (Hokkaido1). AS Kofu turned the match around towards the end of the game by scoring four goals, after letting the opponent lead the game with a three-goal lead until halfway through the second half. They topped the group.
In Group F, Oita Trinita Junior (Oita), who showed their strong attack with 17 goals in two matches, was defeated by Tamiya Victory Soccer Shonendan (Tokushima). Tamiya Victory showed a stronger attack and won the high-scoring match 11-6.

The matches among the top teams in each group and the four teams, who were chosen as the wild cards, were even more exciting. The game between Tamiya Victory and Buddy FC (Fukuoka) on pitch A and the one between Pivo (Shizuoka) and AS Kofu on pitch B kicked-off at the same time and both showed dramatic plays. Both of the matches became high-scoring games and both of the sores became 3-3 in the middle of the second half. The crowd at the Ota-City General Gymnasium continued cheering the players, keeping their eyes on every single movement of the players in the exciting matches. The match on pitch A moved first. Although one of the wild cards, Buddy FC, struck a goal, Tamiya Victory levelled the game again soon after that. Then one minute after that, Ueta Yuto at the far side, reacted to a pass from Ichimiya Yuto on the right, and struck a deciding-match goal. Tamiya Victory won the game.

On pitch B, although Pivo pressed the opponent, AS Kofu never gave up. The match went to penalties. All eight players from each team had eight consecutively successful penalties. Then although Pivo had another successful penalty, AS Kofu’s ninth kicker, the goalkeeper Ikeya Yuma, shot wide. Pivo won the match against AS Kofu, in which all nine registered players took penalties.

Malva Chiba FC U-12 (Chiba), Brincar FC (Aichi), the previous champion Kounan-Minami Boys Soccer Club (Saitama), Kashima Antlers Tsukuba Junior (Ibaraki), and Fun Academy (Tokyo), and Tama-ku FC U-12 (Kanagawa) won their matches and became quarter-finalists. The quarterfinals, the semi-finals, and the final will be held on the last day of the championship on Tuesday 6 January. Please come and join the matches to decide the best team in the elementary school generation.

Match Detail

Comments

TSURUMARU Soichiro, Head Coach of Buddy.FC
As we are in the same group as the previous champion Kounan-Minami Boys Soccer Club, we were greatly motivated during our practice. Unfortunately, Chiyozima Shun, who have lead the team, had to leave the championship due to the flu. In the match against Tamiya Victory in the round of 16, every time we thought we scored a goal, the opponent defended very well. We played a game of endurance. Although we did have our big chance towards the last whistle, I have to say, the opponent goalkeeper’s save was superb.

WATANABE Shota, Head Coach of AS Kofu Futsal Club
Although we couldn’t show what we’ve been practicing due to nerves, we got through to the round of 16 and could played our style. We regularly focus on the futsal. I hope the players, who play both futsal and football, will focus on the detail in futsal to run neck and neck, even though they can’t in football. I’d like them to prove that nothing in this championship was in vain by improving themselves even more from the experiences in this championship.　

KUDO Kantaro, Head Coach of Mirumae FC・U-12
I thought it’d be very difficult to get through the first round against all the strong teams. However, the players never gave up, running until the last whistle and defending solidly, and got through to the next stage. They did more than I expected. I believe that　their continuous efforts in practice and in everyday life, not to mention on the pitch, led to the good result in this championship. All of them will join the junior youth team. I expect they learned the fact that there's always somebody above you in this championship, and continue their everyday practice.

KURASAWA Takaki, Head Coach (Estrella FC)
This is first appearance for us and we managed to advance to the next stage, the minimum goal, even though we were wild card team. But I felt a bigger difference than the result in the round of 16. In the beginning of the game, some mental factors affected our squad and made some mistakes usually never make and that is something we noticed. The distance against the other side player is close and the pressure is high, experienced some nervousness rarely presents in football. I want to make most of it when playing the game in the future.

JFA-TV

Vermont Cup All Japan U-12 Futsal Championship

Sat. 4 January 2015 〜  Tue. 6 January 2015
Tokyo/Komazawa Olympic Park Gymnasium, Ota Ward General Gymnasium

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