The quarterfinals, the semi-finals, and the final of the 24th Vermont Cup All Japan U-12 Futsal Championship were held on Tuesday 6 January and Kashima Antlers Tsukuba Junior (Ibaraki) won their first championship.

Each quarterfinal was very tense and exciting. The previous champion Kounan-Minami Boys Soccer Club (Saitama), who were two goals behind against Brincar FC (Aichi), turned the game around and won the match 5-2. Both Tamiya Victory Soccer Shonendan (Tokushima), who played against Malva Chiba FC U-12 (Chiba), and Kashima Antlers Tsukuba Junior (Ibaraki), who met with Pivo (Shizuoka), also turn the game around, becoming semi-finalists. Fun Academy (Tokyo) got past in a close match against TamakuFC U-12 (Kanagawa).

In one of the semi-finals, Tamiya Victory struck the opener against Kounan-Minami, but they stayed on level pegging at 4-4. After 15 minutes, Kounan-Minami built up positive momentum with Tsukui Takumi’s hat trick and scored four more goals, winning the game 9-4. Funato Shunsuke also showed his strong presence by getting four goals. In the other semi-final, Kashima Antlers pressed Fun Academy from the beginning of the match and Maeda Sora scored five goals in the first eight minutes. Kashima Antlers continued their attack and won the game 8-0, advancing to the final.

The final was between Kounan-Minami, who aim to become back-to-back champions, and Kashima Antlers, who are waiting for an opportunity to win their first championship. Both teams made the most of what they had on the pitch. Kashima Antlers struck the opener. Sasanuma Koki, who got through the left wing, found the net. Kashima Antlers continued their attack and Maeda got three goals, building a four-goal lead in the first six minutes. However, Kounan-Minami started to make a move. In the eighth minute, Chikuma Towa closed the gap to one goal and after ten minutes, Funato struck another goal. The game went into the second half at 4-2.
After 15 minutes, Kashima Antlers conceded another goal and Kimura Masashi, the head coach, pulled Maeda aside. Before going back to the pitch, Maeda was encouraged by the coach: ‘stay calm and strong to strike a deciding goal.’ Just after then, in the 17th minute, Maede struck his fourth goal in this game. Although Kounan-Minami never gave up until the last whistle, Kashima Antlers added another goal and won the match 6-3.
At the moment of the last whistle, the Kashima Antlers’s players cried tears of joy and Kounan-Minami’s collapsed, shedding tears of frustration and disappointment. The dramatic scene in which both the winners and the losers squatted down represented this championship and moved the crowd. Maeda Sora noted: ‘I’ve been practicing hard in order to change the team’s history.’ The championship, in which all the team tried their best, ended with Kashima Antlers’s first victory.

The Most Valuable Players award was given to Maeda, Sasanuma, Tsukui, who won it two years in a row, Kitajima Riku (Tamaku FC U-12) and Omori Ryo (Brincar FC). Fair Play award was given to Fun Academy.

The detail of the quarterfinals, the semi-finals, and the final can be found here.

Comments

KIMURA Masashi, Head Coach of Kashima Antlers Tsukuba Junior
I’m really pleased with the result, as the players wanted to win the championship to change Kashima Antlers Tsukuba’s history. I’m grateful to the players. I was quite confident, as our ace, Maeda, finished with goals whenever he was supposed to do and the defender showed their tenacious defence, having the goalkeeper in the centre. When they start junior high school, half of the players will play in a different team. However, I’d like them to remember what they learned in this team - the gratitude and the kindness to their teammates. Also I’d like them to improve themselves even more from the experience in this championship.

MAEDA Sora（Kashima Antlers Tsukuba Junior）
I’m over the moon that I could achieve our aim and won the championship with my teammates in our last championship. Personally, it was good to score numerous goals, but I couldn’t play well against the opponent or keep the possession at some points in the final. As I was pulled from the game once, I could refresh my mind to strike a goal. I’d like to be the kind of player, who can finish with scores in big situations – either a perfect one or a struggling one.

TSUKUI Takumi（Kounan-Minami Boys Soccer Club）
As we all said we must win the championship this time after winning the previous one last year, I’m really gutted that we couldn’t. As we gradually became able to play our style, including in this championship, I could see our improvement this year. I learned to use more detailed touch on the ball on the smaller futsal pitch. I’d like to use that in football as well. I’d like to become like former team member, Haraguchi Genki, who can dribble through the opponent to finish with the shot.

ODA Koichi, Head Coach of Tamiya Victory Soccer Shonendan
In the semi-final against Kounan-Minami, the players couldn’t show their advantage – pressing the opponent up front. As we were pressed and had the ball stolen, we gave the opponent their own rhythm. I don’t regret it, as we kept showing our style until the end. We won the last match of the first round, in which we had to win to stay at this championship. The players showed a perfect performance in the match against Buddy.FC (Fukuoka) in the round 16. I admire the players’ effort to become semi-finalists as representatives of Fukushima.

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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