Hinomoto Gakuen High School (Kansai1/Hyogo) and Tokiwagi Gakuen High School (Tohoku1/Miyagi) will square off with the national championship at stake in the championship match of the 23rd All-Japan High School Girls Football Championship at Noevir Stadium Kobe on 11 January.

Hinomoto Gakuen, who are looking to repeat the title, have scored 15 while they gave up just one goal in the four contests they played in this tournament. One of their traits is sharp counter attacks. Last year's team focused more on their possessions, but they use tactics capitalizing on their players with speed, such as YASAKA Mei and IKEJIRI Mayu, this year. In this tournament, Hinomoto Gakuen have scored a lot of goals in a fashion that they launch crosses form the sides and put them in in the middle. "It takes a little time until we score a first goal, but once we get one, that gives us some momentum,"TADA Ayaka said. "This is a team that anyone can score," head coach TANABE Tomoe insisted.

Their relationships between their head coach and players are tight. "Our head coach is an unique person and tells us all of a sudden during a meeting, `I love you all.' She can get very scary when she's angry, but we all know she's doing it for our sake, so we can just accept it. We want to toss her in the air by winning the championship,"KITSUKI Yui said.

Tokiwagi Gakuen will try to stop Hinomoto Gakuen and win their sixth championship, first time in two years. Like Hinomoto Gakuen, this team has accumulated wins constantly, but struggled against Fujieda Junshin High School (Tokai1/Shizuoka) in the semifinals as they lacked accuracy on their shots. As NISHIKAWA Ayaka, one of their players, said that they tried to recall their defeat in the previous tournament and become a team that wouldn't give up until the end this past year, Tokiwagi Gakuen bounced back from a deficit they allowed to the opponents, and tied the game in the stoppage time in the second half before they eventually triumphed in the penalty shootout.

One of the keys for Tokiwagi will be their offence, in which the players have confidence. They have players like KAWASAKI Saya and SUGIHARA Haruna in the sides, and have SHIRAKI Akari and KOBAYASHI Rikako are waiting to score goals in the middle. They lost to Hinomoto Gakuen 0-6 in the 35th Empress's Cup All-Japan Women's Championship, and the players are even more determined for the final game. ``Winning the championship is the biggest goal for us,'' SUGIHARA Haruna said. ``If we don't the next game, it will waste the wins we've had. In the final, we want to put up our brand of ball while eliminating our opponents' strengths. We want to exhibit our own strengths.''

It will be intriguing to see which powerhouse teams in the high school girls football will prevail in the end. The game will kick off at 2:10 p.m. on the 11th.

All Japan High School Women's Football Tournament

Sun. 11 January 2015  14:10 Kick Off　NOEVIR STADIUM KOBE
Hinomoto Gakuen High School (Kansai1/Hyogo) 　vs.　Tokiwagi Gakuen High School (Tohoku1/Miyagi) 

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