PUMA CUP 2015 The 20th All Japan Futsal Championship will be held on 6 of March. The winner of this championship will be entitled to be a NO.1 futsal team in Japan. This is a review of the previous championship prior to the championship starting soon.

24 teams played excitingly in last year’s championship: 10 teams were from F. League and 14 teams were winners from regional competitions which earned them a place at the championship. These teams were divided in to 6 groups each consisting of 4 teams, and the teams from regional competitions such as Bardral URAYASU Segundo (Kanto 2) and Veex Hakusan (Kita Shinetsu) had good games in the 1st qualifying round. F. League teams also played consistently and Bardral URAYASU  (Chiba), NAGOYA OCEANS (Aichi), PESCADOLA MACHIDA (Tokyo), and ESPOLADA HOKKAIDO (Hokkaido) moved on to the quarterfinal.

In the first quarterfinal match which was between NAGOYA OCEANS (Aichi) and Bardral URAYASU, Nagoya got the opening goal on 3 minutes, and kept control of the game from then on. Urayasu were completely beaten 1-11 by Nagoya’s consistent attack with Xiimbinha’s getting a hat-trick. The second quarterfinal between PESCADOLA MACHIDA (Tokyo) and ESPOLADA HOKKAIDO (Hokkaido) was similar to the first one; Hokkaido got 9 goals, of which 4 goals were made by SUZUKI Yutaro’s, whereas Machida only made 1 goal. Hokkaido managed to move on to the final for the first time.

In the final, 4,103 fans watched the match between Nagoya and Hokkaido. Nagoya, the winner of the previous championship, started its attack at first. They had some difficulties in the beginning of the match in front of Hokkaido’s defense along with SEKIGUCHI Yushi, but on 12 minutes Nagoya managed to score its first goal by KITAHARA Wataru’s powerful shot. Hokkaido, on the other hand, started its counter attack. Hokkaido’s MUROTA Shogo equalised on 18 minutes and added another goal by ABE Kyoya’s shot down the middle on 20 minutes. The 1st half ended with the lead of Hokkaido 2-1. 

Aggressive plays created by both Hokkaido, who tried to get more goals and by Nagoya who were desperate to equalise, were seen in the 2nd half. While both of them were very close to the goals, Nagoya who consistently had very strong spirit to the goal scored their equaliser on 24 minutes, WATANABE Tomoaki got the ball into the net from an intense goalmouth scramble, and then YOSHIKAWA Tomoki got the team’s 3rd goal on 34 minutes. Nagoya got an extra goal made by Xiimbinha on 37 minutes confirming their victory. Finally, Nagoya got the consecutive championship victory.

What will be expected this year, will Nagoya win the championship for the 3rd time, or can any challenger stop Nagoya? The next article will preview this year’s championship.

PUMA CUP 2015 The 20th All Japan Futsal Championship

Fri. 6 March 2015 - Sun. 15 March 2015
1st Round：Shizuoka／Ecopa Arena、Osaka／Maishima Arena、Hyogo／Kobe Central Gymnasium
Final Round：Tokyo／Japan Yoyogi first National Gymnasium

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