The final day of the first round of the PUMA CUP 2015, the 20th All Japan Futsal Championship, took place on Sunday 8 March.

A Group E match between Saude Wasada Futsal Club (Kyushu 2) and Divertido Asahikawa (Hokkaido) started intensely early on at Kobe Central Gymnasium in Hyogo. Asahikawa scored first through a counter-attack in the 2nd minute yet allowed a goal to Saude in the 9th minute. Then, after the both sides added one more goal each, the score remained the same for a while after the break. In the closing minutes, however, Asahikawa’s Kasama Shinya netted a go-ahead goal to make it 3-2 for their first victory of the tournament.

Bardral Urayasu (F.League), who won two straight matches, marked nine goals over Hiroshima F-Do (Chugoku). Hiroshima showed their will to keep playing and scored two goals, but it was too little. Urayasu advanced to the final round with the unbeaten run.

Since Deucao Kobe (F.League) have sealed top spot after the second day, the third match against Member Of The Gang (Tokai 2) was the one where Espolada Hokkaido (F.League) found it “hard to find motivation”, who had no chance for the final round, according to head coach Onodera Takahiko. The Hokkaido side struggled to get off to a good start as they gave up an own goal through a small gap allowed in the 3rd minute. Murota Yuki equalised soon after that, and Espolada added some more goals to end the match 7-2. The following match between Deucao and Bardral Urayasu Segundo (Kanto 2) was also heated from the start amid cheers from their fans. While Deucao opened the scoring in the 11th minute, Urayasu Segundo came back in the 14th minute. In the second half, the both sides did not get behind to end the match 2-2 and shared the spoils.

In other groups, the F.league sides―Fugador Sumida, Fuchu Athletic F.C., ASV Pescadola Machida and Vasagey Oita―kept top spots in each group to make a final round berth. Meanwhile, Ikeda Makoto Shoten (Kyushu 1) with no point so far beat Voscuore Sendai Satellite (Tohoku) 5-2 for their first win.

The total of eight teams, six first-placed teams in each group and top two play-off winners Nagoya Oceans and Shriker Osaka will contend for the championship in the final round starting on Friday 13 at Yoyogi 1st Gymnasium in Tokyo.

Head Coach and Players'Comments

TANAKA Kenjiro (Hiroshima F-Do)
I was well aware that the opponents are strong. I rather thought it was important to keep the fight to “go for all or nothing.” I tried not to back off. It was good that we closed the gap to one goal after two goals given up, but we made the match tougher for ourselves when we allowed a goal in our comeback momentum. Our team have lots of college students, who are inexperienced. I believe that led to the lack of match management. We fully showed what we have. On the other hand, this tournament was an opportunity where we found some things to improve on the skill side.

ONODERA Takahiko, Head Coach (Espolada Hokkaido)
As the tournament was the last one in this season, our objective was to advance to the final round. I’m disappointed we were eliminated in the first round. But even though we lost to Deucao Kobe and missed a chance to advance to the next, the players battled it out in the (following) two matches. To show F.Leauge’ pride, we didn’t lose to the regional teams. This seems to be easy but is actually difficult. The fact that most of the (F.League’s) teams won could be evidence that we always play matches at the high level.

OKADA Akinobu (Bardral Urayasu Segundo)
We are the second team but were confident to compete against F.League teams. Even so, I felt the difference because we weren’t able to win against them in the tournament this year. Last year, after we advanced to the final round, people around me said it was a miracle. To have them say “They deserved to win,” I definitely wanted to win, so I’m disappointed. By playing for keeps against F.League teams, we figured out what worked and what didn’t work, so we will take advantage of them for the next season.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

PUMA CUP 2015 The 20th All Japan Futsal Championship

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

More information