The 26th All Japan Ladies Football Tournament entered its final day on Sunday 22 March at Tokinosumika Sports Centre in Susono, Shizuoka. As the final and third-place matches for each of the group stage’s first to fourth-place tournaments were held, Azure Hyogo (Kansai 1/ Hyogo) clinched the back-to-back title by winning the final of the first-place tournament.

In the fourth-place tournament final between FC Mummys (Kanto 2/ Kanagawa) and Okinawa-ken Ladies (Kyushu 2/ Okinawa), the former scored two goals in the first six minutes. Both teams attacked each other back and forth in the second half. The total shots from both teams were counted 24. Okinawa scored a goal in the 40th minute, showing never-give-up spirit, but the score remained at 2-1 until the end as FC Mummys notched the victory.

In the final of the third-place tournament, Tokyo Artemis SC (Kanto 1/ Tokyo) took the complete initiative against FC Benibana (Tohoku 1/ Yamagata). The Tokyo side kept playing in the opposing end and netted three goals out of six shots in the first half. As they continued to attack and added two more goals after the break, they eased to the 5-0 victory over Benibana, who did not take any shot in the match.

In the second-place tournament between Nagano Friends (Hokushinetsu/ Nagano) and Kochi ganador FC (Shikoku/ Kochi), both teams kept trying to take the initiative for a while. Kochi’s vertically quick attacking was denied by Nagano’s goalkeeper Karaki Akane, who showed a brave charge with her wide defending range. The deadlock that continued from the first half was broken in the 32nd minute when Kochi’s Ezawa Mizuho netted a spot kick. Kochi ganador played it out eventually to edge Nagano with the goal.

In the first-place tournament final, Azure Hyogo (Kansai 1/ Hyogo) got off to a perfect start with an early goal against Shimizu FC Ladies (Tokai/ Shizuoka). Just after 50 seconds from the kick-off, Hasegawa Kei received the ball and dribbled as she looked at the move of Shimizu goalkeeper, who closed the distance. Then she beat the goalkeeper with lightning acceleration and rolled the ball into the empty net. Hyogo played with intense fight on the ball not to allow Shimizu to catch playing rhythm afterwards. In the 15th minute, up front Hasegawa again dribbled through the left flank with speed and fired home another goal to give her side a two-goal lead.

Meanwhile, Shimizu, who struggled with Hyogo’s pressure, conjured a big chance in the 43rd minute. But Hori Kaori’s free kick in front of goal unfortunately hit the goal post. Shimizu sent on substitutes later but failed to turn the momentum around. The score remained at 2-0 until the end as Hyogo reached the top of the nation again following their title at the previous tournament.

Head Coach and Players' Comments

MATSUMOTO Miho, Playing Manger (Nagano Friends/ Nagano)
As we finished third-place, we were aiming at a better result this year. There were tough matches from the opening day, but it’s going to be a confidence we battled it out on the national stage with the small number of players on our roster.. We don’t really practice regularly. Because player population in the women’s generation in Nagano has not been increased, I hope we can raise the basic level by having players, who haven’t played for long, come back to play. We have all played to put up a good result for the sake of players who are away. We will work hard with the word “heart as one.”

SUGIYAMA Chiemi (Shimizu FC Ladies/ Shizuoka)
I wanted to make a fine finish with the championship because there is a player who moves away for her new work. This is the second year with these teammates, and we gathered from all over the prefecture for practices once a week. Even some players don’t go to their own team but come to our team. Everyone likes this team that much. We don’t have a specific star but have great atmosphere and work together as a team. We got to the final, so I wondered whether we would be able to win the title. But the opponents were just excellent. Playing on this team is very enjoyable, and now I feel more sad than disappointing. It was good that we won against the team who we lost to last year and advanced to the final.

JFA-TV

The 26th All Japan Ladies Football Tournament

Fri. 20 March - Sun. 22 March 2015
Tokinosumika Sports Center Susono Ground/ Sizuoka Susono

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