Pick-up Match

Kashima Antlers Youth   0-1 (0-1, 0-0)   F.C. Tokyo U-18

The Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League EAST had its matchday 10 on 18-19 July, and Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki) played against F.C. Tokyo U-18 (Tokyo).

FC Tokyo is now in 5th place six points behind Kashima who finished the first half of this season on top. The match heated up with strong pride shown by both teams; for Kashima they wanted to solidify it’s top position where as FC Tokyo didn’t want to extend the points difference any more.

The match turned on the 29th minute. FC Tokyo’s OKAZAKI Makoto got the ball and made a deep pass to SATO Ryo who jumped out to the opponent’s defense line. As Sato said “I knew the ball would come to me. All I had to do was just take a shot after seeing the GK’s movement,” he calmly pushed the ball into the net.

FC Tokyo became more confident after the goal made by the team’s star player and kept attacking Kashima’s goal with Sato, OIJI Yoshiatsu, and OKUMA Kenta having opportunities. However, Kashima’s centre back MACHIDA Koki and central midfielder CHIBA Kenta blocked them with their physically fit defense so Kashima did not concede any more goals.

On the 62nd, Kashima’s Machida, who had been a key of defense, got his second caution and was sent off. Kashima had to play with 10 players for the remaining 30 minutes, but kept the teams consistency as a top team.

Chiba and NAKANO Makoto became the core of defense and withstood FC Tokyo’s attack, and front player KAKITA Yuki, midfield players HIRATO Taiki and NISHIMOTO Takanobu, and SHIKAMA Yuki who was substituted on the 60th minute aggressively moved the ball around towards FC Tokyo’s goal.

On the other hand, FC Tokyo kept a clean sheet through GK HATANO Go and DF YANAGI Takahiro. The team’s coach SATO Kazuki mentioned “we just concentrated on defense at that time.” The heated up match ended with FC Tokyo’s victory 1-0, defending the Kashima’s intensive attack.

Both Kashima and FC Tokyo haven’t changed position in the league since Omiya Ardija Youth (Saitama), Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori), Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba) who are all below second place, won their matches. However, FC Tokyo has reduced the points difference to three and that may cause key matches to allow them to get the top position during the rest of the season.

Players' Comments

KUMAGAI Koji, Coach (Kashima Antlers Youth)
We expected FC Tokyo to be consistent in both offense and defense. In the beginning, we could respond to their attack but it wasn’t enough when we lost the goal. The players kept consistency with high motivation especially after one of them had to been sent off, but they should have done it from the beginning. They need to be mentally matured in the match.

This might be a good lesson for the players and it was even good for us to know what is an issue as a team in the first match of the latter part of the season.

SATO Kazuki, Coach(FC Tokyo U-18)
Since we had to get three points by winning the match today, we just played as best we could. It was the first time we used the defensive tactic and Kashima made us use it well. Kashima is such an intensive and consistent team with patience. They didn’t care if they have only ten players on the pitch and they kept attacking us. It was a very good experience for us.

In this Premier League, it was good to have this type of match and we could keep ourselves calm even though they had only ten players for the last 30 minutes. We do respect them in any situation and that’s why the fact that they won the match today will be very encouraging for them.

Other Matches

Aomori Yamada High School　4-1 (2-0, 2-1)　 Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa
Omiya Ardija Youth　1-0 (0-0, 1-0)　Kashiwa Reysol U-18
Shimizu S-Pulse Youth　1-0 (1-0, 0-0)　JFA Academy Fukushima
Consadole Sapporo U-18　1-3 (0-2, 1-1)　 Ichiritsu Funabashi High School

Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) played against Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa (Chiba) in their home ground. Aomori Yamada’s KAMIYA Yuta got two goals and they won 4-1.Omiya Ardija Youth (Omiya) could get the victory by ASAZUMA Yuto’s goal against Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba). Omiya is the only EAST team who hasn’t lost a game so far this season.

Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka) played against JFA Academy Fukushima (Shizuoka). Shimizu’s NAKANO Yuta got the goal and the team kept a clean sheet for the 2 consecutive matches. Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba) got two goals in the 1st half against Consadole Sapporo U-18 (Hokkaido) and kept its supremacy throughout the match. Ichiritsu Funabashi kicked off the resumed season after the break with a victory.