Pick-up Match

Riseisha High School　1-3 (1-0, 0-3)　Higashi Fukuoka High School

The Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League WEST had its Matchday 14 on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September as Riseisha High School (Osaka) and Higashi Fukuoka High School (Fukuoka) faced each other.

It was the third time for them to square off against each other this year. Including the matchday 5 held at home of Higashi Fukuoka and the quarterfinal of the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament in August, Higashi Fukuoka kept the opponents from scoring.

Riseisha were looking to get revenge for those two matches in this matchup, but their trait of passing football did not work well early on. While Riseisha often allowed counterattacks through their own mistakes, multiple players got together to halt opposing side attacks and avoided conceding a goal.

After holding up the tough stretches, Riseisha opened the scoring in the 37th minute when forward SUGAHARA Taku netted a through pass that midfielder TANAKA Shunta threaded into the box promptly after intercepting the ball.

The opposing side Higashi Fukuoka's coach MORISHIGE Junya looked back as, "Our defence on the opponents got faster after giving up the goal." Their defence took an upturn in the second half. The Fukuoka's high school intercepted the ball in the midfield and their passes gained a good tempo, which helped themselves create chances from sides.

In the 54th minute, they forced the opponents to move side to side as midfielder NAKAMURA Kento in the centre fired a mid-range shot to level the scoreline. In the 57th minute, Higashi Fukuoka midfielder MIYAKE Kaito broke through the right flank through a long pass from their own end and passed it into the box with luring the goalkeeper.

Midfielder HASHIMOTO Kazuyuki tapped it into the net to give his side a 2-1 lead. In the 70th minute, Miyake right-footed the loose ball from a corner kick to extend the lead to two.

After allowing the opponents to turn around the score, Riseisha aggressively sent fresh legs on and attempted to get back the momentum. But their offence was uncoordinated until the final whistle was brown. Higashi Fukuoka coach Morishige said before the match, "Ahead of the High School Championship, we can't lose to a high school side like us." In the end, Higashi Fukuoka won the contest.

Coach and Players' Comments

HIRANO Naoki, Coach (Riseisha High School)
The opponents seemed to be fighting harder on the ball and details. We tended to play only superficially. No matter how well you got skills, those can't be decisive on winning and losing. We should have put our soul on top of skills but weren't able to get it done.

Manoeuvring is important for football, and we are supposed to go for the goal differently depending on situations. But we kicked the ball behind the defensive line for nothing and didn't pass when we could've. Our decision-making was poor obviously.

HAYASHI Daichi (Riseisha High School)
We both entered the game poorly, and while probing each other, the goal was scored. We were able to finish the first half with the lucky goal, but in the second half, we got caught by the opponents. We kicked the ball too carelessly even when we could've passed it and ended up not creating the rhythm.

The shock is big because we lost two straight matches after winning three straight matches. But there is no point in getting down about it. We have only four matches left, so all we need to do is just keep it up.

MORISHIGE Junya (Higashi Fukuoka High School)
We were able to score three goals because we put pressure quickly and the opponents got raffled. Then we had more situations where we won the ball in the midfield. Unless we start playing like that early, we won’t pick up our pace. Last week and the week before, we continued to concede three goals.

But today we ended up winning the match. That's what we got out of it. We've got ups and downs by every match. That's maybe the players are high school students. But we will try to develop more accurate skills.

HASHIMOTO Kazuyuki (Higashi Fukuoka High School)
Riseisha are strong, and we tried not to give up goals when getting into the match, but we started it poorly early on. Our offence was disorganised and defenders also did not communicate with each other well. We found some things to improve in the first half.

In the second half, general director SHIWA Yoshinori said to us, "If you run hard from up front, something may happen," so we ran hard. When we scored the second goal, I had his words in my mind and ran really hard.

Other Matches

Vissel Kobe U-18   1-1 (1-0, 0-1)   Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Youth
Cerezo Osaka U-18   1-0 (0-0, 1-0)   Oita Trinita U-18
Kyoto Tachibana High School   0-2 (0-1, 0-1)   Gamba Osaka Youth
Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18   3-3 (1-2, 2-1)   Nagoya Grampus U18

Vissel Kobe U-18 (Hyogo) welcomed Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Youth (Hiroshima) at home. The Hyogo side scored first with MASUOKA Eiki's goal but drew the match in the end after giving up an own goal in the 84th minute.

Third-placed Cerezo Osaka U-18 (Osaka) beat league-leading Oita Trinita U-18 (Oita) 1-0 with KISHIMOTO Takeru's goal.

Cerezo snapped their losing streak at three matches. Kyoto Tachibana High School (Kyoto), who had been two wins and one loss in the third stage, hosted Gamba Osaka Youth (Osaka). The Kyoto's high school side conceded one goal each in the first and second half, ending up in a 0-2 loss.

The contest between Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18 (Kyoto) and Nagoya Grampus U18 (Aichi) became a six-goal thriller as they shared the spoils in a 3-3 draw.