The final match of the 39th Japan U-12 Football Championship was held at Kamoike Athletic Stadium in Kagoshima on Tuesday 29 December. On a windy but beautifully sunny day, Kashima Antlers Junior Youth (Ibaraki) and Regista FC (Saitama) went head to head. Quick and intense pressure on the ball put by both sides made the last contest of the tournament very exciting.  

Kashima were on the windward side in the first half. Four minutes into the match, OHWA Fushi, who scored a goal in the semi-final, took the ball with a dribble and fired a shot. The rebounding ball of it was again shot by Kashima, but Regista’s goalkeeper KANOSHIMA Yu punched it away. Regista gradually started taking control back. Breaking down the right flank, they finished their attack with their own shot. As Kashima’s defence was also in good form, the first half ended without any goal witnessed.

Early in the second half, Kashima took advantage of two corner-kick opportunities to attack Regista FC’s goal. After surviving through it tenaciously, Regista was awarded with a free-kick in Kashima’s end in the 36 minute. UDAGAWA Eiru fed a low fast ball, which YAMAZAKI Rin composedly put home to open the scoring for Regista. Both sides kept playing hard on the ball after the goal, as Regista also did not show a sign of defending the lead they earned, rather going all out to extend the lead. Then in the additional time, the efforts materialised when SHINODA Daiki scored the second goal to cement the win. 

The 2-0 victory gave Regista FC the championship for the first time in their club history. Coach WATANABE Yasuaki gave a praise to his players after the match, saying "I told my players before the match that we needed to have a stronger will to win than theirs and to play hard on the ball. I think that part resulted in this good result." The end results were Kashima Antlers Junior Youth as runners-up and Futsu SSS (Ishikawa) and Hyogo FC (Hyogo) at third place.

In the closing ceremony, the Japan Football Association President DAINI Kuniya awarded the trophy and the certificates to the champions, while other individual performance awards were recognised such as the scoring title given to MAIE Hidetaka of Kashiwa Reysol U-12 (Chiba), and the Golden Glove and Boots award to TANAKA Yuki of Sagan Tosu U-12 (Saga).

To conclude the ceremony and the whole tournament, the JFA’s Special Director AYABE Michie gave out her closing address, saying "this has been the first tournament held in winter and first tournament held in the prefecture of Kagoshima. We now close this tournament with appreciation to all who made this possible." Regista FC’s first-ever crown wrapped up the series of heated contests played at Kamoike Athletic Stadium with magnificent Mount Sakurajima in the background and on the beautiful green pitch of Fureai Sports Land. 

Match details (Japanese version only)

Players' Comments

KANOSHIMA Yu (Saitama/Regista FC)
I am feeling this happiness that I have never experienced before. Throughout this tournament, this team got better and better. In 1-on-1 situations and when we had to attack forward, the way we charged got better. Antlers had tall players in defence, so I tried to kick goal-kicks toward the corner flags. (In corner kicks late in the match) I thought defending them would give us the win, so I tried to put out everything to hold on to it. 

YAMAZAKI Rin (Saitama/Regista FC)
(On the opening goal) I thought the ball would come to me. It was bouncing so I tried to strike a very fast shot. When the match was over and I realised that we had won, I didn’t mean it but I started crying. I think that goal I scored in the final meant a lot. I was happy to score the first goal. I want to play well in junior high school and high school and I want to come back again to a national tournament and win the championship.

UDAGAWA Eiru (Saitama/Regista FC)
The kick I made before the first goal was the one I did aiming Yamazaki. I was going to make it more like a chip kick, but I think I tried too hard and I made it more of a grounder. But it went just right to his feet, so it was good. We could show our strength of charging intensity on the ball. It’s been a very good experience that I played with this team. We were going to play as a united team. Throughout this tournament, our teamwork got even better and we grew a good chemistry. 

YAMAGUCHI Uta (Ibaraki/Kashima Antlers Junior Youth)
From the beginning, we wanted to play our style of football and score goals. This loss is very disappointing. In the match we were able to show what we are good at. I think we were able to defend aggressively. We were able to attack and defend collectively. I want to keep moving forward in my career without forgetting this better experience. 

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Final Highlight

The 39th Japan U-12 Football Championship

Duration: Sat. 26 December - Tue. 29 December
Venue:
1st round/Round 16   Kagoshima Fureai Sports Land (Kagoshima)
Quarter-Final   Kagoshima Kamoike Auxiliary Field (Kagoshima)
Semi-Final/Final   Kagoshima Kamoike Athletic Stadium (Kagoshima)
More information