The 27th All Japan Ladies Football Tournament had its second match day on 20 March, and the remaining matches of the first round and the first matches of the second stage where each team was put into a group with the other teams that finished in the same position in their group. 

In Group A, two consecutive winners Oideyasu Kyoto (Kansai/Kyoto) and Tokyo Artemis SC (Kanto 2/Tokyo) faced each other. They competed intensively to get a goal but the game ended scoreless and Tokyo Artemis SC became the top team on goal difference. Tonakai Ladies F.C. (Kyushu 1/Fukuoka) and UILANI FC (Kanto1/Saitama) Group B and Group C got 3 consecutive wins in each groups and moved on to the top tournament. From Group D, FC BB (Kanto 4/Saitama) drew in their match against Ehime Selection (Shikoku 2/ Ehime) who had got 1 win, and got through as a top team. This match showed a sense of pride of a regional squad player of Ehime by her equaliser scored just before the end.

The first matches of the top tournament were between UILANI FC and FC BB, and Tokyo Artemis SC and Tonakai Ladies F.C.. Both UILANI FC and FC BB are from Saitama and the match went on scoreless after the series of high-level competition between the teams. In the penalty-shoot out, UILANI FC’s goalkeeper SAITA Yuki saved 2 penalties and the match ended. UILANI FC who has come to this competition for the first time, got through to the final. Meanwhile, Tokyo Artemis SC scored 2 goals at the end of their match and moved on to the final after 2 years. 

In the 2nd place tournament, Mozela Kagoshima (Kyushu 2/ Kagoshima) faced Tottori Ladies (Chugoku 2/Tottori). Tottori came from behind to win their previous match of the first round and the team’s HARA Yoko said: “we want to take a good story to our home town to tell younger players that we are not so far from the national level competition.” However, they couldn’t get the victory and Mozela Kagoshima beat them 1-0. Oideyasu Kyoto beat Kochi ganador FC (Shikoku 1/Kochi) 3-0 and got through to the final of this 2nd place tournament.

In the 3rd place tournament, Nagano Friends (Kitashinetsu/Nagano) and FC Benibana (Tohoku 2/Yamagata) won the first matches. Yokosuka Seagulls Ladies (Kanto 3/ Kanagawa) played consistently until the penalty-shoot out against FC Benibana, but they could not get through. 

In the 4th place tournament, there are teams which had not got any wins yet, and Shimizu FC Ladies (Tokai/Shizuoka) and Muroran Icebirds (Hokkaido) got their first wins. Shimizu FC Ladies was the team who got opening goals in all 3 matches in the first round, but conceded more goals in the end. This time, they showed their pride as the team from the hosting prefecture. 

The final day of this tournament is on 21 March. This year, there are many more intensive matches seen by the spectators. Shimizu FC Ladies’ HAYASHI Yuki says “coming up to this age, we haven’t had many chances to get united towards one goal, and this is why we have spent a very good time throughout these 3 days.” How will the players of these 16 teams play in their final or 3rd place matches in each of the tournaments? 

Players' Comments

ASHIKAWA Megumi (Tottori Ladies)
In the last match of the first round, it was good that we could get 3 goals and get united well to defend our lead until the end. The number of football players has increased gradually in Tottori, but it still only has a small population, and the players over 30 years old are even less; we had to collect every player to make up this team. We still worked well coming up to this national level competition after competing in regional competitions for the past 2 years. Honestly speaking, I didn’t expect that we could play up to the level here, and I am feeling that the football level of Tottori has been improved gradually. We want to keep winning until the end while enjoying this national match at the same time. 

HAYASHI Yuki (Shimizu FC Ladies)
We lost 3 consecutive matches in the first round, and that teaches us that national level competition is not easy and that we should have prepared more. Even though we had got the opening goals in all 3 matches, we lost them by getting too nervous. What we needed were a sense of unity as well as our level of experience. Unlike before you have to qualify through a regional competition even if you are from a hosting prefecture, so we were highly motivated at the regional competition. After that we might have taken things easier. For the upcoming matches, we need all of what we can do; we will do our best to win as many as possible as the team from Shizuoka.

MUTOH Kiyomi (Muroran Icebirds)
We couldn’t win even one match in the first round and we could finally get a win in this match of the 4th place tournament. We even lost this one previously so it was good that we could get a better result this time. There is a lot of snow in Hokkaido and we could only train by playing futsal in the indoor gymnasium since November, so it was the first play on the outside pitch since then. We needed some time to get familiar with the turf pitch, and today we could regain our teamwork by getting used to the size and feeling of the pitch. Playing football with the other teammates of the same generation is such a rewarding thing for me, so I am happy to keep playing football.  

SAITA Yuki (UILANI FC)
We have come up to here, but there were difficult moments. The first match of this top tournament was also difficult and that made us to keep a good level of tension. I appreciate my teammates for playing consistently and not giving the opponent chances to make shots and scoring in the penalty-shoot out. I also wanted to contribute to the team as a goalkeeper so it was good that I could block the 2 penalties. This team is a new one launched last summer with the players who used to play for the Nadeshiko League, and we just don’t want to lose any matches. We will now get ready very well to win the final match. 

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

The 27th All Japan Ladies Football Tournament

19 March 2016 - 21 March 2016
Susono Ground of Tokinosumika Sports Centre (Susono, Shizuoka)
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