Pick-up Match
Vissel Kobe U-18 vs Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School

The matchday 3 of the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League WEST is held on Sunday 24 April as 2013 WEST champions Vissel Kobe U-18 (Hyogo) and premier league debutants Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School go head to head in so called Kobe Derby.

Vissel Kobe have been struggling to get a victory from the opening match as their explosive offence have not been displayed yet. On the last match day against Cerezo Osaka U-18 (Osaka), they were held to no shot attempts in the first half. Their coach NODA Satoru says to his players of the potentially increasing amount of pressure with no wins yet. “The important thing is to keep fighting. What matters is where we are after the 18th matchday.”

On this matchday, they face the other team in their hometown Kobe for the first victory of the season. “There are some players who used to play with Vissel’s junior youth team. I think they will be pumped up to play against us. We have to match that intensity”, added Noda with the challengers mentality for the battle of this weekend.

On the other hand, Kobe Koryo put away Nagoya Grampus U18 with 3-0 win in the opening match. Coach TANI Junichi remembers the well-fought match, saying “it was almost perfect.” The following match, however, turned out to be totally opposite when Gamba Osaka Youth scored four goals in the second half and crushed Kobe Koryo with a 4-0 rout.

With two totally different outcomes under their belt, they still seem to be somewhat confident. Even the previous loss involved the good first half where they held defending WEST champions Gamba Osaka scoreless. Coach Tani says to inspire his players, “there is no question that we can get better if we keep fighting every match without being afraid.” Speaking of the match against Vissel Kobe, he says “this is an important match, because whether we get any points out of it or not affects our confidence level.” They look to do so with their resilient defence that they exhibited in the opening match.

Coach and Players' Comments

NODA Satoru, Coach (Vissel Kobe U-18)
Whoever our opponents are, we don’t want to stop playing our style of aggressive football where we keep possessing and pushing the ball. In this match, we want to pursue our ideal football again. On the second matchday against Cerezo Osaka, we weren’t able to move the ball against their strong pressure. So this time, we want to keep the ball and shake up the opponents’ defence. And we make sure to keep attacking their goal.

NODA Tatsuki (Vissel Kobe U-18)
Our strength is to both attack and defend collectively. We do meetings after meetings, so we have the shared understanding in terms of the football we want to play and the goals we aim at. When I watched Kobe Koryo’s opening match, I found they are very tough in 1-on-1 situations on the ball and also react quickly to loose balls. So we don’t want to be outcompeted in those areas. Me personally, I want to be the focal point of our offence, move the ball around and get going to be involved in goals as well as defend persistently for the good of our team.

TANI Junichi, Coach (Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School)
As we look back the last matchday where we allowed a goal early in the second half and kept allowing more goals after that, keep challenging tenaciously is the key for this matchday. Vissel Kobe are a very good team who have won the WEST before, but we are playing in this same league. We want to stay focused throughout the 90 minutes and make sure to leave the match with points. In the Premier League, we get to play against some of the best teams in the country and have a chance to correct ourselves for the following matchday. It will give me many different ideas including our line-ups and tactics. It’s a very difficult league to play in, but it’s enjoyable as well.

TANIGO Hiroto (Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School)
Our style of working hard throughout the 90 minutes is second to none. We can say this to any matches, but in this matchday defending tenaciously in 1-on-1 situations is very important. Just as we did in the opening match (where Kobe Koryo defeated Nagoya 3-0), we want to show our trademark defence. I personally pay attention to passing always to directly initiate goals. We want to get stronger and more skilled individually and as a team as we do our best in match in and match out.

Vissel Kobe U-18 vs Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School
Date: Sun. 24 April　kick-off 14:00
Venue: Ibukinomori Stadium
Access: Take Kobe City Bus from underground “Seishin Minami” station, get off at “High-tech #4” and walk 10 minutes from there

Premier League WEST Match Day 3

4/24
11:00　Higashi Fukuoka High School vs Gamba Osaka Youth (Higashi Fukuoka High School)
12:00　Nagoya Grampus U18 vs Cerezo Osaka U-18 (Toyota Sports Center)

*The games listed below have been postponed due to the earthquakes in Kumamoto Prefecture. 
Sanfrecce Hiroshima FC Youth vs Ozu High School (Yoshida Soccer Park)
Oita Trinita U-18 vs Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18 (Oita Bank Dome)

Two Osaka sides with their respective winning streak go on the road. Gamba Osaka Youth take on Higashi Fukuoka High School (Fukuoka). The key is how Gamba play against the opponents to whom they lost at both of two encounters last year.

Meanwhile the match between Cerezo Osaka U-18 and Nagoya Grampus U18 (Aichi) is a battle between two clubs who came out of the previous matchday victoriously. Nagoya’s offence is particularly in good form as they cruised past Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18 (Kyoto) 5-1. Extending the streak with the ongoing momentum is their next target.

More information