The final and two semi-final matches of the 8th All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Futsal Tournament were held on Monday 8 January as Jumonji Junior High School (Kanto/ Tokyo) won their second national title and first in three years.

Jumonji faced Tokushima Latisha (Shikoku/ Tokushima) in one of the semi-finals. Soon after opening the scoring with ABE Mirano's goal in the 3rd minute, the Tokyo side conceded an equaliser by Tokushima's FURUTANI Yuria. Entering the second half with MATSUHISA Kanna's go-ahead goal in the closing minutes of the first half, Jumonji added more goals from attacks led by pivo Abe before ending the match at 8-2 to advance to the final for the first time in three years.

On the other side of the semi-finals, AKITA L.F.C.Youth (Tohoku/ Akita) and FC EFFRONTE (Chugoku/ Okayama) squared off against each other. Despite playing with seven members including substitutions, the Akita side never left the opponents unmarked by committing themselves in defence. After managing to cope with Effronte's attacks with the solid defence, Akita opened the scoring with TERAKADO Riko's goal. They continued to play comfortably in the second half before adding two more goals to finish the match with a clean sheet. With the 3-0 win, Akita secured their first ever final spot.

The final between Jumonji and Akita L.F.C opened in an unexpected fashion. The Tokyo side started to attack aggressively soon after kick-off as MURATA Rina fired a shot from the left flank. Her shot found the back of the net to give Jumonji the opening goal. Then, Abe's shot from the edge of the box added one more goal, which provided Jumonji with a two-goal lead just after a minute. Against Akita L.F.C, who seemed nervous in their first final appearance, Jumonji played freely and dominated the Akita side, tallying two more goals to make it 4-0.

Akita L.F.C. started to get back into the game in the second half but struggled to go deep into the opponents' side due to Jumonji's swift transition from offence to defence. Connecting passes and making use of their well-trained skills not to allow a gap for a chance of interceptions, Jumonji added more with Abe scoring a hat-trick in the 12th minute and Murata netting an insurance goal in the 16th minute. Akita looked for a goal until the end of the match but could not score before the match came to an end. Jumonji clinched the championship with the 6-0 win.

Coaches' and Players' Comments

OTAKI Osamu, Coach (Jumonji Junior High School)
This year's team took part in a U-15 men's futsal league from the early stage of the season and learned the sport. I think it finally bore fruit. In the U-15 football, we were eliminated after allowing an added-time equaliser in the Kanto qualifiers. We remember the bitter memory, and my players, especially the third graders, worked hard, saying "Get back on our feet and win the championship." The team got together thanks to the third graders and became a good team.

ABE Mirano (Jumonji Junior High School)
We lost in the semi-finals last year, so I'm happy to win the championship this year. The first round against EFFRONTE was very tough and I couldn't score. I was very disappointed and worked hard to get a goal in the final. We won the championship because the members from all graders talked together about how to play good futsal and discussed what is good and bad to improve the quality. I will continue to keep up my football life even after entering Jumonji High School.

TERAKADO Riko (Akita L.F.C.Youth)
We came here with seven third graders, so I wanted to finish with smiles at the end. But we all worked hard together and got here despite that fact that we have only this number of players. Then, we were able to play a good game against Jumonji Junior High. We weren't used to playing in the final but can't use that as an excuse. We wanted to get off to a better start. I regret it. We will go on to a different school but continue to play football, so we hope to take advantage of the experience here.

OTA Hiroshi, Coach (Tokushima Latisha)
We were eliminated in the first round without scoring any goal last year. This year, we finished third after working on bringing out the best part of us and playing with our style rather than playing according to the opponents' styles. Everyone on this team worked together to develop their strength and was, as a result, able to change the team. We set our goal to qualify for the finals and earn one win. We managed to get this far because we focused to win each game at a time.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

8th All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Futsal Tournament

Tournament period: Sun. 7 January 2018 - Mon. 8 January 2018
Venue: Aichi / Skyhall Toyota
Tournament Information