The third round of the 101st All Japan High School Soccer Tournament took place on Monday 2 January.

Featured Match 1

Shohei High School 1-2 (1-1, 0-1) Maebashi Ikuei High School

The match between Shohei High School (Saitama) and Maebashi Ikuei High School (Gunma) held at Urawa Komaba Stadium, saw goals scored in the early minutes. The opening goal was scored by Shohei in the third minute, when UENO Asahi responded to a long feed of TSUCHIYA Hyuga to break into the space behind the opposing defence line and strike a shot. Although this shot was initially blocked by the goalkeeper, ARAI Yuta was there to convert the deflection to put Shohei in the lead.

Despite conceding an early goal, the players of Maebashi Ikuei kept their composure, as coach YAMADA Kosuke later reflected, “We weren’t worried at all because we still had plenty of time left in the game.” Their patience was soon rewarded, when KOIKE Naoya assisted the goal of YAMAMOTO Sota in the 13th minute to tie the match.

Following this equaliser, Maebashi Ikuei started to dictate the pace of the match with their quick transitions, as TOKUNAGA Ryo mentioned, “Shohei were good at possessing the ball in tight spaces, so we tried to take the ball away and utilise the width of the pitch in order to control the pace of the match.” This approach proved to be effective, as Maebashi Ikuei managed to score the go-ahead goal in the 50th minute, when they connect passes from one side to the other, setting up the cross delivered by Koike which was converted by AOYAGI Ryujiro. With this goal being the decisive goal, Maebashi Ikuei advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory.

Featured Match 2

Nihon Bunri High School 0-3 (0-1, 0-2) Ozu High School

The second match held at Urawa Komaba Stadium saw Ozu High School (Kumamoto), last year’s runners-up, take the initiative from the outset. In the 28th minute, the ball was connected through TABARU Rui and KOBAYASHI Shunei to set up the shot of YAMASHITA Motonari, but this attempt was saved by the opposing goalkeeper. However, Ozu took the lead just two minutes later, when ASANO Rikia converted the deflection of the cross delivered by SAKAMOTO Tsubasa.

In efforts to rally back, Nihon Bunri High School (Niigata) changed their formation in the second half, as coach KOMAZAWA Ryuichi explained, “We changed our system to a three-back formation in order to apply more players in our attacks.” Although the Niigata side managed to create more chances in the second half, including the shot taken by OTSUKA Taiga in the 42nd minute, and the attempt made by SONE Daiki in the 43rd minute, they were unable to successfully find the back of the net.

After surviving a series of close opportunities created by Nihon Bunri, Ozu regained their momentum midway through the second half. In the 62nd minute, KOBAYASHI Shunei redirected the shot taken by TANABE Yoshihisa from outside the box to double the lead for Ozu. IWASAKI Hiroto capped off the match by converting a penalty kick during additional time of the second half, as Ozu won the match 3-0 to reach the top eight.

Coaches and Players' Comments

KOIKE Naoya (Maebashi Ikuei High School)
In the pre-game meeting, we discussed how to deal with Shohei High School's dribbling, but when we actually played against them, we felt they were even better than we had anticipated. However, led by (Tokunaga) Ryo, the team did well to make the necessary adjustments in defence. We also knew that our opponents were going to penetrate the flanks with their dribbles, so we focused on making quick transitions after losing possession of the ball. We also displayed our style of football by utilising the full width of the field. I feel like we were able to exert a total team effort to earn this victory.

FUJISHIMA Nobuo, Coach (Shohei High School)
Maebashi Ikuei High School displayed quick pressure and great tenacity in key moments of the match. They really demonstrated what we lacked as a team and gave us the opportunity to realise that we still have lots of work to do. Led by team captain TSUKUI (Keisuke), the players worked extremely hard to make new history (by earning promotion to the Prince Takamado Trophy JFA U-18 Football Premier League). The first and second year players must not forget the bitterness we felt today. I hope they will make the most of this experience to improve themselves.

KOBAYASHI Shunei (Ozu High School)
Compared to our first match, we were able to possess the ball longer and dictate the pace of the match. Even if we give up some close opportunities, it is important that we keep a clean sheet. We played very patiently to keep our opponents scoreless, but also displayed many flaws that needs to be addressed. Personally, I was very happy to score my first goal of the tournament, but I am not satisfied with my overall performance.

KOMAZAWA Ryuichi, Coach (Nihon Bunri High School)
We were up against a superior team, but we were not going to change our approach to the game. We stuck with our usual style and utilised our speed to penetrate the flanks. Our game plan was to keep the first half scoreless, and we believed in our ability to score goals from set-pieces, but things didn’t quite go as we had planned. I hope the players will make the most of this experience for their future career.

The 101st All Japan High School Soccer Tournament

Tournament Dates: Wed. 28 December 2022 - Mon. 9 January 2023

Tournament Information