The 28th Prince Takamado Trophy All Japan Youth (U-15) Football Tournament which determines the best U-15 team in the country will kick off on Saturday 17 December and a total of 32 teams will compete to reach the championship match on the 28th. We will look back at the previous tournament.

Similarly in the 27th nationwide competition, a total of 32 clubs from across the nation participated and three cities in the Ibaraki Prefecture, Mito, Hitachinaka and Kashima, hosted the games from the first round through the quarter-finals, while the semi-finals and final were held at Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka in Tokyo.

Four teams advanced to the semi-finals were JFA Academy Fukushima U-15 (Tokai3), Cerezo Osaka U-15 (Kansai2), Kashima Antlers Junior Youth (Kanto6) and Gamba Osaka Junior Youth (Kansai3).

The first semi-final saw a meeting between JFA Academy and Cerezo Osaka. Cerezo took control of the match and they held the opponents to only two shots, but could not win in regulation time. However, Cerezo maintained their attacking football in overtime and KOMATSU Kaiki scored a game-winning goal in the 99th minute, clinching a championship game berth.

In the other semi-final between Kashima and Gamba, the game stayed in the balance with a scoreless tie until the end of extra time. In the penalty shootout, Gamba successfully converted all their spot kicks and advanced to the final.

In their four games before the final, Cerezo scored 13 goals, while Gamba had 17. The two Osaka sides put up a game showing their fierce attack from the beginning of the championship match. In the first half, SUZUKI Toichi and NISHIO Ryuya scored goals to give Cerezo a 2-0 lead.

Yet Gamba began their rally in the latter half. In the 44th minute, ADACHI Tsubasa netted one to bring some momentum back. Thereafter, the team continued to attack fiercely trying to find an equaliser, but Cerezo defended tenaciously and did not allow Gamba to tie the game easily. But the drama happened in the closing minutes of the second half, as the relentless offence from Gamba finally paid off and MESHINO Soma scored a game-tying goal, taking the closely-contested match to overtime.

Despite failing to retain a two-goal lead, it was Cerezo who came out and took the early initiative in extra time. Then, in the 92nd minute, OKUMURA Jin scored a spectacular goal to retake a lead for Cerezo. Thereafter, Gamba attacked fiercely trying to equalise the match again, but this time Cerezo defended with tenacity and persistence and did not allow the opponents to tie the game, claiming their first-ever championship with a 3-2 victory. Cerezo coach OHATA Kai later commented in praise of his players: “they put in everything they had in this hard-fought battle. My players gave their best throughout this tournament.”

Both Cerezo and Gamba, who put up a heated contest in the previous tournament, will also compete in this year's competition. If they keep advancing, they will face against each other in the semi-finals. It'll be interesting to see if they can continue their attacking style of football and entice the spectators in the stadiums. But wait, we can hear other teams shouting ‘Hold on!’ claiming that they are the ones that are going to win this tournament. We look forward to another exciting tourney this year.

28th Prince Takamado Trophy All Japan Youth (U-15) Football Tournament

2016-12-17(Sat.)～2016-12-28(Wed.)

Tournament Information