The quarter-finals of the “28th Prince Takamado Trophy All Japan Youth (U-15) Football Tournament” will get underway on Friday 23 December in Ibaraki Prefecture. The contests for the championship get heated up further.

The tournament that determines U-15’s Japan champions has proved its high level in many matches. Defending champions Cerezo Osaka U-15 (Kansai 3) are one of the teams who have experienced the difficulty of playing in the tournament. In the first match, Cerezo earned a 6-0 crushing win over Aomori Yamada Junior High School (Tohoku 1), the champions of the three consecutive All Japan Junior High School Sports Festivals (Football), but Cerezo’s second match turned out to be tough, entering a penalty shootout despite efforts with 21 shot attempts against Kashiwa Reysol U-15 (Kanto 5). The opponents of Cerezo in the quarter-finals are Shimizu S-Pulse Junior Youth (Tokai 1), who won two titles this year: the JFA Premier Cup and the JAPAN Club Youth (U-15) Football Championship. As they showed their toughness for the win in the second round when they grabbed a comeback win with a last-ditch goal over Yokohama F. Marinos Junior Youth (Kanto 2), the quarter-final match is expected to be heated contest between teams who can turn their hardships into energy.

Sagan Tosu U-15 (Kyushu 1) reached a last 8 spot after a penalty shootout. Sagan hung on against JEF United Chiba U-15 (Kanto 6), overwhelming with their physicality, over an extra-time contest to get through the second round. Meanwhile, Consadole Sapporo U-15 (Hokkaido 1) won the past two matches 1-0. In their second round, they were dominated for a long stretch by Yokohama FC Junior Youth (Kanto 3), but they all played out to keep a 1-0 lead that was taken in the 1st minute. The Sapporo side face Tosu in order to get a better result than their last 4 feat in the Japan Club Youth Championship.

In their first appearance after three tournaments as the Kanto No.1 representative, Tokyo Verdy Junior Youth experienced a tough first-round match. The Tokyo club scored first early on but allowed Kataller Toyama U-15 (Hokushinetsu 3) to turn the score around midway through the second half. And Tokyo Verdy won the second round 4-0 thanks to goals from SAKAMAKI Hinata, who scored twice including a winner in the Toyama match, and KOBAYASHI Yuto, who had directly got involved in his team's all four goals so far. Kanto's second division team Shonan Bellmare U-15 Hiratsuka (Kanto 7) have shown their momentum as they beat opponents including Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Junior Youth (Chugoku 1). The contest between Kanto outfits must be interesting where they are given a chance to display their growth in this tournament.

With some of the players who led the team to the runners-up last year still remaining on the squad, Gamba Osaka Junior Youth (Kansai 1) are one of the top goal scoring teams in this tournament, tallying eight goals so far. But in their second round, after scoring the opening goal, Gamba allowed Kawasaki Frontale U-15 (Kanto 8) to pick up the momentum to attack in the Gamba end midway through the match and gave up shots more than Gamba took. Gamba's opponents Yokohama F. Marinos Junior Youth Oppama (Kanto 4) have also netted eight goals so far. After they snatched a slim win in the first round, five different players including substitutes scored a total of five goals in the second round. Whether they take the momentum to the game or change the course of the match, it is likely to be a close game between these two talented teams who try to show their team quality.

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

2016-12-17(Sat.)～2016-12-28(Wed.)
First Round～Quarter-finals：Various Stadiums in Ibaraki Prefecture
Semi-finals～Final：Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka(Tokyo)
Tournament Information
Fixtures and Results (Japanese version only)