Pickup Match

Nagoya Grampus U18 0-0 (1st 0-0, 2nd 0-0) Vissel Kobe U-18

Nagoya Grampus U18 (Aichi) and Vissel Kobe U-18 (Hyogo), both starting the season with two wins in a row, faced against each other in a match which was very thrilling until the last minute.

In the first half Kobe led the pace of the match. Long balls to the front line and attacks from both sides created chances for Kobe. On the other hand, Nagoya, forced to play in their half most of the time, showed tenacious defence led by GK Kojima Ryosuke, and occasionally turned it over to offence. At 27th minute, Nagoya beautifully connected passes until Sakurai Subaru’s shot attempt. Both teams created some critical moments but failed to finish with a goal before the end of the first half.

Kobe initiated the first chance of the second half. Minutes after the start, Kako Seiya provided a long ball from its own half and Yonezawa Rei received it and fired a shot. But Nagoya’s GK Kojima showed a great save and didn’t allow it to go in. Nagoya fought back right after as four players up front, two forwards and both side halves, flexibly played off of each other and produced variety of attacks. They gradually pushed toward Kobe’s goal and finally Sakurai’s dribble penetration created a golden opportunity for Kitano Haruya. But the shot went off the goal and Nagoya barely missed to score. Both teams showed their strength every now and then, but just kept missing a decisive strike. The battle between two top teams in the early standings finished with a scoreless draw in the end.

Comments from coaches and players

TAKADA Tetsuya, Head Coach, Nagoya Grampus U18
We expected this before the match, but in the first half we allowed their attacks, including the long balls, more than I expected. So it took time for us to get on our rhythm. But after we survived the tough stretch in the first, in the second we could attack before the wind and created chances, as we also expected. Considering the number of chances they had more than we did, it was positive for us to get one point. That builds up our confidence including the fact that we could fight through to the end in this hot weather.

Kojima Ryosuke, Nagoya Grampus U18
It’s disappointing that we ended up with a draw, but I am also relieved that we didn’t lose this difficult match. Especially I feel good that not just our defenders but also everybody else could stay focused, played defence and didn’t allow a goal although they kept attacking us in some stretches. We’ve had good momentum going offensively and defensively in last three matches. I want to keep it going and get involved in the championship race with defenders protecting our goal and offensive players scoring without making easy mistakes.

NODA Satoru, Head Coach, Vissel Kobe U-18
We couldn’t play our style of possession football in the way we wanted. The match could go either way, win or lose, but at least we got one point. Players could follow our game plan very well which was providing diagonal long balls into the space behind their defenders. We could create good chances from there, so I can say we did pretty well on that. Last year, we couldn’t get points early in the season. We have had two wins and a draw so far this year. I think we have been doing good job in that regard.

NAKAI Hideto, Vissel Kobe U-18
We haven’t had a game like this for a while where we don’t dominate the pace of the match for most of it. Usually we make the opposition play in our style, but today they made us play in their style. It was a tough game. But it was a positive outcome that somehow we could get our momentum back and created chances by attacking the space behind their defenders. What we need to get better at is how to play right near their goal. We could have got three points, if we had been able to end our plays there with good shots. Although we need to make improvements in our offence like that, the fact that we could hold them scoreless when they dominated the match will give us some confidence.

Other Results

Toyama Daiichi High School　3-3（1st 2-1、2nd 1-2）　Higashiyama High School
Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Youth　3-2（1st 2-0、2nd 1-2）　Kyoto Tachibana High School
Higashi Fukuoka High School　0-3（1st 0-2、2nd 0-1）　Gamba Osaka Youth
Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18　1-4（1st 0-0、2nd 1-4）　Cerezo Osaka U-18 

Toyama Daiichi High School (Toyama) had Higashiyama High School (Kyoto) at their home. Toyama Daiichi allowed the first goal for Higashiyama, but came back and took the lead with two goals later in the first half. Although they lost the lead again in the second half, Nishimura Takuma scored just before the end of the match for the tie and the first point of the season to Toyama Daiichi. Nishimura has scored in every three match so far. Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Youth (Hiroshima) battled through a close match against Kyoto Tachibana High School (Kyoto) and in the end grabbed a win with Tsukawaki Masanobu’s goal at the 86th minute. Gamba Osaka Youth (Osaka) which routed Higashiyama High School 5-0 in the last match, showed superb offensive performance again. Takagi Akito scored hat trick and beat Higashi Fukuoka High School (Fukuoka) 3-0. Cerezo Osaka U-18 (Osaka) had their offence explode to strike four goals in the second half against Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18 (Kyoto), and got on top of the standings.