Pick Up Match

Aomori Yamada High School 3-1 (1st 3-0, 2nd 0-1) Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth

The 11th week of the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League was held on Sunday 31 August. Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) and Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth both contended for a winning streak.

In the early stage of the match, Aomori Yamada took the initiative. After they got the ball with quick defensive pressure, Noguchi Yuki and Yamashita Yuto led their offensive end to break through with dribbling and passing. Against Mitsubishi Yowa, who could only stop opposing attacks with fouls, Aomori Yamada enhanced their offensive momentum. In the 21st minute, when Tandai Aito fed a free kick from the left flank, the untouched ball went into the net to open the score. Again in the 23rd minute, Tandai’s free kick sent into the box directly found the back of the net. Right after that, Matsuki Shunnosuke ran past the opposing backline and put it in the back of the net with a great composure to give his team’s third goal in three minutes.

In the second half, Mitsubishi Yowa with their back to the wall rallied back to clutch at any straw. They completely dominated the match in the first 10 minutes. In the 56th minute when they were given a free kick, Disaro Akira Silvano’s cross ball found the back of the net. But Aomori Yamada’s players kept their head. After conceding the goal, they said to each other, “We stay offensive-minded.” That let Aomori Yamada regained their active plays. The match got into quite a dogfight between Aomori Yamada, who remained their confident to target the fourth goal, and Mitsubishi Yowa, who were tenacious for a comeback. While players from both teams showed intense challenges at every turn, the score remained 3-1 until the end to give Aomori Yamada the first consecutive wins of the season.

Head Coach and Players Comments

KURODA Go, Head Coach (Aomori Yamada High School)
We tried to contain opposition’s specialties of quick feeds and quick counter-attacks by pressing at high positions. Our bold challenges brought opposing fouls that led to our goals. We learned from this match that our momentum naturally comes to us when we play aggressively facing forward. We will try for another win in the next match and then come home with this good momentum.

KIKUCHI Ryuho (Aomori Yamada High School)
We got the win because we didn’t allow any further goals after giving away a goal in the second half. Of course, I’m disappointed at the goal, but we all could run and battle it out as discussing how to cope with opposing attacks after the goal. I’m happy that as a team we got all on the same page about “attacking when we get behind” and kept our backline high.

YAMAMOTO Nobuo, Head Coach (Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth)
We failed to parry opposition’s pressure in the first half. We were careful for set plays, but including the fact that we allowed goals from those set plays, I feel we just weren’t enough to win. The key is how we see this loss. Not just telling ourselves that we lost unlucky goals, but we need to think about a way to defend against opposing set plays. We’ve got a lot to work on from now on.

IKEDA Jurato (Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth)
We lost our rhythm with the goals when we needed to play carefully. Particularly, the fact we couldn’t minimise our lost goals made the match tough for us. We didn’t have enough guts never to give the second goal away at any cost. I regret that I didn’t keep my team together as the captain. We will take advantage of this loss to win the next match.

Other Results

Consadole Sapporo U-18   1-0 (1st 1-0, 2nd 0-0)   Kashiwa Reysol U-18
Ichiritsu Funabashi High School   3-0 (1st 0-0, 2nd 3-0)   Tokyo Verdy Youth
Kashima Antlers Youth   4-1 (1st 2-1, 2nd 2-0)   Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa High School
Shimizu S-pulse Youth   2-0 (1st 2-0, 2nd 0-0)   JFA Academy Fukushima

Consadole Sapporo U-18 (Hokkaido) shocked leaders Kashiwa Reysol (Chiba) when Hirakawa Genki’s goal secured a victory. Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba) kept in form as they netted three goals in the second half for a win over Tokyo Verdy Youth (Tokyo). Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki) scored two goals in the both halves which saw them demolish Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa 4-1. Second-placed Shimizu S-pulse Youth (Shizuoka) defeated JFA Academy Fukushima (Shizuoka) with goals from Mochizuki Hiro and Fukui Yuhi to close the gap to Kashiwa to one point.