Pick Up Match

Ichiritsu Funabashi High School 1-1 (1st 0-1 2nd 1-0) Ryutsu Keizaidai Kashiwa High School

The Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League had EAST’s Week 14 on Saturday 20 September, and Ichiritsu Funabashi High School and Ryutsu Keizaidai Kashiwa High School, two of the high school clubs in Chiba, faced each other at Funabashi Houten Park Stadium (GRASPO).

Honda Yuichiro, RKU Kashiwa’s head coach, went to Germany by himself in August to observe and learn from Borussia Dortmund. He has taught what he learned there to his players and made sure three important points for them to remember; moving the ball forward, getting the ball high and early and not being afraid of mistakes. In this match, the players certainly looked showing what they have learned as they dominated the match early. In the 20th minute, they broke down Ichiritsu Funabashi’s defence from a corner kick and Aragaki Takayuki scored in the end with his left foot for the first lead of the match.

Ichiritsu Funabashi, however, also fought back. As Fujii Taku later said “we expected they were going to execute offence vertically and quickly,” they started figuring out RKU Kashiwa’s game plan as the time passed. The ball gradually started remaining longer in RKU Kashiwa’s end and more opportunities were created in favour of Ichiritsu Funabashi. Then 59th, Kobayashi Mizutomo ran the left flank for a feed from Fujii and sent a grounder cross inside, which was put into the goal by Furuya Seishiro to tie the match.

Looking to take their own lead, Ichiritsu Funabashi accelerated their attacks. Nagafuji Ayumu threatened RKU Kashiwa’s goal by surging past all defenders and going one-on-one against the goalkeeper, but somehow blocked by RKU Kashiwa’s tenacious defence. RKU Kashiwa also kept trying to feed Ogawa Ryoya up front and go after the second and third opportunities from there only to find their plan not reach the goal.

Both teams showed all they had in the 90 minutes, but it was not enough to see a definitive winner and the match ended up as 1-1 draw.

Comments

ASAOKA Ryuzo, Head Coach (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
We couldn’t close out the match, but considering every aspect of the match including the injury we had during the match, I can take this draw. Our offence has been good and there are good competitions within the team. We have very talented players on the bench as well, so it is big for us to be able to send them onto the field depending on situations. Our captain Fujii (Taku) led our defence, and even after he left for the injury, we collectively hung in there.

FUJII Taku (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
We knew they would send a long feed in and try to go after the rebound. We all tried to make sure to help each other after somebody challenges the ball, and wanted to stop them moving around the ball. Our transition from offence to defence was good, too. We didn’t allow any critical moment except the first goal allowed. I will be away from the team for a while because of the injury, but the team learned a good lesson for the next match. 

HONDA Yuichiro, Head Coach (Ryutsu Keizaidai Kashiwa High School)
The 4-0 loss of the last week was so hard to swallow, so we made a change in the line-up for this match. I sent the players onto the field who have always worked so hard every day and they all again worked hard on this pitch. We lost one goal, but not anymore. I told them to praise them that that was the good point. We are in the middle of the process of reorganizing our defence. As the first step of that process, this match was somewhat satisfying.

OGAWA Ryoya (Ryutsu Keizaidai Kashiwa High School)
It is disappointing that we couldn’t get three points, but compared to the last few matches where we lost so many goals, we played better football. We all were very focused and tried to help the team win. I think we can get back on track if we keep playing our brand of “running football” without being afraid of mistakes. Our true characteristics show late in the season, so we want to do our best.

Results of Other Matches

Shimizu S-pulse Youth   0-3 (1st 0-1, 2nd 0-2)   Kashima Antlers Youth
Aomori Yamada High School   0-0 (1st 0-0, 2nd 0-0)   Consadole Sapporo U-18
Tokyo Verdy Youth   1-2 (1st 1-2, 2nd 0-0)   JFA Academy Fukushima
Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth   2-1 (1st 0-2, 2nd 1-0)   Kashiwa Reysol U-18

Third-placed Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki) stayed hot and defeated second-placed Shimizu S-pulse Youth (Shizuoka) 3-0 for their fourth win in their last five matches. Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) failed to extend their four-match winning streak against Consadole Sapporo U-18 (Hokkaido) and grabbed only one point after a scoreless draw. Tokyo Verdy Youth (Tokyo), restarting under new head coach Sugawara Tomo, failed to end their losing skid against JFA Academy Fukushima even after Nakano Masaomi scored the first goal of the match for Verdy in the 6th minute. Verdy still remain at the bottom of the standings. Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba) edged Mitsubishi Yowa SC Youth (Tokyo) in a tough contest on the road for three points to keep leading the league.