Pick-up Match

Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School   0-4 (1st 0-1, 2nd 0-3)   F.C. Tokyo U-18

The matchday 2 of the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League EAST was played on Sunday 19 April as Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School (Chiba) met FC Tokyo U-18 (Tokyo).

With a loss in their openers, both teams played hard-fought battles in offence and defence with eyes for their first victory of the season. In the 11th minute, Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa’s TAKAHASHI Shuto fired a shot from the edge of the box. One minute later, FC Tokyo threatened Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa’s goal with combination play between SATO Ryo and OKUMA Kenta to show their enthusiasm for a goal. After a seesaw start, the deadlock was broken in the 23rd minute when Sato headed home Okuma’s cross from the left to give FC Tokyo an opening goal.

The opposing Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa showed their comeback efforts when NAKAMURA Tsubasa finished off the attack with a shot after a string of passes from Jermaine Alex and TAKAHASHI Shuto. But their attacking spell went short as FC Tokyo gradually started dominating the match with individual skills. In the second half, FC Tokyo made it through with a counterattack against the Chiba side, who carried their weight more on the offensive side to aim at an equaliser. In the 50th minute, KOYAMA Takuya went up to set up a perfect cross for Sato’s second goal of the day.

In the 66th minute, Okuma met Sato’s cross ball for his team’s third goal as the scorer said “Just like we practiced. I knew the pass was coming to me when he got the ball.” In the 75th minute, Sato marked a hat-trick for the fourth goal of the team. FC Tokyo kept targeting for an additional goal on counterattacks with intense defensive challenges even after they extended the lead as the Tokyo side kept their concentration not to allow the opposition to attack. The final whistle was blown and FC Tokyo finished the match with their 4-0 lead.

After the match, while Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa head coach HONDA Yuichiro showed his disappointment, saying “Everything we did went bad,” FC Tokyo seemed to get confident with playing in the Premier League as Sato said “We were able to take the disappointment of the previous match defeat out on this match. We can take advantage of this winning experience for the next match.

Head Coaches and Players' Comments

HONDA Yuichiro, Head Coach (Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa University Kashiwa High School)
My players say “We’ve lingered on the matchday 1,” but I believe that’s overconfidence. I felt we and FC Tokyo players had a big difference in individual abilities. There could be a lot of reasons for why we lost, like we weren’t able to win the ball and both flanks didn’t work well. In the first place, we weren’t able to get to finish. Attackers didn’t receive the ball and passers also didn’t send the ball to proper spots. We were sluggish as a whole.

SATO Kazuki, Head Coach (F.C. Tokyo U-18)
We were successful in taking advantage of the learnings from the first match. I told the players that not only in practice, but everything like greetings off the pitch is linked to football, and the complacent attitude in their private life was going to affect their performance on the pitch. At halftime, the players actively exchanged their views and I didn’t really need to get a word in. We scored four goals, but I want to give them credit more for keeping a clean sheet. We will keep up our work to add up more points one by one in the following league matches as well.

SATO Ryo (F.C. Tokyo)
It was disappointing we didn’t put up a good result in the last match. And I think I’ve been working on training seriously more than anyone else. I went out to this match with a determination to get a goal by any ways, and the approach I made led to the three goals I got. Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa are a strong-minded team. Even if you are superior in skills, you get behind if you are overwhelmed by opponents’ strong mind. We talked with each other in a huddle not to get behind in terms of mind, and I think it influenced in a good way when we started playing the match.

OKUMA Kenta (F.C. Tokyo U-18)
Today we went out for the match, determined to win at any cost. It was good that we scored first in the first half and added more on counterattacks in the second half. My assist for the opening goal came out in a way just like we practiced. We’ve worked on attacking training such as how to feed cross balls, and I’m happy to get a goal. Scoring a goal is my task. Not only making use of my teammates, but I want to stick to unlocking the door to a goal through individual skills. I will focus on finishing our attacks with a shot even in training.

Other results

Kashima Antlers Youth　4-0 (1st 2-0, 2nd 2-0)　Consadole Sapporo U-18
Omiya Ardija Youth　1-1 (1st 1-1, 2nd 0-0)　Ichiritsu Funabashi High School
Aomori Yamada High School　2-0 (1st 1-0, 2nd 1-0)　JFA Academy Fukushima
Shimizu S-pulse Youth　0-0 (1st 0-0, 2nd 0-0)　Kashiwa Reysol U-18

Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki) notched four goals to thrash Consadole Sapporo (Hokkaido). The Ibaraki side celebrated their fresh league start with back-to-back wins and clean sheets. Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) also claimed the second consecutive win over JFA Academy Fukushima (Shizuoka) as TAKAHASHI Issei netted a brace. The Aomori’s high school got off to a solid start this year despite last year’s troublesome spell, when they marked their second victory in the matchday 10. Omiya Ardija Youth (Saitama), looking for their first victory of the league, shared the spoils with Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba) and failed to grab three points. The contest between defending EAST champions Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba) and runners-up Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka) also ended up in a draw.