Pick-up Match

Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School   1-3 (1-1, 0-2)   Cerezo Osaka U-18

Matchday 15 of the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League WEST was held on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October. On 1st, Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School (Hyogo) faced Cerezo Osaka U-18 (Osaka). 

Both teams tried to get back-to-back wins for the first time in this 2nd half of the season, and Cerezo Osaka started to attack first. In the 11th minute, Cerezo’s MATSUOKA Daichi broke through the centre with a dribble and passed the ball to the front left, then left side-back player FUNAKI Kakeru joined in the offense from his own half and smashed a shot with his left foot. Cerezo scored the opener. Cerezo made another chance; in the 30th minute they got a free-kick near the penalty area. Funaki got a cleared ball from crossing in front of the goal, but his shot could not hit the net. 

In the 39th minute, Kobe Koryo got the chance eventually after spending most of the half defending. KINO Goki received the ball in front of the goal and he quickly moved the ball to TAKEMURA Fumiaki quickly when he made some space for himself. He took a calm shot and equalised the game 1-1. 

In the 2nd half, Kobe Koryo took control even though the team’s Coach TANI Junichi expected the match to be “advantageous to the team who would score opener.” In the 72nd minute, the Takemura who broke through the left wing passed the ball to the substitute WATANABE Kazuya and his shot went wide of the goal post. Kobe Koryo aggressively continued to try to score their second goal, but could not add another goal in front of Cerezo’s persistent defense. In fact, Cerezo’s Funaki reflected about their defense: “All of us raised voices and ran a lot in difficult moments to protect our goal.”

In the last part of the match, Cerezo started its aggressive offense again, putting Funaki in a forward position. “Since he can run the most of all players, we wanted him to play in a forward position nearer to the opponent’s goal”, said the team’s Assistant Coach TJIMA Kazuki. This approach was successful, in the 78th minute Funaki scored after receiving the cleared ball on the left side of the penalty area. Then in the 88th minute, Funaki scored again – this was the decisive goal of the game. Cerezo won the match 3-1 and got 3 points. 

Coach, Assistant Coach and Player's Comments

TANI Junichi, Coach (Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School)
It was 1-3, but we could do better defense compared with the 1st half of the season, and our offense functioned better, managing the game for the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half. However, we conceded the goals while we couldn’t score the chances that we could create. We could defend the Cerezo’s left side-back player (FUNAKI Kakeru) for a long time, but he got the job done at the moments we became relaxed. I think it was the match which convinced the players to defend a key player consistently throughout the match. At least we wanted a point which we have just missed out on. 

TANIGO Hiroto (Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School)
When we played against Cerezo in the 1st half of the season, we conceded 3 goals due to our mistakes and we could not do anything. In this 2nd half of the season, we know clearly about what we have to do hence we could play well today. However, it’s not right if we end up conceding a goal in a last minute after defending well for 89 minutes. Even though we did well, we conceded 3 goals hence I felt we have to improve. In this 2nd half of the season, we have been able to add points gradually. For the younger players of our team, we want to win the last 3 matches to avoid relegation. 

TAJIMA Kazuki, Assistant Coach (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
Before the match, I encouraged the players by saying: “Show off your advantages.” As we expected to have longer time to hold on to the ball, I told the players to be careful of the opponent’s counter-attacks. Our opening goal and their goal in the 1st half are what we expected. I thought that we would be more energetic in the 2nd half but in fact they were pressured by the opponent’s energetic play for a long time. It was not a good match at all, but the fact that they could win the 3 points after all will grow them up. 

FUNAKI Kakeru (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
Now we have 6 points gap to the top team Hiroshima. We have had the matches that we have to win to get the title. To grab the 3 points today, we just started the match with a greedy mentality, being happy to become muddy to score goals. In the previous match and this one, we didn’t have our Coach MURATA Kazuhiro, and we have focused on building-up offense and breaking offense in front of the goal. At times we couldn’t do as we wanted, but I still think we could positively challenge what we had practiced as a team. 

Other Matches

Gamba Osaka Youth   1-2 (1-1, 0-1)   Sanfrecce Hiroshima FC Youth
Oita Trinita U-18   0-4 (0-3, 0-1)   Vissel Kobe U-18
Higashi Fukuoka High School   3-7 (2-3, 1-4)   Kyoto Sanga F.C U-18
Ozu High School   4-2 (1-1, 3-1)   Nagoya Grampus U18

Gamba Osaka Youth (Osaka) played at home against Sanfrecce Hiroshima FC Youth (Hiroshima). Gamba conceded a goal in the additional time of the 2nd half with the score at 1-1, and lost out on winning any points. Vissel Kobe U-18 (Hyogo) beat Oita Trinita U-18 (Oita) by scoring 4 goals. The opener was scored in the 18th minute by YASUI Takuya. Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18 (Kyoto) maximised their offensive advantages in the match against 3rd place Higashi Fukuoka High School (Fukuoka). The team scored in total 7 goals with AKAMA Yuto getting on the score sheet twice. They stopped their run of 2 consecutive defeats. 

Ozu High School (Kumamoto), who is currently in the 8th place, faced Nagoya Grampus U18 (Aichi) who is in 9th place. Both teams competed to avoid relegation. Ozu’s FUJIYAMA Yuiku scored a hat-trick in this match and the team won the 3 points. 

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