The 2nd All Japan Seniors (Over 40) Tournament started its matches on Saturday 1 November at J-GREEN Sakai in Osaka. The total of 16 winners of regional qualifiers started battling for the national tournament.

The 16 clubs are divided into four groups from Group A to D and play the group-stage matches, and the best team of each group advances to the knock-out round. The day 1 had the groups-stage matches.

The Group A had Lazos Koga FC (Kanto 3 / Ibaraki) cruise to an easy win against Muroran Senior 40 Soccer Club (Hokkaido / Hokkaido) where Lazos added three goals in the second half even with a goal by a substituted player. Hiroshima Shijukara Soccer Club (Chugoku 1 / Hiroshima) and Okinawa Senior Selection (Kyusyu / Okinawa) ended up with a 2-2 draw, which gave Lazos an early lead in the group.

Mie Masters (Tokai 2 / Mie) won against Tokushima Senior 40 (Shikoku 2 / Tokushima) to lead the Group B on the first day. After getting the first goal of the match early, Mie escaped from fierce attacks by Tokushima by adding one goal each in the rest of the first half and second. Matsumoto Yamaga FC Masters (Hokushinetsu 1 / Nagano), which enlisted themselves as Alfoot Azumino Senior in the last tournament and played until the semi-final, tied the first match 1-1 against Nicols FC Senior (Hometown / Osaka).

Aichi Selection Masters Ov 40 (Tokai 1 / Aichi), which are one of the final four clubs of the last tournament just like Matsumoto Yamaga, put out a heated contest with T-Dream (Kanto 2 / Tokyo) which had former Japan international Honda Yasuto on the roster. It was a very competitive match with both sides showing great enthusiasm and tenacious defence until the last minute, which turned into a scoreless draw. Senior Okayama FC (Chugoku 2 / Okayama) took the lead of the Group C after enjoying a 2-0 win against FC Primeiro Fukushima Legends (Tohoku / Fukushima), who are playing in the national tournament for two consecutive years.

Only in the Group D, two teams grabbed three points. Tatebayashi Senior 40SC (Kanto 1 / Gunma) and Kyoto Senior 40 (Kansai / Kyoto) both defeated their opponents and Tatebayashi is leading the way only by scores differential.

The day two will be on Sunday November 2 and will have all teams play two games each to determine the four teams advancing to the next round.

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Comments

HAGITA Masakazu, Mie Masters (Mie)
The first match wasn’t an easy win at all. We had a long tough stretch. As a selection team, we get together once a week for practices. There is a teammate who I used to play together when I started playing football when I was eight years old, and there is also a teammate who played in the national high school tournament with Yokkaichi Chuo Kogyo High School. I am just happy that we still play at a national tournament like this even after we reach 40 years old.

KAWASUMI Kazuhiro, Lazos Koga F.C. (Ibaraki)
We could win the match, but it was very close. Muroran team are a very good team, so they made us keep running to get this win. We didn’t have our starting forward player today, so we can say everybody else had to run around even more. (Speaking of Lazos Koga FC) They say our club got started by former Koga Daiichi High School players, but later on players from other high school kept joining. We played in a national tournament before as well, but then we lost in the group stage. This time we really want to keep playing until the last day of the tournament.

HONDA Yasuto, T-Dream (Tokyo)
It was three years ago that they listed me on the roster. I often have to work on weekends, so it’s hard for me to go to practices and games. I don’t know whether I can play tomorrow (the day 2 of the event), so I really wanted to play today. Even though I play for work, it’s mostly a coaching job for kids, so physically it’s really tough to play in a match like this. Today’s opponents were physically strong. It’s our problem that our legs stop moving in the second half. I know having fun is the most important thing on our minds, but once we start playing, winning becomes our first goal. It’s been eight years since I retired, but I am happy to feel motivated for winning like this, just like how I used to be when playing.

IWAKI Hiroyuki, Aichi Selection Masters Ov40, Aichi
They had a former pro player and former Teikyo High School players, so we really wanted to beat them. No wonder a former Japan international knows how to use his body well. Even if you get old, skills like that never go away. We are a selection team of many clubs, but we really get along with each other very well. Today is no exception and we will go out for drinks after this. It’s a joy of playing football that we can work together for one common goal. People call us “football maniacs”, but we try hard to make time in our lives for playing. Four years ago, we won the masters tournament, but in the last year’s tournament, we lost in a penalty shootout after having a draw match in the regulation. This year, we really want to win it all.

JFA-TV

The 2nd All Japan Seniors (over 40) Football Tournament

Sat. 1 November - Mon.Holiday 3 November 2014
J-GREEN Sakai/Osaka

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