U-16 INTERNATIONAL DREAM CUP 2019 JAPAN presented by Asahi Shimbun
vs U-16 Romania National Team
Wed. 12 June 2019 18:00 Match duration 90mins (45mins×2)
Yurtec Stadium Sendai, Miyagi

U-16 Japan National Team 1-1 (0-1, 1-0, PK: 4-2) U-16 Romania National Team

Scores
40' goal against (U-16 Romania National Team)
78' CHIBA Kanta (U-16 Japan National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: TAKAHASHI Ippei
DF: SUWAMA Kosei, MATSUKI Kuryu, MORITA Sho, KUDO Kota
MF: TOYODA Koki, YAMANE Riku, NAKAMURA Jiro, YAMAZAKI Taishin
FW: HARA Naoki, KAWANO Kota

Reserves
GK: TANAKA Haruki
DF: NAMIMOTO Rai, OSAKO Aoto
MF: HIGASHI Ren, MIKI Jinta
FW: KATSUSHIMA Shinnosuke, CHIBA Kanta

Substitutions
HT YAMAZAKI Taishin → MIKI Jinta
HT HARA Naoki → KATSUSHIMA Shinnosuke
63' NAKAMURA Jiro → HIGASHI Ren
63' KAWANO Kota → CHIBA Kanta
79' TOYODA Koki → OSAKO Aoto

Match Report

On Wednesday 12 June, the U-16 Japan National Team played their first match of the U-16 INTERNATIONAL DREAM CUP 2019 JAPAN presented by Asahi Shimbun against the U-16 Romania National Team.

With the match being their first match of the tournament, coach YAMAHASHI Takashi sent off his players by telling them, “having a good amount of nervousness is good, but there is not need to be overly nervous. As long as you do what you’re supposed to do, the results should follow, so let’s just focus on playing our game.”

The match started with japan taking the initiative, as they created numbers of opportunities from their side attacks from the right flank. In the 23rd minute, KAWANO Kota came close to converting the perfect cross delivered by MORITA Sho, but his header went wide of the goal. Two minutes later, a golden opportunity was created for TOYODA Koki, but his shot was denied by a fine save made by the opposing goalkeeper. While Japan struggled to convert their chances, Romania capitalised on their opportunity in the 40th minute, when their attacker broke through the Japanese defence line and captured the goal to give his side a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Despite being down by a goal, Japan continued to dominate the ball possession in the second half. Their long-awaited moment came in the 78th minute, when their late substitute, CHIBA Kanta responded to a lobbing ball delivered towards the goal and calmly slotted the ball into the net. With momentum on their side, Japan came close to taking the lead in the 87th minute, when KATSUSHIMA Shinnosuke struck a shot at goal, but his shot fell short from finding the back of the net.

Due to the tournament regulation, the match went into penalty shootouts after the completion of 90 minutes of play. While both sides successfully converted their first attempt, Japanese goalkeeper TAKAHASHI Ippei made a save to deny the second spot kick taken by Romania. After Japan scored their third and fourth kicks, Romania’s fourth attempt struck the cross bar to give Japan the 4-2 victory in the shootouts.
*Team earning a win in penalty shootouts will be granted with two points.

The U-16 Japan National Team will now face the U-16 Nigeria National Team on Friday 14.

Players’ Comments

GK #12 TAKAHASHI Ippei (Vissel Kobe U-18)
After playing the match against the U-16 Romania National Team, I am very glad that I was able to contribute for the team’s victory. With this being our first match of the tournament, it was a very difficult match, but this experience has definitely given me the opportunity to grow as a player. I was able to focus from the beginning of the match and managed to showcase my coaching ability to deny our opponents from taking shots. We hope to continue to work hard as a team and earn another victory in our next match against Nigeria.

DF #17 KUDO Kota (Urawa Red Diamonds Youth)
I am glad that we were able to win the match, but I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to win the ball in the air as much. The aerial battle is where my strengths lies, so I hope to showcase my ability in our next match. Also, I feel like that one goal we conceded could have been blocked if we made more efforts to the ball. As a defender, I will try to be more persistent when making my approach to the ball. We will strive to earn a shutout victory in our next match and continue to work hard to win the title.

MF #8 YAMANE Riku (Yokohama F・Marinos Youth)
First of all, I am very honoured to be given the opportunity to play in such wonderful tournament. Despite this being our first match, we managed to actively communicate with each other and enter the match with a very positive atmosphere. Regardless of how we won, I am glad that we were able to earn the victory. Although we managed to take control of the match for a long period of time, we lacked quality in our plays at the final third and conceded a goal from one opportunity created by our opponents. We definitely saw many aspects we need to improve on, but we hope to make the adjustments as we play the matches. Despite seeing our opponents dropping back to defend their lead, we were able to score the equaliser and win the match in penalties, and that is something we can be proud of. We hope we can showcase an even better performance in our next match.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

U-16 INTERNATIONAL DREAM CUP 2019 JAPAN presented by Asahi Shimbun

Tournament Dates: Wed. 12 - Sun. 16 June 2019
Tournament Venue: Yurtec Stadium Sendai, Miyagi

Tournament Information