The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all took place on Sunday 16 August for the Vermont Cup 25th All Japan U-12 Futsal Tournament, as Brincar FC (Aichi) won their first ever championship in the end.

The quarter-final matches all ended as high-scoring ones. Malva Chiba fc U-12 (Chiba) took a lead early against Cerezo Osaka U-12 (Osaka) and after conceding one goal to the opponents, they kept scoring until winning the match 5-3 despite Cerezo’s late come-back effort.

FC Valentia (Wakayama) allowed Kurosawajirihigashi FC (Iwate) to take the initiative of the match, but thanks to a hat-trick by MINEMATSU Kanato, the Wakayama side grabbed the 5-3 victory. Tomozo SC (Tochigi) survived a goal-scoring frenzy against FC Unzen Estieall (Nagasaki) with their late run and won it 9-5. After trailing in the first half, Brincar FC came back from behind with goals including set-piece efforts and passed by Malva Ibaraki fc U-12 (Ibaraki) to finish the match 5-2.

In the semi-finals, Malva Chiba FC allowed FC Valentia to erase the lead twice, but KOMURO Yoshiki scored the go-ahead goal to help his side win it 3-2. The other match saw Tomozo SC go ahead early in the first half. After tying the match before the end of the first half, however, Brincar scored four more goals in the four-minute span from the 15th minute to 19th in the second half. They also defended all Tomozo’s late come-back efforts but conceding just one goal before clinching the spot in the final.

The final match was held between two teams chasing for their first-ever Vermont Cup championship; Malva Chiba and Brincar. The heated matchup started with the opener by Brincar’s TSUBOTANI Syu who in the third minute received OKUNO Shintaro’s pass and scored.

Four minutes later, it was Okuno who struck his own after dribbling the ball up by himself. After finishing the first half with two goals down, Malva Chiba showed their attacking in the second half. In the 12th minute, TANAKA Sota took a kick-in and scored to cut the deficit down to one.

In the 15th minute, there came an unfavourable moment for both teams. Malva Chiba’s goalkeeper INOUE Kazuto and Brincar’s field player Tsubotani collided in the air outside the penalty box. They both suffered breeding from their head while Inoue had it so serious that he was taken to hospital at the moment. Malva Chiba switched field player OHATA Rinsei to their goleiro position to deal with the accident. Then at only one minute remaining, the match witnessed a drama.

Malva Chiba acquired a free-kick opportunity right outside of the penalty box and GK Ohata’s right-footed strike hit the cross bar and went into the back of the net to equalise the match in the very last minute. After Malva Chiba failed to convert a kick from the second penalty mark, the 2-2 match went into the additional period.

Malva Chiba took the pace to attack early in the extra period, but they couldn’t not reach the goal. With less than two minute remaining in the second half, Brincar scored through a counter-attack, when Tsubotani, keeping playing with his wounded head, assisted KATO Gen for his go-ahead goal. With Malva Chiba having GK Ohata joining attacks as well, Brincar’s Okuno sneaked up and took his second goal of the match to seal the win.

When the buzzer marked the end of the match, Malva Chiba’ players fell down to the floor while Brincar cried with joy. “We wanted to bring back the championship to our home Aichi, where we target to bid the FIFA Futsal World Cup in 2020.” Brincar’s coach FURUI Shunpei said of his ambition, of which at least the first part came true and Aichi prefecture representative won the championship for the first time in the tournament history.

The Best Players Awards went to goalkeeper TAKEI Masaki and field player Okuno Shintaro of champions Brincar, field player Komuro Yoshiki and field player Tanaka Sota of runners-up Malva Chiba and field player YOSHIKAWA Gaku of third-placed FC Valantia. The Fair Play Award was presented to Brincar.

Coach and Players' Comments

FURUI Shunpei, Coach (Brincar FC)
For myself and for the kids, this tournament is the only tournament where we can truly put our minds to winning the national championship. So first of all I am happy that we got to keep playing futsal to the final match. Then, the reason why we got the championship there is because of these players. So I am thankful for that.

We lost the second match in the first round, and the kids shed tears of regret. We said to ourselves “What have we done everything for?” and that experience brought our futsal back to us, which is to have everyone passes each other by, move up and keep attacking. That loss made this championship possible, I think.

OKUNO Shintaro (Brincar FC)
Winning this tournament title has been my dream, so I am happy to have it come true. At the same time, with this experience as a starting point, I will keep playing football and futsal in my future, remembering this win in many occasions. I was nervous in the final, and when we got it tied in the second half, I thought like “Oh, no.”

But I could score the second goal in the additional period and made myself believe that defending for one more minute will give us the championship. This championship is the first ever for a team from Aichi, so we are happy about this win, and we will also be happier if this news will spread around and they find out futsal in Aichi is very good.

ASANO Tomohisa, Coach (Malva Chiba fc U-12)
I could enjoy it. The final was a good match, too. Their will to win was very strong. The result was disappointing, but I am proud that I could stick to my policy to play every player on the roster until the last match. From the first round to the final match, every match was against a good team. Consadole Sapporo and Cerezo Osaka are J.League clubs, but they still play futsal style, and I think we all should give credit to teams like them. It was fun, and now I think I want to come back after building a better team.

YOSHIKAWA Gaku (FC Valentia)
It was disappointing that we couldn’t get to the final, but I am very happy that they kindly selected me as one of the best players. I think I could show variety of my skills, and I could score goals, too. In the semi-final against Malva Chiba, I sometimes tripped when I was dribbling. So I want to work harder and harder.

We still keep playing together with these teammates, so I want to keep practicing together with them to be able to beat any team in next football tournament. It was a very enjoyable tournament.

JFA-TV (Japanese Version Only)

Final Highlight

Semi-Finals Highlight

Quarter-Finals Highlight

Vermont Cup All Japan U-12 Futsal Championship

Fri. 14 August - Sun. 16 August
Tokyo/Komazawa Olympic Park Gymnasium、Ota-City General Gymnasium
Match information