AFF NutiFood U19 Cup 2014　vs. U-19 Thailand National Team
Thursday  11 September 2014  16:30 Kick Off 90miutes(45minutes halves)
My Dinh Stadium(Vietnam/hanoi)

U-19 Japan National Team　2 - 1(1st 2-0、2nd 0-1)　U-19 Thailand National Team

Scores
3min  OKUGAWA Masaya（U-19 Japan National Team）
38min NAKANO Masaomi（U-19 Japan National Team）
87min Goal Against（U-19 Thailand National Team）

Starters
GK：YOSHIMARU Kenshin
DF：TAKAGI Daisuke、MOTEGI Rikiya、MIURA Genta、SAKAI Daisuke
MF：NAKANO Masaomi、IDEGUCHI Yosuke、ANDO Akira、OKUGAWA Masaya
FW：OCHI Yamato、KANEKO Shota

Substitutes
GK：NAKAMURA Kosuke
DF：FUJITANI So、SHINDO Ryosuke、UCHIYAMA Yuki
MF：SUGIMOTO Taro、OYAMA Keisuke、OGAWA Naoki
FW：OMOTEHARA Genta、KITAGAWA Kohya

HT TAKAGI Daisuke → FUJITANI So
63分 MIURA Genta → SHINDO Ryosuke
83分 OCHI Yamato → KITAGAWA Kohya

Match Report

Japan’s semi-final match against Thailand started seeing lots of actions early. In the 3rd minute, when Japan gained a direct free kick from the right centre, Okugawa struck it into the left corner of the net to open the score. With this goal, young Japanese grabbed their momentum to dominate the match and sought another goal as moving around the ball. In the 30th, after Okugawa broke through the left flank and fed a pass into the centre of the box, Nakano surged in from the right and sent a first-time left-footed shot into the right corner. The first half ended with 2-0.

In the early second half, Japan kept their pace. In the 46th minute, Nakano got through the space on the right but was caught offside. In the 66th, Okugawa sneaked forward from the second line and had one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his shot hit off the post to fail to take a lead. Japan gradually appeared to get tired and started to be brought down by opponents’ fouls, which led to Thailand taking their pace. When Thailand continued to attack forward with long passes, Japan’s left side was broken through and allowed them to feed a fast cross ball into the box. A Thailand player put it into the back of the net to erase a gap to one goal in the 87th minute. Japan got some more pinches afterwards, but goalkeeper Yoshimaru made a great save to deny an equaliser and finished up the match.

Japan won 2-1 and advanced to the final. The opposition at the final will be the host country Vietnam, who faced Japan in the group league. While the stadium is expected to be completely an away atmosphere, Japan will contend for the trophy.

Comments

KITAGAWA Kohya（Shimizu S-pulse Youth）
It was a short time today, but I’m happy to play in the match. Whether I will play or not, I will think about what I can do for the team and go for the next match. I’m very pleased that we can play in the final in Vietnam. I will get well-prepared for the final.

OKUGAWA Masaya（Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18）
In the semi-final today, it was a good experience that we could have a rough match for the first time. I personally have lots of things not being good enough, so I will try to improve them. As a team, we won the match because each of us communicated aloud and ran enough in tough situations. I want to fight as a team again and win in the final.

YOSHIMARU Kenshin（Vissel Kobe）
While we had some fatigue after the two games, the opposition was rough and the match turned out to be tough. But it was good we got through to the final anyway. Personally, I could play better in this match compared to the first match. But we allowed them to create chances because of my mistakes. That’s what I need to solve. In the second half, we allowed them to catch a pace and couldn’t play as we wanted to. We are trying to improve what we couldn’t do today and stick to how we are supposed to play and the result we get.

Schedule