The 16th Delle Nazioni Tournament vs U-15 Austria National Team
Thu. 2 May 2019 18:00 (Local time) Match duration 70mins (35mins x2)
Lignano, Italy

U-15 Japan National Team 1-0 (0-0, 1-0) U-15 Austria National Team

Scores
53' YAMAZAKI Taishin (U-15 Japan National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: MIYAMOTO Rui
DF: UEDA Yuta, IKEGAYA Ginjiro, SUZUKI Riku, ITO Yamato
MF: YAMAZAKI Taishin, OSAKO Rui, SAKAI Shunya, KITANO Sota
FW: SUZUKI Hiroto, OSAKA Sina

Reserves
GK: SAGA Tessho
DF: KIRIYAMA Ryuto, FUJITA Takahiro, TAKAI Kota
MF: NARAHARA Yoshiki, ASAOKA Hiyu, SATO Mikuto
FW: NAITO Yamato, SAITO Yuzuki

Substitutions
52' ITO Yamato → KIRIYAMA Ryuto
52' OSAKA Sina → NAITO Yamato
60' SUZUKI Hiroto → SAITO Yuzuki
60' YAMAZAKI Taishin → NARAHARA Yoshiki
70' KITANO Sota → SATO Mikuto

Match Report

On Thursday 2 May, the U-15 Japan National Team faced the U-15 Austria National Team in the semi-final match of the 16th Delle Nazioni Tournament.

After advancing through the group stage with three consecutive victories, Japan held a recovery session one day before the semi-finals. Despite the relaxing atmosphere seen during their training session, the team was fully focused on the game day, as Coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro sent out his players by mentioning, “Our goal is to win the title. We will outrun Austria and fight as a team.”

With the U-16 Japan Women's National Team attending the match to cheer on the men’s team, the match kicked off 20 minutes later than scheduled. Despite the delay, Japan maintained their focus to enter the match and struck the first shot of the match in efforts to grab the initiative. However, with strong wind blowing against them, Japan struggled to deal with the long balls launched by the Austrian side. In the fifth minute, Austria struck a shot from a one-on-one situation, but goalkeeper MIYAMOTO Rui made a superb save to keep the clean sheet. Japan failed to pick up their pace in offence but showcased great persistency in their defence to end the first half 0-0.

After enduring a tough first half, it was Japan’s turn to take advantage of the upwind in the second half. In the 41st minute, OSAKA Sina fired a shot from the left side, but his attempt was blocked by the goalkeeper. With the wind and momentum on their side, Japan scored the opening goal in the 53rd minute. The goal came when YAMAZAKI Taishin’s delivery from a freekick taken in the left flank drifted into the goal. Now with their back against the wall, Austria rallied to equalise the match, but Japan continued to showcase a tenacious effort in defence to keep the clean sheet intact, as they held onto the one goal lead to advance to the final.

As a result, the U-15 Japan National Team will now face the U-15 Mexico National Team on Saturday 4.

Players' Comments

DF #5 UEDA Yuta (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15)
Although our kick-off time was delayed today, this sort of situation can occur anytime, so we must always be prepared to make the adjustments accordingly. This match also reminded us how to make the adjustments to play against bigger opponents. I would like to thank everyone who has been supporting us, because without their support, we won’t be winning these matches. We strongly feel that it is our responsibility to earn good results, so we will prepare ourselves well ahead of the final.

MF #13 YAMAZAKI Taishin (Yokohama FC Youth)
We faced Austria in the semi-final match today. During the three matches of the group stage, despite the bad pitch conditions, we managed to play well as a team and earn three consecutive victories. I personally was able to gain confidence through these matches, because I felt like my dribbles were effective against foreign players who are much bigger than us. In the match against Austria, although we gave up many opportunities in the first half, we were able to stay persistent as a team and my goal became the deciding goal to earn the win for the team. However, we are not satisfied with our overall performance, so we hope to showcase a better performance at the final and win the title. I would also like to earn positive results at a personal level in this match.

FW #11 OSAKA Sina (Kashiwa Reysol U-15)
Today we played the semi-final match of the Delle Nazioni Tournament against Austria. So far, we managed to enter each of our group stage match against Turkey, Russia, and UAE with a very good atmosphere. The entire team stayed very vocal to keep the team united. However, many of our flaws were also exposed in many occasions. With that in mind, we entered the match against Austria with an even stronger intensity and team unity. Both sides created many chances from the early minutes, but it was great that we were able to capitalise on our opportunity to win the match. Considering how many minutes I’ve been given on the pitch, I haven’t scored that many goals, so I will work harder to earn more results.

Schedule

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

The 16th Delle Nazioni Tournament

Tournament Dates: Sat. 27 April - Sat. 4 May 2019

Tournament Information