The 2nd SUD Ladies Cup vs U-19 Mexico Women's National Team
Wed. 8 May 2019 12:30 (Local time) Match Duration 90mins (45mins x2)
Stade D'Honneur, France

U-19 Japan Women's National Team 3-2 (0-1, 3-1) U-19 Mexico Women's National Team

Scores
38' goal against (U-19 Mexico Women's National Team)
66' KANNO Oto (U-19 Japan Women's National Team)
67' OSAWA Haruka (U-19 Japan Women's National Team)
72' HIROSAWA Maho (U-19 Japan Women's National Team)
84' goal against (U-19 Mexico Women's National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: TANAKA Momoko
DF: ITO Sara, FUNAKI Nodoka, TABATA Haruna, MATSUDA Shino
MF: KOJIMA Seira, NAKAO Momo, KANNO Oto, KATO Momo
FW: TAKEDA Nanako, OSAWA Haruka

Reserves
GK: CHIKAZAWA Rena, OHBA Shu
DF: SHIRAI Himeno, GOTO Wakaba, NAGAE Ibuki
MF: TAKEDA Asumi, MIZUNO Fukina, MORITA Misaki
FW: IMADA Sara, MIURA Haruka, HIROSAWA Maho

Substitution
HT' KOJIMA Seira → MORITA Misaki
61' TAKEDA Nanako → HIROSAWA Maho
74' ITO Sara → NAGAE Ibuki
77' OSAWA Haruka → IMADA Sara

Match Report

On Wednesday 8 May, the U-19 Japan Women's National Team faced the U-19 Mexico Women's National Team in their first match of the 2nd SUD Ladies Cup.

In their tournament opener, which kicked off under windy conditions, Japan came out applying aggressive pressure from their front line to threaten the Mexican goal. In the second minute, forward OSAWA Haruka responded to a through ball delivered from the central area before earning a free kick. KANNO Oto took the free kick and sent the ball towards the goal to create a close opportunity, but her teammate was called offside. Another close opportunity came in the 24th minute, when NAKAO Momo found Osawa in front of the goal, but her shot sailed wide from the target. Despite their efforts to take the initiative, Japan conceded the opening goal in the 38th minute, when they lost the ball inside their own territory which led to a goal-mouth scramble that ended up with a Mexican goal.

During halftime, Coach IKEDA Futoshi told his players to be more offensive minded, which helped the team carry out more aggressive plays in the second half. In the 66th minute, Kanno received the ball from MATSUDA Shino before carrying the ball upfront. The mid-range shot taken by Kanno found the back of the net to level the match. Just a minute later, this time Osawa struck a shot from the outside of the box to score the go-ahead goal for Japan. With momentum on their side, Japan score their third goal in the 72nd minute, when HIROSAWA Maho converted the loose ball in the box after the opposing goalkeeper fumbled the ball. Despite conceding another goal to Mexico in the 84th minute, the match ended with a final score of 3-2. Japan’s striker, Osawa was named as the MVP of the match after scoring two goals.

The U-19 Japan Women's National Team will now face the U-19 Gabon Women's National Team on Saturday 10 May at 17:30.

Players' Comments

DF #4 FUNAKI Nodoka (Waseda University)
This was our first match since arriving in France. With it being our first match of the tournament, we were very nervous, but we were able to keep our composure by communicating with each other. It was great that we managed to come from behind to earn the victory, but it was evident that our opponents had the upper hand in terms of physical strengths and speed. There were many aspects we need to improve on, so we hope to address those issues and strive to become a better team through the next four matches.

FW #20 OSAWA Haruka (JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies U-18)
We have been building our team through the training camps and entered this tournament with a strong intention to earn positive results. As a result, we earned a 3-2 victory, but we conceded the opening goal and another goal towards the end of the match. We must address the issues we saw in this match and do our best to earn another win when we face Gabon in our next match.

Schedule

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

SUD Ladies Cup 2019

Tournament Dates: Wed. 8 - Sat. 18 May 2019

Tournament Information