The 12th Delle Nazioni Tournament Group Stage 2nd Match    vs. U-16 England National Team
2015-4-25 (Sat.) – 17:00   Playing time: 70min (35min x 2)
Fiumicello, Italy

Saudi Arabia 1-2 (1st 0-1, 2nd 1-1) Japan

Scores
30' NAKAMURA Shunta (Japan)
40'　Goal against (England)
70+4'　 ITO Hiroki (PK) (Japan)

Line-ups
GK: TAKASE Kazuna
DF: SENBA Taishi, NAKAGAWA So, KEMMOTSU Takumu, NAKAYA Yuki
MF: NAKANO Yuta, YOSHIDA Shun, ITO Hiroki, SUMIDA Sho
FW: SUGIURA Fumiya, NAKAMURA Shunta

Substitutes
GK: WAKAHARA Tomoya
DF: TANAKA Riku, HASHIOKA Daiki
MF: TANAKA Kosuke, FUJIMOTO Kanya, HIRAKAWA Rei, SATO Subaru
FW: HASHIMOTO Jin, TAGAWA Kyosuke

44' NAKANO YUta → TANAKA Kosuke
50' YOSHIDA Shun → FUJIMOTO Kanya
50' SUMIDA Sho → HASHIMOTO Jin
59' SUGIURA Fumiya → TAGAWA Kyosuke

Yellow Card/Red Card
52' NAKAGAWA So

Match report

Japan took on Saudi Arabia in their first game of the tournament.
Partially because of the first-game jitters, Japan made some mistakes in ball controlling and passing, and weren't able to have their own attacks. Yet they could gradually move the ball with their own pace. On 30th minute, Nakaya got the ball in the left side and quickly sent laterally. Sugiura received the pass and dribbled, and as he drew some defenders, Sugiura fed a pass to Nakamura in the middle. Nakamura made a shot into the right corner of the goal to give Japan a lead.

Japan entered halftime retaining the lead. But just five minutes into the second half, Saudi Arabia had the ball after their own set play. And then a Saudi Arabia player dribbled past the right side and scored a goal in the right corner. Japan tried to retrieve a lead afterward, but when they were about to initiate their attacks, they would have mistaken and unable to create scoring opportunities.

The match entered into extra minutes. TANAKA Kosuke threw a long throw before the goal, and then Japan earned a penalty kick from a melee. Ito made the PK into the left corner to put Japan ahead again. Japan took advantage of one last chance and ended up taking their first match with a 2-1 victory.

Match detail (Japanese version only)

Players' Comments

TAKASE Kazuna (F.C. Tokyo U-18)
First of all, it was a very huge thing for us to earn a victory in today's game. But looking at the content of the game, we struck first in the first half, but allowed a goal to them early in the second half and it wasn't an easy game. Individually, I made many mistakes in catching the ball and kicking, and it lead to give our team some dangerous situations. We are going to continue to play games from tomorrow, too, so I would like to prepare myself, to help the team achieve our ultimate goal to win the championship in the end.

NAKAYA Yuki (Tokai University Shoyo Senior High School)
Because it was our first game, I was nervous, but could play with composure in the game. But I was still a little slow in switching between offence and defence, so I want to make it faster and rob the ball from opponents by approaching stronger. Also, I made some controlling mistakes, so I want to control more accurately and be a starting point of our attacks. And I thought I was able to get both in the first and second halves, so now I want to tell our teammates the situations at the moment by coaching them and be able to make precise judgements.

NAKAMURA Shunta (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)
I'm relieved that we could win our first game. Personally, I could score a goal and it leads to my performance going forward. But I left a lot of issues. I would like to make better judgements regarding where I should go to embarrass the opponents by watching the opponents and spaces, and share the judgements with my teammates. We will continue to play games, so I would like to boldly make challenges.

YOSHIDA Shun (Shimizu S-Pulse Junior Youth)
It was great that we ended up winning our first game. But both as a team and individual, we made a lot of issues. Personally, I would receive passed stopping at the same places, and would allow the opponents to get them from me, and I made too many passing mistakes. In tomorrow's game, I would like to look at the situations of our opponents better so I can increase plays that I look at the situations of the opponents more precisely. Also, as a team, we weren't able to understand how the opponents were playing their defence, and struggled to create our starting points of our attacks when we got the ball. We would like to share our thoughts on what we want to do by talking to each other during the game.

Schedule

*Local time

The 12th Delle Nazioni Tournament

Future Schedule