The U-16 INTERNATIONAL DREAM CUP 2019 JAPAN presented by Asahi Shimbun held at Yurtec Stadium Sendai, Miyagi came to an end on Sunday 16 June, where the U-16 Japan National Team claimed the title.

The first fixture of the day featured a match between the U-16 Romania National Team and the U-16 Nigeria National Team. Despite giving up an early penalty kick to Nigeria, Romania came out unharmed after their goalkeeper Robert POPA made a brilliant save. With Robert TUDOR scoring a goal at the end of the first half, Romania led the game at halftime. Tudor scored his second goal of the match, when he converted a cross with a header at the beginning of the second half. Nigeria's Egesionu SOPURUCHUKWU scored a goal in the closing minutes of the match, but Romania held their lead to win with a final score of 2-1.

The U-16 Japan National Team and the U-16 Mexico National Team played in the second match, where Japan took the lead with the 12th minute goal scored by NAKAMURA Jiro. The home side made it 4-0 at halftime with Nakamura scoring his second goal of the match in the 19th minute, followed by KATSUSHIMA Shinnosuke's goal in the 37th and TOYODA Koki's goal scored in additional time. CHIBA Kanta scored the team's fifth goal in the 58th minute to cap off the goal spree, as Japan took down the match with a score of 5-0. As a result, the U-16 Japan National Team was crowned as champions of the U-16 INTERNATIONAL DREAM CUP 2019 JAPAN presented by Asahi Shimbun.

Tournament Result

Champion U-16 Japan National Team
Runner-up U-16 Romania National Team
3rd Place U-16 Nigeria National Team
4th Place U-16 Mexico National Team

Top Scorer

9 KATSUSHIMA Shinnosuke (U-16 Japan National Team) *4 goals

Asahi Shimbun Award

15 NAKAMURA Jiro (U-16 Japan National Team)
11 Romeo NITA (U-16 Romania National Team)
7 Egesionu SOPURUCHUKWU (U-16 Nigeria National Team
10 Rodrigo Jhossel HUESCAS HURTADO (U-16 Mexico National Team)

MVP

9 KATSUSHIMA Shinnosuke (U-16 Japan National Team)

Coach and Player’s Comments

Adrian VASII, Coach (U-16 Romania National Team)
I am very honoured to be given the opportunity to participate in this wonderful tournament. Being able to play against three teams with distinct character has given our players with a very precious experience. All three teams showcased high-level of skills and we were forced to face tough matches. However, our players showed great improvements over the matches and I am very proud of their performances. The fact that we finished in second place give our players great confidence and it proved that we can compete at this level. We hope that these players will put this experience to good use and strive for higher categories of the national team. Lastly, I would like to thank everybody who was involved in running this well organised tournament and all those people in Japan who welcomed us with their warm hospitality. We hope to have another opportunity to play in Japan in the near future. Thank you very much.

FW #9 Robert TUDOR (U-16 Romania National Team)
We are very happy to finish as the runners-up in this wonderful tournament. Japan, Nigeria, and Mexico were all very strong teams, but we were able to have fun in all of our matches. The tournament gave me the opportunity to realise that we need to get better. We are very thankful for all the people who supported us and welcomed us in Japan. We hope to get better as a team and face Japan again in the future.

U-16 Romania National Team vs U-16 Nigeria National Team

U-16 Japan National Team vs U-16 Mexico National Team

U-16 INTERNATIONAL DREAM CUP 2019 JAPAN presented by Asahi Shimbun

Tournament Dates: Wed. 12 - Sun. 16 June 2019
Tournament Venue: Yurtec Stadium Sendai, Miyagi

Tournament Information