The 11th International Youth Tournament (U-17) in Minsk 2015 
Group League 2nd Match
Tue. 20 Jamuary 2015  Kick Off 18:30    Playing Time 80minutes（40minutes halves）
Football Covered Arena Minsk(Belarus/Minsk)

Japan National Team  1-0(1st 1-0、2nd 0-0)   Lithuania National Team

Scores
20min   TAKAHASHI Toshiki (Japan National Team)

Starters
GK：WAKINO Atsushi
DF：TANAKA Kosuke、TOMIYASU Takehiro、SAKIMURA Yusuke、TSUNEMOTO Keigo
MF：HATTORI Takehiro、ITO Hiroki、KAJIYAMA Kanta、TAKAHASHI Toshiki
FW：SUGA Daiki、NAGASAWA Ryosuke

Substitutes
GK：CHIDA Keito
DF：ABE Masashi、TANAKA Riku
MF：WATANABE Kouta、SAITO Mitsuki
FW：IWASAKI Yuto

51min　ITO Hiroki → WATANABE Kouta
59min　SUGA Daiki → IWASAKI Yuto
61min　NAGASAWA Ryosuke → SAITO Mitsuki
65min　HATTORI Takehiro → TANAKA Riku
75min　KAJIYAMA Kanta → ABE Masashi

Non-registered member
DF：Morioka Riku

Match Report

Japan took on Lithuania, replacing seven starters from the Finland match.
Against opponents who put intense pressure with four players up front, Japan allowed them to attack at first but started to dominate the match after 15 minutes. With crisp passing in the midfield, when young Samurai tried to break through opposing solid defence, in the 20th minute, Hattori received a pass across the pitch from Tsunemoto on the left flank, dribbled past opponents and a fed a cross to Nagasawa in the middle. Nagasawa pulled opponents and laid the ball off to Takahashi, who composedly put it into the right side of the net to open the scoring.

Takahashi celebrated his 17th birthday with his own goal and was filled with delight. In the half time, head coach Moriyama gave advice to the squad, saying “You are passing around very well. But it’s hard to break through the opposing defensive block with passes just going to the player next to you and stopping at every single time. Mix up different kinds of passes like you can skip a player next or you can use first-time passes, and then take it all the way to a finish.”

Despite capping 10 shots in the second half, Japan failed to add more goals, and the match remained at 1-0 until the end. Their solid defence was remarkable, but Japan kept missing the finishing touch just as their first match. Tomorrow’s match against Russia will be between teams who have earned six points. To advance to the league of groups' top teams, Japan need to get a win because currently being short of goal difference.

Comments

MORIYAMA Yoshiro, Head Coach
Following the first match, I would like to give them a credit because they didn’t give up any goal-scoring opportunity with their continuous concentration to get a firm win. But it’s still not satisfactory with the “play quality in front of goal,” which we tried to improve at yesterday’s training. When it comes to finishing opportunities against opposing defence who sit back, we are unable to take advantage of moves and challenges to generate some gap to attack. It’s necessary to coordinate the timing between a passer and its receiver. In the following Russia match, we will be aware of how to get into the match as we did in the previous two, and hopefully we can win it and advance to the league for top teams so that our players can gain more experience.

TSUNEMOTO Keigo (Yokohama F. Marinos Youth)
I didn’t play the first match, so I got a bit nerved. But I was in good shape and able to get into the match well. I’m happy that I was able to lead the team with my voice, which is my selling point, and work hard to contribute to the win. Talking about us off the pitch, we all support players who got injured or who got poor physical condition. That has been making us a better team. We are required to win the next match, so we will get together to show our strengths and get through to the top-one league.

SUGA Daiki (Consadole Sapporo U-18)
We did better compared to the first match. That’s because each one of us had strong mind-set toward the goal and had more attacking challenges. We still have some things to improve for tomorrow as we didn’t fight hard on the ball with slow transitions after certain play and slow predictions. Tomorrow will be very important to get to the top-one league. We will show our strengths, move the ball until the opponents get exhausted and dominate the match for a win.

TAKAHASHI Toshiki (Saitamasakae High School)
Nagasawa sent me a great ball, so all I needed to do was put into the net. I was very happy that I scored a goal on my birthday. It was good that I had many situations where I attacked with my dribble, but the quality, positions to receive the ball and timing were something I still need to improve. I’m not satisfied with the current results, so I will show what I have and further take on challenges.

Schedule

※The schedule may be subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.