The 19th International Youth Soccer in Niigata  3rd Match  vs. U-17 Serbia National Team
2015-7-20 (Mon.) - 14:10   Playing time: 90min. (45min x2)
DENKA BIG SWAN STADIUM (Niigata/Niigata)

U-17 Japan National Team (Match Incomplete) U-17 Serbia National Team

Scores
No goals are recorded as the match was not completed.

Line-ups
GK: YAMAGUCHI Rui
DF: MORIOKA Riku, HASHIOKA Daiki, MORISHITA Reiya, SUGIOKA Daiki
MF: SASAKI Takumi, TOMIYASU Takehiro, WATANABE Kouta, KUROKAWA Atsushi
FW: YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa, IWASAKI Yuto

Substitutes
GK: WAKINO Atsushi
DF: TANAKA Riku
MF: TANAKA Kosuke, ITO Hiroki, YASUI Takuya
FW: SUGA Daiki, ITO Ryotaro

Match Report

Japan's third opponents were Serbia.
With their championship at stake with a win or a draw in this match regardless of the outcome of the second match, Japan threatened Serbia's goal with aggressive attacking efforts from the start of the first half.

In the 13th minute, forward IWASAKI Yuto fired a shot from a goalmouth scramble after connecting the ball. His shot was deflected by an opponent, but forward YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa responded to the loose ball and took a shot, which went into the net for Japan's opening goal. 

In the 26th minute, midfielder KUROKAWA Atsushi broke through the right flank and cut into the box before blasting a shot just like his goal in the Niigata Selection match yesterday. He found the right corner of the net to make it 2-0. Japan allowed only one shot to Serbia and ended the first half without any trouble. The match saw Japan leading two goals before halftime.

During halftime, two of the Serbia players got heat stroke and were taken to hospital by an ambulance. With Serbia determining not to continue any more, the match was ended without the second half played. As a result, Japan won the match by default to clinch the championship for the first time since 2008.

Coach and Players' Comments

UCHIYAMA Atsushi, Coach
We ended the tournament with the title. The players worked really hard even in the highly heated condition. As the full-fledged summer is coming up, the players also play matches in their club. I don't want them to lose their grip during a match even with their hard-running pace down. 

The qualifiers in Laos in October are actually played in a hot and humid climate. I want them to continue to work hard in their matches and training of the season to show Japan's game even in such an environment.

SASAKI Takumi (Vegalta Sendai Youth)
I'm really happy to win the tournament this year. We all desperately tried to understand our tactics in this short one week and share our plays so that we could win the title. In the meanwhile, we found out what was good and what was poor. We will try to look them back to show better plays and play a better game as a team.

MORIOKA Riku (Jubilo Iwata U-18)
First, I'm happy to get together to win the title. Individually, I'm playing a central defender in my team, but this time I played a side-back position. I was able to learn positioning and timing to overlap. I will take advantage of this experience and make efforts to be called up to the national team again.

ITO Ryotaro (Sakuyo High School)
This camp was my sixth camp and I was able to communicate with my teammates well. But I played selfishly at times and was poor in the defensive side. Even so, it was good to get involved in team's goals and score goals. After going back to my team, I will train what I found to work on and put up a good outcome when I'm called up again.

TANAKA Kosuke (Kyoto Sanga F.C.U-18)
This tournament was a very good experience for me. In the difficult situation where I was called up midway through the camp, I was able to do things in some part and wasn't in the other part, and found a lot of things to improve. I will have the national youth competition among club organisations soon. I will look back my play and improve it, and then will work hard not to waste what I learned in this tournament and put up a good result.

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change.