22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek 2015 vs U-17 Czech National Team 
2015-8-19 (Wed.) - 17:00　Playing Time: 45min×2
VYSOKE MYTO (Czech)

U-17 Japan National Team  1-4 (0-2, 1-2)  U-17 Czech National Team 

Scores
21'　Goal against (U-17 Czech National Team)
39'　Goal against (U-17 Czech National Team)
48'　Goal against (U-17 Czech National Team)
64'　NAKAMURA Shunta (U-17 Japan National Team)
76'　Goal against (U-17 Czech National Team)

Line-ups
GK: WAKINO Atsushi
DF: TATSUTA Yugo, MORISHITA Reiya, HASHIOKA Daiki, HASEGAWA Takumi
MF: SASAKI Takumi, TOMIYASU Takehiro, DOAN Ritsu, ITO Ryoya, MIYAZAKI Kiwara
FW: NAKAMURA Shunta

Substitutes
GK: YAMAGUCHI Rui
DF: SUGIOKA Daiki, MORIOKA Riku
MF: KAJIYAMA Kanta, WATANABE Kouta, YASUI Takuya
FW: SUGA Daiki, YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa

HT　ITO Ryoya → YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa
HT　TATSUTA Yugo → WATANABE Kouta
59'　MORISHITA Reiya → SUGIOKA Daiki
75'　MIYAZAKI Kiwara → SUGA Daiki

Match Report

U-17 Japan National Team met the Czech Republic, the host country, for their second game in the 22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek. Although the pitch was wet due to continuous rain the day before, the match kicked off in front of a big crowd, who came to support their home team, the Czech Republic National Team.

Japan pressed the opponent from the start in the first half, just like in yesterday’s game, intercepting the ball and passing it around to take the initiative. The Czech Republic, on the other hand, stayed ambitious for goals with two speedy attackers on both wings, aggressively getting through towards the goal.

The opponent intercepted the ball from Japan’s passing mistake, and took a shot, reacting to a cross from the right wing. Although Japan once blocked the shot, the Czech Republic slotted a loose ball into the goal, striking the opener. Then in the last five minutes of the first half, Japan conceded a goal once again from a free kick. The game went into the second half at 2-0.

Japan replaced two players for the second half in to get on the scoreboard. However, at the beginning of the second half, the opponent received the ball from a corner kick to head it home from height, adding more insurance.

Despite continuous attacking from Japan, the players could not find the back of the net. After 64 minutes, the forward NAKAMURA Shunta, who reacted to a through ball from the midfielder SASAKI Takumi, finally struck a goal.

In the 76th minute, Japan conceded a goal again, and lost to Czech Republic 1-4.

Japan, with one win and one loss, will play the last match of the group stage against Hungary at 17:00 on Friday 21 August (local time).

Players' Comments

NAKAMURA Shunta (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)
The opponent’s physical strength and scoring ability beat Japan in today’s match. Personally, although I could score, I should have created more goal-scoring opportunities. I’d like to work on how to initiate movements, when my teammate with the ball turns forward without any marker.

As we still have two games to play in this tournament, I’d like to learn from today’s match in order to show how well Japan can perform and to win the two remaining games. I will stay ambitious for goals from any opportunities.

SASAKI Takumi (Vegalta Sendai Youth)
The reason for our loss today is that we couldn’t find the back of the net despite our numerous goal-scoring opportunities from the beginning of the game, and that we let the opponent take the initiative in the end. In the second half, we picked up our pace to keep possession, creating some attacking opportunities.

However, we still couldn’t strike goals. We didn’t have enough ability to score. The opponent, on the other hand, scored with absolute accuracy through their limited goal-scoring opportunities, from which we have to learn. Having said that, our overall performance was not that bad. I’d like to prepare ourselves well for the remaining two games to get good results.

Schedule

※Local Time

22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek 2015 Participating Nation

Group Ａ: Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, Ukraine
Group Ｂ: Slovakia, Slovenia, USA, Russia