SLOVAKIA CUP 2014
Monday 28 April 2014　11:00 Kick Off　80 minutes（40 minutes half）
Trencianske Stankovce(Slovakia)

U-18 Japan National Team　0-0(1stHalf 0-0、2ndHalf 0-0)　U-18 Russia Natinal Football Team

Starters
GK：YOSHIMARU Kenshin
DF：ISHIDA Ryoma、MOTEGI Rikiya、MISAO Kento、MIZUTANI Takuma
MF：OGAWA Hiroki、IDEGUCHI Yosuke、MARUOKA Mitsuru、NAKANO Masaomi
FW：NAKASHIMA Kensei、SUGIMORI Koki

Substitutes
GK：KAWASHIMA Daiki
DF：MATSUBARA Ko
MF：SUZUKI Tokuma、AIZU Yuki、SAKAI Daisuke、WATANABE Ryoma
FW：OSHIMA Koki

HT　NAKASHIMA Kensei　→　OSHIMA Koki
52min　OGAWA Hiroki　→　WATANABE Ryoma
52min　SUGIMORI Koki　→　SAKAI Daisuke

Match Report

The Japanese team took on Russia in their first game in the Slovakia Cup. Japan had faced the nation twice recently, one in the group stage in last October's Under-17 World Cup and the other in a tournament in Russia in January, and the Asian team defeated them in both occasions.
This time, Russia tried to attack Japan by kicking long feeds into the areas behind Japan's defensive line, but Japan did not allow goals, thanks to their physical defensive efforts, around both center backs in Misao and Motegi and goalkeeper Yoshimaru.
Japan was aggressive getting the ball by pressing the opponents up front and relaying passes to get near the opponents' box. Yet they would not be able to launch shots.
In the 15th minute, Japan had a chance as their defensive midfielders Maruoka and Ideguchi moved the ball with their direct passes and then Ogawa came in from the right side to take a shot, but it did not get through the goal mouth as the opponents' goalkeeper made a good save.
The two sides entered halftime with a 0-0 score, and kept their struggles in creaking decisive offensive opportunities in the second half as well.
On 47th minute, as one of the Russian players was ejected for a rough play, it gave Japan a numerical edge. Japan then grabbed the momentum offensively. They got in the opponents' penalty area by their side attacks, with Nakano, who was on the left side, and Sakai, who came off the bench in the second half and played on the right side, being their pivots, but could not take shots off cross balls.
Japan got to be able to move the ball better as the game wore on, but could not create decisive opportunities before the game ended with a scoreless draw, failing to post a victory in their opening game.

Comments from Players

MOTEGI  Rikiya (Urawa Reds Youth)
Today's game was our third game against Russia dating back to last year's Under-17 World Cup, so we wanted to post a clear win. After one of their men was ejected, they became passive defensively and it was difficult for us to capture. The good point was that we held them to no goals. We have only completed one game, so we would like to get united as one to win every game from the second game on.

MARUOKA Mitsuru (Borussia Dortmund U-23)
In the first half, because of our own mistakes, we had a lot o occasions that we had to play in our field, not being able to advance the ball forward. In the latter half, we possessed the ball mostly, but were not able to break down the defense of the opponents, who were playing zone, until the end of the game. We would like to have a good preparation for the next game, trying to improve on the issues we found today.

ISHIDA  Ryoma (Jubilo Iwata U-18)
We definitely wanted three points since it was our first game, but it was disappointing that we ended up with the draw. In the first half, we were not able to really play with good coalitions against Russia, who were trying to have blocks, but in the second, we got our composure back and had better coalitions. But overall, we did not take many shots, so we would like to increase a number of shots and to have a win in our next game tomorrow.

Schedule