Slovakia Cup2014　7th Place Decider
Fri 2 May 2014 11:00  80min(4040min half）
Llava(Slovakia)

U-18 Japan National Team　6-0(1st Half2-0、2nd Half4-0)　U-18 UAE Natinal Team

Scores
5min SUGIMORI Koki (U-18 Japan National Team）
13min NAKASHIMA Kensei (U-18 Japan National Team）
50min WATANABE Ryoma (U-18 Japan National Team）
63min OSHIMA Koki (U-18 Japan National Team）
68min OSHIMA Koki (U-18 Japan National Team）
73min IDEGUCHI Yosuke（PK) (U-18 Japan National Team）

Starters
GK：KAWASHIMA Daiki
DF：ISHIDA Ryoma、MOTEGI Rikiya、MISAO Kento、MIZUTANI Takuma
MF：SAKAI Daisuke、IDEGUCHI Yosuke、MARUOKA Mitsuru、NAKANO Masaomi
FW：NAKASHIMA Kensei 、SUGIMORI Koki

Substitutes
GK：YOSHIMARU Kenshin
DF：MATSUBARA Ko
MF：SUZUKI Tokuma、AIZU Yuki、OGAWA Hiroki
FW：OSHIMA Koki、WATANABE Ryoma

HT SUGIMORI Koki　→　WATANABE Ryoma
50分 NAKASHIMA Kensei 　→　AIZU Yuki
53分 MARUOKA Mitsuru　→　SUZUKI Tokuma
59分 NAKANO Masaomi　→　OSHIMA Koki
65分 MOTEGI Rikiya　→　MATSUBARA Ko
65分 SAKAI Daisuke　→　OGAWA Hiroki

Match Report

The Japan national Under-18 team took on the UAE in the seventh-place match. Looking to post their first win of the tournament, they attacked the space behind the shallow defensive line of their opponents.
Five minutes into the game, Nakajima ran up into the space behind the defensive line creating a one-on-one situation against the UAE goalkeeper, and then passed the ball to Sugimori, who rushed into the box. Sugimori netted it with composure to notch the very first goal for Japan in the championships.

Then on 13th minute, Nakajima again got behind the defensive line dribbling like he did for the first goal, and now he scored one by himself. The game entered halftime with Japan holding the momentum.
The Japanese side would not slow their attacks down in the latter half. On 50th minute, Watanabe got behind the defensive line and received a pass, and then fired a shot, calmly looking at the goalkeeper's move, to give Japan their third goal. Afterwards, Oshima, who came off the bench, added a pair of goals on 63rd and 68th minutes.

Japan sealed the win in the 73rd minute. Ideguchi received the ball in the middle and penetrated into the box, and earned a penalty kick because the goalkeeper could do nothing but fouling him there. Ideguchi netted it with composure for the sixth goal. Japan made a few more chances but were unable to score before the game ended. The team could finally notch a positive result on the very final day of the Slovakia Cup.
After the final match, the commendation ceremony was held and Japan were given the fair play award.

Comments From Head Coach & Players

SUZUKI  Masakazu, Head Coach
We were pleased to compete in such a great tournament like this. We finally scored a goal and earn a win in the placement game. But I think that we improved as we played the games and how we played got better. I told our players that it would be important to put up elaborate plays when they make good decisions, and they would be able to create more scoring opportunities if we were able to share the decisions. Hopefully, they will be able to take advantage of those things for their future activities when they go back to their respective clubs.

MISAO  Kento (Tokyo Verdy Youth)
We came in the tournament, looking for the championships. But it was dissapointing that we ended up with the seventh-place result. In the three games in the group league, we got better as we played the games, but at the same time we felt that our ability to attack the goal and the number of shots and quality of them were poor. In our placement game, we wanted to improve on the isuses that we showed in the group league and as a result, we scored a lot of goals. Now I am done with the activities on the Under-18 team, but I would like to keep my effort so I will be called up for the Under-19 team.

MARUOKA Mitsuru（Borussia Dortmund U-23）
We wound up finding so many issues through the four games we played. We were not able to score any goals in the three group-league games, because we possessed the ball but were unable to get our opponents off balance and could not make shots. And we all felt that our opponents would have more aggressiveness before the goal, try to score goals even when they don't have many opportunities, and aim to nail shots from any angles. We definitely want to step up, based on the frustrating experience we had.

NAKASHIMA  Kensei (Higashi Fukuoka High School)
What I felt through the tournament was that although we got gradually able to play our own brand of football, we found that we had issues on scoring goals, and we need to improve on that as the team. As an individual, I thought that I needed to elaborate on my plays near the goal, so I would like to work on it in practices as much as possible when I am back on the club.

IDEGUCHI  Yosuke (Gamba Osaka)
We were scoreless and did not post any win in our three group-league games. So I think that we were able to enter the placement match with much more sense of fighting. Our opponents set their defensive line high. So we thought that we would easily score some goals if our forwards and side-halves would work in sync, and we tried to pass the ball behind the line or pass it via someone nearby, and it successfully worked for us to score some goals. It was relieving that we posted a win in the end, but at the samt time it ended up being a good experience for us because we got to know what we need to develop and what the strenthgs of the opponents were. Hopefully, we can capitalize on these experience when we are back our respective teams.

For today's game, Mr. Egawa Akio, the Japanese Ambossador plenipotentiary to the Slovak Republic, visited to support the Japanese team. After the game, he gave the team congratulatory words and took a group photograph together.

Schedule

Fair play award: Japan