U-18 Japan National Team vs. Seoul Digital University
2015-5-20 (Wed.) - 15:00    90-min (45min x 2)
Uijeongbu general field (Uijeongbu, Korea)

U-18 Japan    5-2 (1st 3-0, 2nd 2-2)  Seoul Digital University

Scores
10'　TAKAGI Akito (U-18 Japan)
27'　TAKAGI Akito(U-18 Japan)
45'　OGAWA Koki(U-18 Japan)
53'　Goal against (Seoul Digital University)
68'　 KUROKAWA Atsushi(U-18 Japan)
73'　 Goal against（PK) (Seoul Digital University)
82'　 NAGATO Ayumu(U-18 Japan)

Line-Ups
GK: HIROSUE Riku
DF: YANAGI Takahiro, NODA Hiroki, NAKAYAMA Yuta, URATA Itsuki
MF: TAKAGI Akito, SAKAI Daisuke, DOAN Ritsu, KUBOTA Kazune
FW: OGAWA Koki, KUNIMOTO Takahiro

2nd Set
GK: HIROSUE Riku
DF: MORISHITA Ryoya, OKANO Jun, MACHIDA Koki, FUNAKI Kakeru
MF: NAGATO Ayumu, NAGANUMA Yoichi, SASAKI Takumi, KUROKAWA Atsushi
FW: ICHIMI Kazunari, SUGIMORI Koki

Substitutes (not played)
GK: KOJIMA Ryosuke
FW: IWASAKI Yuto

68'　HIROSUE Riku→WAKAHARA Tomoya

Match Report

U-18 Japan national squad played an exhibition against Seoul Digital University on the third day of their Korean trip.

Japan grabbed the momentum from early, possessing the ball. On 10th minute, KUNIMOTO Takahiro sent a pass to the left side. KUBOTA Kazune received it and then fed a cross to the centre. TAKAGI Akito, who ran into it, made a direct shot into the goal to put Japan a 1-0 lead. Japan added another on 27th, when OGAWA Koki got the ball near the centre circle and sent a through pass behind the opponents defensive line. Takagi again reacted to it and put a shot into the goal, watching the move of the goalkeeper. The third goal came on 45th minute. Kunimoto, Kubota and DOAN Ritsu moved the ball with just few touches, and Ogawa dazzled into the space before the goal and netted a shot. Japan entered halftime with a 3-0 lead.

In the second half, Japan got to have more occasions that they would lose the ball from their own mistakes, allowing their opponents to attack. Japan ended up giving up two goals, but KUROKAWA Atsushi, who was called up for the U-18 squad for the first time, received the ball inside the box and netted a shot with his left leg on 68th minute. On 82nd, NAGATO Ayumu, also a first-time U-18 player, made a middle shot from around the penalty area into the left corner of the goal to extend the lead. The game ended as it was and Japan post a 5-2 win.

Players’ Comments

HIROSUE Riku (Aomori Yamada High School)
I've participated in a generational national team for the first time this time, and as I've been surrounded by high-level players, I've been inspired by them so much. In today's game, we often were forced to have dangerous situations because of our own mistakes, and that's something we've got to improve going forward. Personally, I would like to increase judging materials for game situations and team situations so I can select the best plays on those options, and I would like to work on it from our training from tomorrow.

KUROKAWA Atsushi (Omiya Ardija Youth)
This time, partially because I was called up by the national team for the first time, I had occasions to struggle, but I was gradually able to understand the instructions by our head coach and other coaches and get used to the team's style. In today's game, I could score a goal. It was a goal that was scored after we got the ball and I quickly got a space behind our opponents, so it was good. But still I had so many mistakes, so I would like to be aware of that in my daily training to achieve higher-level plays, and I would like to develop the level of my on-side plays.

MORISHITA Ryota (Jubilo Iwata U-18)
We had our offensive squad and defensive squad separately in the morning practice, and worked on how we should react to cross balls and how we should develop the quality of our build-ups. In the game in the afternoon, I played being aware of the volume of my moves. For our practice tomorrow, I would like to improve the quality of my moves and on-side moves that I've been working on, develop the accuracy from the build-up to moving the ball forward to finishing, and increase the volume of my momentum.

TAKAGI Akito (Gamba Osaka Youth)
We practiced by the positions in the morning, and then played a game in the afternoon. As a team, we need to improve our collective moves and the qualities of our moves on and off, and reduce easy mistakes, otherwise we will give more time for our opponents to have their attacks, so we are going to need to elaborate our accuracies. Personally, I scored two goals, but because the passes my teammates provided me were good. We have one more day left, so I would like to grow along with the entire team as much as possible.

Schedule

Future Schedule