AFC U-19 Championship 2016 Qualifiers Group J　1st Match  vs  U-18 Laos National Team
2015-10-2 (Fri.) - 19:00　 Playing Time: 90min. (45min.×2) 
National Sports Complex Stadium (Laos/Vientiane)

U-18 Japan National Team　2-0 (1-0, 1-0) U-18 Laos National Team

Scores
39'　OGAWA Koki (U-18 Japan National Team)
62'　TAKAGI Akito (U-18 Japan National Team)

Line-ups
GK: KOJIMA Ryosuke
DF: FUJITANI So, TOMIYASU Takehiro, NAKAYAMA Yuta, FUNAKI Kakeru
MF: DOAN Ritsu, SAKAI Daisuke, SASAKI Takumi, KUBOTA Kazune
FW: KISHIMOTO Takeru, OGAWA Koki

Substitutes
GK: HIROSUE Riku, YAMAGUCHI Rui
DF: IWATA Tomoki, NODA Hiroki, MACHIDA Koki, URATA Itsuki
MF: IWASAKI Yuto, SUZUKI Tokuma, MORISHIMA Tsukasa, TAKAGI Akito
FW: ICHIMI Kazunari, YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa

31'　KUBOTA Kazune → TAKAGI Akito
72'　KISHIMOTO Takeru → IWASAKI Yuto

Match Report

U-18 Japan National Team have entered the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 Qualifiers to compete for a spot in the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017. They faced the U-18 Laos National Team in their first tournament match.

Japan struggled to put up effective attacks against Laos, who attempted to guard their own territory, early on. Yet Japan gradually began proceeding near Laos' box after 20 minutes into the game, and starting with midfielder KUBOTA Kazune in the left side and midfielder DOAN Ritsu in the right, they increased occasion to finish their offence with shots.

In the 39th minute, Japan robbed the ball around the centre circle and forward OGAWA Koki, who received it in the middle, just outside of the box, fired a fierce middle shots with his right foot into the goal to give his team a 1-0 lead. The match entred halftime with Japan ahead 1-0.

Japan retained the momentum in the second half, but perhaps because of the hot temperature, they made some passing mistakes while their non-ball carriers weren't able to begin moving adjusting with their ball-carriers, and couldn't add another goals. Yet when they lost the ball, they quickly switched to defence, not giving up time to attack to the opponents.

In the 62nd minute, midfielder SAKAI Daisuke initiated an offence in the left side, and then defender FUJITANI So, who joined the attack, kicked a cross into the space in front of the Laos goal. Doan deflected it heading, and forward TAKAGI Akito, who came into the pitch as a late substitute, directly launched a shot. It went into the left corner of the goal and Japan extended their lead.

Japan kept attacking and had some shooting opportunities afterwards, but weren't able to add further goals. The contest ended as Japan won 2-0. Japan had some tough times, but wound up grabbing a victory in their important first game of the tournament.

Players' Comments

FUNAKI Kakeru (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
We played against Laos in our first game of the qualifying group round today. Because of some nerves, I couldn't really put up my full performance, but I'm relieved that we got away with the win. Regarding the content of the game, we need to think more about how we do when our opponents play defensively. We would like to look to play from the side and look for more accuracy in our crosses. I believe that our next game will be another difficult match, but we would like to qualify through the group stage and return to Japan.

DOAN Ritsu (Gamba Osaka Youth)
We played our first game against the tournament host Laos today. We were a little stiff and made it a difficult game for us early, but I'm relieved that we managed to win the first game after all. Individually, my dribbling were effective, but we weren't really able to attack with a smaller group, so we would like to adjust that for the game against the Philippines of the day after tomorrow.

OGAWA Koki (Toko Gakuen High School)
It's great that we won our first game. But we couldn't have our offence with multiple ideas and it's our issue to reflect on. We made easy mistakes throughout the game and the contents weren't what we wanted, so we want to improve that for the remaining two games.

Schedule

 Note: The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.