The 3rd Youth Olympic Futsal Tournament 1st Group Stage Match
vs U-18 Cameroon Women's Futsal National Team

Mon. 8 October 2018 Kick-off 14:00 (Local time)
Main Futsal Hall (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team 6-2 (2-0, 4-2) U-18 Cameroon Women's Futsal National Team

Scores
8' MAEDA Miu (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
9' YAMAKAWA Rikako (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
21' YAMAKAWA Rikako (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
30' goal against (U-18 Cameroon Women's Futsal National Team)
35' MIYAMOTO Mai (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
36' goal against (U-18 Cameroon Women's Futsal National Team)
37' MAEDA Miu (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
40' OINO Sara (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: SUTO Yuria
FP: YOKOYAMA Rinka, IKEUCHI Aki, MAEDA Miu, YAMAKAWA Rikako

Reserves
GK: KOBAYASHI Mitsuki
FP: MIYAMOTO Mai, OINO Sara, ARAI Ichika, ABE Mirano

Match Report

On Monday 8 October, the U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team won their match against the U-18 Futsal Cameroon Women's Futsal National Team 6-2 in their first group stage match of the Youth Olympic Futsal Tournament.

With this match being the first match of their first ever international tournament, Coach KOGURE Kenichiro sent off his players by telling them, “Let’s give our very best performance and leave no regrets. We must stay vocal and support each other in times of difficulties. If we can do that, positive results should follow.”

Facing a Cameroon side who are physically stronger and consists great speed, Japan applied aggressive pressure from their front line to force turnovers. In the eighth minute, MAEDA Miu captured the opening goal from a corner kick, followed by YAMAKAWA Rikako’s goal in the ninth minute to enter the halftime with a 2-0 lead.

Yamakawa opened up the second half with another goal to further extend their lead. Despite conceding two goals against Cameroon, with the help of the goals scored by MIYAMOTO Mai, Maeda, and OINO Sara, Japan managed to win the match with a final score of 6-2.

Japan’s next group stage match is scheduled to kick-off at 14:00 on Wednesday 10 October, where the team will face the U-18 Futsal Chile Women's Futsal National Team.

Players’ Comments

#5 OINO Sara (Laufen)
This was our first ever international match. The Cameroonian players were physically much stronger than us, but we managed to match their intensity and play our game. I was able to find out many personal aspects I must improve on and I will work on those aspects in tomorrow’s training session. We will give our very best in our next match so that we can live up to our supporters’ expectations.

#10 IKEUCHI Aki (Fukui Maruoka RUCK)
By winning our first match, we were able to gain great momentum. With this being our first ever international match, we looked a little stiff at first, and our defence were unstable. However, we stayed vocal and eventually found our rhythm. The Cameroonian players were very fast, and they were also very athletic, but we stayed aggressive in defence and managed to contain them from playing freely. I feel like we were able to display what we have worked on in our training sessions while showcasing our strengths. We will continue to enjoy playing as team in our next match.

Schedule

*Local Time
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.