On Thursday 1 November, the U-19 Japan National Team faced the U-19 Saudi Arabia National Team in the semi-finals of the AFC U-19 Championship Indonesia 2018.

The team trailed two goals in the first half and came short from scoring the goal, ending the tournament with a 0-2 loss in the final four.

The only two teams who won all three matches of the group stage, Japan and Saudi Arabia, squared off in the semi-finals. The U-19 Japan National Team started WAKAHARA Tomoya (Kyoto Sanga F.C.) in goal while HASHIOKA Daiki (Urawa Reds), SEKO Ayumu (Cerezo Osaka U-18), and MIKUNI Kenedeiebusu (Aomori Yamada High School) formed the three-man defence line. YAMADA Kota (Yokohama F・Marinos) and ITO Hiroki (Jubilo Iwata) were placed in the defensive midfield position while ISHIHARA Hirokazu (Shonan Bellmare) and OGIWARA Takuya (Urawa Reds) positioned themselves in the flanks. TAGAWA Kyosuke (Sagan Tosu) was named as the lone striker where HARA Taichi (F.C. Tokyo) and TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse) were placed just beneath him.

Ahead of the match, Japan was fully aware of the speed possessed by the Saudi Arabian players and anticipate for counter attacks, which led them to stay rather defensive. Saudi Arabia on the other hand, sought for opportunities to exploit the space behind the Japanese defence line by sending balls to their speedy flank players. In the sixth minute, Japan allowed Saudi Arabia to break through the right flank. The cross delivered from this play was blocked by Seko. Another opportunity was created in the 12th minute, but once again Seko came to the rescue to deny Saudi Arabia from scoring the goal. It was Saudi Arabia who took control of the match as they showed quick transitions between offence and defence while their pressure to the ball was made by a collective effort by the team. Japan struggled to evade this pressure applied by Saudi Arabia and couldn’t find their rhythm.

In the 29th minute, Japan attempted to penetrate the left flank, but turned over the ball and allowed Saudi Arabia to initiate a counter attack. The ball was delivered to Turki Alammar, who was making a run into the penalty box, and his shot taken from no angle was deflected off the Japanese goalkeeper Wakahara and ended up into the goal. It was the first time Japan allowed the opening goal in this tournament.

With momentum on their side, Saudi Arabia created multiple opportunities from the right side. Japan made the adjustments to form a four-man defence line to respond to these speedy attacks created in the flanks. However, Japan conceded another goal from a fast break in the right flank during additional time of the first half. A Saudi Arabian player penetrated into the penalty area and struck a shot. This shot was once blocked by Wakahara, but Khalid Alghannam converted the deflection to make it 0-2 at halftime.

Japan made two changes during halftime as KUBO Takefusa (Yokohama F・Marinos) and MIYASHIRO Taisei (Kawasaki Frontale U-18) were brought in for Tagawa and Mikuni. Miyashiro was placed upfront with Hara, while Kubo played an offensive midfield role along side Taki. In the second half, Japan continued to struggle against the quick pressure applied by their opponents while Saudi Arabia continued to attack the flanks to create chances.

In the 67th minute, Ogiwara, Kubo, and Miyashiro combined well in the left flank to allow Kubo to penetrate the box and fire a shot, but his attempt couldn’t capture the target. With less than 20 minutes left in the match, SAITO Koki (Yokohama FC Youth) was brought in for Hara in efforts to score a goal. Kubo was given another opportunity in the 79th minute when he received the ball from Ito, but his effort once again came short from finding the back of the net. Japan kept on attacking until the end but failed to score a goal, as their challenge to win back-to-back title ended at the semi-finals.

Coach and Players’ Comments

KAGEYAMA Masanaga, Coach (U-19 Japan National Team)
It is very unfortunate. Today’s starting line-up was supposed to give us the best opportunity to showcase our strengths, but it didn’t go as we planned. With their ability to force turnovers, carry the ball, and apply pressure in defence, Saudi Arabia didn’t allow us to take control of the match. In these types of matches, we must win more second balls, show quicker support, and carry the ball upfront more often. That is something we learnt from this match ahead of the World Cup, so we will take this as a positive and prepare ourselves in the next half year. I told my players to take more risks to control the ball and to carry the ball upfront more often. However, we couldn’t keep possession of the ball at all in this match. We must become able to evade from that pressure and keep control of the ball to level the match. We gained many experiences from this tournament. We played under many circumstances, against many teams with different team styles, and with many at stakes. However, we can’t just be satisfied by the experience itself, but win the matches as well. After the match, I told my players to strive for higher levels because they must get stronger to succeed at the world level. We have limited time as the national team to work together to strengthen ourselves. I want my players to play in as many matches as possible once they return to their clubs and become stronger players before returning to this team. Once we reunite as a team, we will see a better version of this team and that’s when we strive together towards the world cup. I am looking forward to work with these players again in six months.

DF #4 HASHIOKA Daiki (Urawa Reds)
We will face matches like today once we start playing at the world stage, so we must become able to win matches like this. It was my first time to play in matches with so much at stake, but as we worked together as a team, I felt the team was getting better over each match. This result is unfortunate, but this team will move onto the next stage. We don’t know who will be selected into the squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, but we will all go back to our clubs and work hard to improve ourselves so that we can become a better team when we get reunited as a team.

MF #19 YAMADA Kota (Yokohama F・Marinos)
We made it tough on ourselves by conceding the goals in the first half. We couldn’t seem to move the ball around under the pressure applied by our opponents, so that was the main reason we couldn’t win today. We must get stronger to win the fifty-fifty balls in order to compete at the world stage, so I felt like I must add more quality to my defensive game. Playing under Coach Kageyama has given me great inspiration, so I will implement everything I’ve learnt here into my daily trainings. I am glad that we were able to play in this tournament with this team, and I was able to spend a productive time on and off the pitch. We will have another opportunity to play together as a team next year, so we will continue to strive higher once we return to our own teams.

Schedule

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

AFC U-19 Championship Indonesia 2018

[Top 4 teams will earn spot into the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019]
Tournament Dates: Thu. 18 October - Sun. 4 November 2018
Tournament Information