On the 3rd May (Saturday), the 2014 JFA Premier Cup supported by Nike opened started and each participating team got to play two games apiece of their first round on Day 1.

Through the first day, Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C. Junior Youth (Chugoku/Hiroshima) came on top of the Group A standings. Hiroshima, playing around their captain Nakamaru Daiki, shut their opponents down, not giving up any goals, and posted consecutive wins over Urawa Reds Junior Youth (Kanto 1/Saitama) and Vissel Kobe Under-15 (Kansai/Hyogo). Hiroshima will face F.C. Cormorunt (Shikoku 2/Kagawa), who are the only regional club in this tournament, in their third game of today in the first round. ''Everybody else are well-known teams, except for us. I think our players have some jitters, but did their best,'' Cormorunt coach Morimoto said. The club earned their first victory with a 3-1 over Kobe in their opening game. They are looking for another win to qualify through the first round.

In Group B, Kashiwa Reysol Under-15 (Kanto 3/Chiba) have posted consecutive wins taking advantage of their offense around Nakamura Shunta, and got off to a great start. Oita Trinita Under-15 (Kyushu/Oita) and Ehime F.C. Junior Youth (Shikoku 1/Ehime) follow Kashiwa. It will be intriguing to see which side between Oita and Ehime will get another win to keep their hope to advance to the knock-out round in tact.

In Group C, Albirex Niigata Under-15 (Hokushinetsu/Niigata) were off to a good start as well. Their offense have scored eight goals combined in the two victories they posted. ''We played much better than we'd expected today,'' Niigata coach Takahashi Naoki said. The reigning champions, Omiya Ardija Junior Youth (Kanto 2/Saitama) are placing themselves in the second place currently. Although they settled for a 2-2 draw against Nagoya Grampus Under-15 (Tokai/Aichi) in their first game, Ardija grabbed a 2-0 win over Aomori Yamada Junior High School (Tohoku/Aomori) in the following match. They looks for punching a ticket in the final four by earning three points with a win over Niigata.

Comments

OKUNO Seiichiro, Head Coach（Omiya Ardija Junior Youth）
We didn't necessarily entered the first half in our first game against Nagoya. But our players has some nerves and struggled to put up what they usually can do. I guess it's where we are right now, but at the same I thought things are not going as easy as we did in last year's tournament. Since this is a short tourney, we can't afford to reflect on the result in our first game and we need to refresh our minds. Compared with our team of the past years, we have players that are better in dribbling and physically stronger. So hopefully, we can play football, capitalizing on those players' characteristics.

TAKAHASHI Naoki, Head Coach（Albirex Niigata U-15）
I had some anxieties on how much our players could do in this tournament, so this is more than we anticipated we would be with the two consecutive wins. I think that that we entered the first game well and our guys kept running throughout the games paid off. We have some players that played the whole times and after our second game, some of them were not able to even move right after it. Like our top team, Niigata shows the fighting attitudes playing aggressively until the end. I think that we were able to put it up today.

MORIMOTO Katsumi, Coach （F.C.Cormorunt）
I think that we came up with the victory in this first game as a result of our players' hard efforts. We don't particularly have core players on this year's team, but our style is just to defend with the entire team and attack with the entire team. We certainly don't have a name while other teams are all academy teams of J. League clubs, but we are just going to do what we are supposed to do and that's our theme for this tournament. I think we exhibited that today.

AONO Daisuke,Head Coach（EHIME FC JuniorYouth）
We were nervous and weren't able to put up our game in our first game, but we showed our game in our second match. This tournament is where we can experience things that we normally can't do playing in Shikoku. This is also a good occasion for us to know how much differences we have with other strong teams of the nation at this early stage of the season in May. This is a good opportunity for those who are looking to become professional players in the future to acknowledge what are required to do so, so we would just like to do our best.

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