The 94 Emperor's Cup All-Japan Football Championships will get underway on the 5th-6th July (Hokkaido representatives vs. Gunnma representatives will be played on the 26th).
Among the first-round match-ups, Kanagawa Prefecture's Y.S.C.C. Yokohama and Hiroshima Prefecture's SRC Hiroshima will square off at 1 p.m. On the 6th July at Yamato Sports Centre in Kanagawa.
Y.S.C.C. Yokohama currently sink in the last place in the J3 standings, but made their first Emperor's Cup berth in two years, sixth time overall, as they defeated Kanagawa University 2-0 in the Kanagawa Prefectural championship final.

''The Emperor's Cup is different from our league matches and once you lose, you are done, so this is a good tournament for us to be able to learn how to play out a game,'' Yokohama coach Arima Kenji said. ''And it's also big that you will get to play against stronger teams as you keep advancing.''
Said Yokohama's captain Yoshida Akio, who scored a goal against Yokohama F. Marinos in the second round of the tourney two years before: ''In order to take on a J1 team once again, we want to play to win.''

Y.S.C.C. have given up 30 goals in the J3 league and have some issues defensively, but have allowed none in their latest three matches, including the two in the Kanagawa tournament and want to keep the momentum. ''We want to play our game, put up our best effort with everybody involved until the very end and keep our tenacious defence,'' Yoshida said.
Meanwhile, RSC Hiroshima was originally established as Hiroshima school teachers club in 1953 with mainly school teachers, and the name was changed to the current one in 2011.

SRC faced Hiroshima University in the Hiroshima championships final, which served as the Emperor's Cup qualifier. The match ended up being an offensive fest, but Takeuchi Wataru (Hiroshima Nagisa High School football club head coach), who's the only school teacher on the team, scored a goal and edged their opponents 3-2, making their first Emperor's Cup appearance in 18 years, second time overall.
Elsewhere, there will be some intriguing contests of the high school generation teams, including a Tokushima Municipal High-Kagoshima United FC match (1 p.m. kick off at Naruto Otsuka Sports Park Pocari Sweat Stadium on the 5th), a Vanraure Hachinohe-Montedio Yamagata Youth game (1 p.m. kickoff at Towada Municipal Takamoriyama General Sports Park Stadium on the 6th) and a Yamanashi Gakuin University High-Meiji University match (1 p.m. kickoff at Yamanashi Chugin Stadium on the 6th).

Comments

ARIMA Kenji,Head Coach（Y.S.C.C.Yokohama）
The Emperor's Cup is played on a knock-out format, and it's not a tournament you can afford to lose. It's different from the league games since once you lose, you are done, so we will seriously take one game at a time. With that being said, this is a good tournament for us to be able to learn how to play and wrap up a game. If we keep advancing, we are going to be able to face stronger opponents. In order to do that, we are going to play every game so importantly and want to go as far as we can.''

YOSHIDA Akio （Y.S.C.C.Yokohama）
You have got to keep winning in the Emperor's Cup, so we would like to play to win rather than to play for a draw. We are not going to put our guards down and want to do what we can do. We want to play our game, put up the best effort we could have until the very end and keep our tenacious defence.

MORIWAKI Seiji,Head Coach（SRC Hiroshima）
Because this is the first national tournament for this team, we are going to get some good experience for the team and players. Yet we are not satisfied just being here, we are going to earn our first win. As the Hiroshima representatives, we want to showcase our best game.

MINATO Shinpei（SRC Hiroshima）
Our opponents are superior to us, so we want to just go all-out and stick to post a win by playing a game with everybody involved. We have difference jobs, but we get united when we get together to play football. With the proud of being a team of workers, we will play for a win and want to definitely take on a J1 team.

Live stream broadcast schedule for the first round matches

Sat, 5 July Nara Club vs Fukushima United ＦＣ （Nara Prefectural Kashiharakoen Athletic Stadium）
LIVE JFA-TV　Saturday 5 July  13:00～

Sun, 6 July  ＡＣNaganoParceiro　vs JAPAN Soccer College（Matsumotodaira Koikikoen Ball Park Alwin）
LIVE JFA-TV  Sunday 6 July  15:00～

The details will be posted on the Japan Football Association website (JFA.jp) on the game days
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