The 5th -8th place playoff of the 12th Delle Nazioni Tournament
2015-5-1 (Fri.) - 11:00    Playing time: 80min (40min ×2)
Bille (Bille, Slovania)

U-16 Japan National Team   3-0 (1st 2-0, 2nd 1-0)   U-16 England National Team

Scores
9'    TANAKA Kosuke (Japan)
34'  HIRAKAWA Rei(Japan)
76'  NAKAMURA Shunta (Japan)

Line-ups
GK:  WAKAHARA Tomoya
DF:  SENBA Taishi, NAKAGAWA So, HASHIOKA Daiki, TANAKA Riku
MF:  TANAKA Kosuke, FUJIMOTO Kanya, ITO Hiroki, HIRAKAWA Rei
FW:  SUGIURA Fumiya, NAKAMURA Shunta

Substitutes
GK:  TAKASE Kazuna
DF:  NAKAYA Yuki, KEMMOTSU Takumu
MF:  NAKANO Yuta, YOSHIDA Shun, SUMIDA Sho, SATO Subaru
FW:  HASHIMOTO Jin, TAGAWA Kyosuke

Match Report

On the last day of the tournament, U-16 Japan played the 5th-6th place playoff against England, previously 1-1 draw earlier in the tournament.

The game got off to an exciting start with attacks by both sides. In the 9th minute, Japan intercepted a ball in the other end for quick counter-attack breaking down the right flank. Nakmura taking the position in goal front received the ball and found himself 1-on-1 with goalkeeper. Watching TANAKA Kosuke running up in the right side, Nakamura sent pass to him after drawing the other side’s goalkeeper. Tanaka found the net easily for the Japan opener, shooting to nobody’s land. England kept attacking to Japan’s goal mainly by set pieces but Japan defended them with a fighting spirit not conceding any goal.

Then comes the 34th. Tanaka running to the space behind the left side defence who took the ball from set-piece in Japan side and played pivotal role and delivered pass to Ito who sent pass to Sugiura who taking position in front of goal. Hirakawa, running to the space in goal area unmarked who received the pass from Sugiumra, he calmly added the goal finishing the first half 2-0 up for Japan.

In the second half, both sides kept their offensive in front of goal. England tried to take advantage of back space of Japan defence by sending mainly long ball. On the other hand Japan put the pressure in the middle of the pitch for acquiring the ball for trying to get an additional goal. Japan almost gave England couple of golden chances because the squad losing focus which resulted in sending careless passes for fatigue. But Japan managed to hang on to it largely thanks to goalkeeper Wakahara’s good judgement.

In the 76th, TANAKA Kousuke cut the ball closer to the goal and gave the pass to Hirakawa, taking position in front of goal. Then Hirakawa sent pass to Nakamura after drawing defences and Nakamura stroked home for 3-0 Japan. The game ended unchanged 3-0. Japan missed the championship but finished the tournament in the 5th place, with 3-2-0 (3 wins, 2 draws, no loss) record.

See the match detail(Japanese version only) 

Players’ Comments

TANAKA Kosuke (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18)
This Italy tour gave me many things. I was injured due to showing my weak points and involved in conceding the goal. But I think I made a right judgement in building up an attack which led to the goal. Overcoming the issues I realized during the tour, I am going to work hard on the training when I go back to the club.

SENBA Taishi (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Youth)
I made a series of mistakes in the first half because I felt the other side’s pressure and could not make right judgement. But I paid closer attention to my position in the second half, which helped me to receive the ball in a right position and give good passes. I learned a lot of things during the trip, making a right judgement and giving pass to players who always moving around and receiving the ball while running.

HIRAKAWA Rei (F.C. Tokyo U-15 Musashi)
I found the game today was really good because we scored three goals and won the game by making a fast counter-attack after acquiring the ball. Personally, I was part of goal scoring for trying to do a high quality play when receiving the ball. Having realized how one goal means for the team in this trip, I am going to keep to upgrading skills of last pass and play in front of the goal.

ITO Hiroki (Jubilo Iwata U-18)
I am pleased to finish the tournament by winning the last match. I realized many things I, and the team need to improve in this trip playing against the World powerhouse. I know we are physically inferior to overseas players but at the same time I believe we can grow to be much stronger competitive team by brushing the quality of each play. Besides playing football on the pitch, I tried to take an initiative as a captain. I want to make most of what I have learned during this trip when I go back to the club in Japan and work hard on every day training bearing these things in mind. I want to come back to play as Japan international again. Thank you very much for all the support.

Schedule

*Local time

The 12th Delle Nazioni Tournament

Future Schedule