The JFA Premier Cup 2015 had its second day on 4 March 2015 and matches of the 3rd Section and semi-final took place. The teams which finished top of their groups played for the semi-final were Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15 (Kansai/Kyoto), Consadole Sapporo U-15 (Hokkaido), Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Junior Youth (Chugoku/Hiroshima); Along with Nagaoka Junior Youth FC (Hokushinetsu/Niigata) who also qualified since they had the best result of the three second place teams. After the first round, the draw for the semi-final took place.

Semi-final match #1

The first semi-final match between Consadole Sapporo U-15 and Nagaoka Junior Youth FC was exciting from the beginning. On 5 minutes, Nagaoka’s player moved the long ball from the left wing to the front of goal and KOIKE Haruki tried to get on the end of this ball, but Sapporo’s DF cut in to prevent him from scoring. Nagaoka kept making chances by moving the ball round from the wings but could not get the goal. “They didn’t have enough accuracy once they had a chance”, said NISHIDA Katsuhiko, Head Coach of Nagaoka. Sapporo on the other hand had a good switch from defense from offence and YAMAHO Riku tried to score several times but they weren’t successful either. On 44 minutes, Sapporo’s NAKAMURA Yuya passed the ball to FUNATO Kazuki and he struck it to left side of the goal. Then on 54 minutes Sapporo’s ball hit the goal post and MIYAWAKI Kenta pushed that back to the goal. Sapporo beat Nagaoka with 2-0 and moved through the final.

Consadole Sapporo U-15 (Hokkaido)　2-0　Nagaoka Junior Youth FC (Hokushinetsu/Niigata)

Please click here for the match detail (Japanese version only) 

Semi-final match #2

Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15 and Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Junior Youth, both of who have won this JFA Premier Cup twice before, played in the second semi-final match. As Kyoto’s Head Coach KISHIMOTO Kosuke reflected on the game saying “both teams kept their level of play”, both teams played aggressively from the beginning and the 1st half ended 0-0. On 32 minutes, Kyoto’s EGAWA Genki got the opening goal by heading the ball from a right corner kick. Kyoto kept their concentration well to defend their goal, but on 53 minutes, Hiroshima’s FW TANADA Hayate scored an equaliser from the cross from left wing. The match went into extra time. Here both teams played intensively with high level of concentration. On 63 minutes, Kyoto’s FUKUOKA Shinpei got the ball in the penalty area and his left foot shot successfully found the breakthrough. After the goal, they kept defending their goal and Kyoto got the chance to play in the final.

Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15 (Kansai/Kyoto)　2-1　 Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Junior Youth (Chugoku/Hiroshima)

Please click here for the match detail (Japanese version only)

Fifth of May is the last day of the JFA Premier Cup and the final match between Sapporo and Kyoto will take place. Which team will be the top of Japan’s U-15 and qualify for the Premier Cup World Finals 2015?

Head Coaches’ Comments

NISHIDA Katsuhiko, Head Coach, Nagaoka Junior Youth FC (Hokushinetsu/Niigata)
Since we don’t have player selection process, we have differences in numbers of players each year. So we have some years to be strong and other years that we have to play with limited strengths. The players did very well even in the challenging situation. I know that they were tired and they could not make good decisions. That prevented them to make shots and that was quite a shame, but I believe that they learned the importance of physical strength and toughness. We want to maximise what we learned through this experience for the future.

SAKOI Shinya, Head Coach, Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Junior Youth (Chugoku/Hiroshima)
The players worked very hard. They are desperate to repeat the same winning experience of this JFA Premier Cup which happened last year. However, I guess there are some players who feel they could have done more; there were things that we couldn’t do well on the pitch today. Even though I think they could play with everything they can do, but the result expresses our current status. Personally, I wanted to encourage the team more for the players to experience in the final.

JFA-TV

The JFA Premier Cup 2015

Date: Sunday 3 May to Tuesday 5 May 2015
Location: J-GREEN SAKAI (in Sakai, Osaka)
Semi-finals will be broadcast live on JFA-TV from 14:00 on Monday 4 May

Details of the result can be found here.

Details of the result can be found here.