After the countless hard-fought matches over four days in Manchester, England, the Manchester United Premier Cup World Finals 2015 for U-15 teams in the world was won by Right to Dream representing Ghana who defeated Genoa CFC from Italy.

The representative from Japan was Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15 and they finished at 15th place out of 20 participating teams. In the award ceremony, the Fair Play Award was given to Kyoto Sanga F.C. by the hands of former England international and Manchester United star, Gary Pallister. 

Final

The final match of the tournament was played at AJ Belle Stadium coincidentally between two teams that Kyoto Sanga lost to in the group stage, Right to Dream from Ghana and Genoa CFC from Italy. The match was too close to be ended in the regulation and additional period, and in the penalty shootouts Right to Dream edged Genoa CFC on their way to the world championship.

Right to Dream (Ghana)  0－0 (PSO 4－3)  Genoa CFC (Italy)

Final Result

1st   RIGHT TO DREAM (Ghana)
2nd   GENOA CFC (Italy)
3rd   CHIVAS (Mexico)
4th   REAL MADRID (Spain)
5th   SUWON SAMSUNG (Korea)
6th   FC BASEL (Switzerland)
7th   SAN LORENZO (Argentina)
8th   READING FC (England)
9th   ATLETICO PR (Brazil)
10th   CHERTANOVA (Russia)
11th   RB LEIPZIG (Germany)
12th   MANCHESTER UTD (England)
13th   SK RAPID WIEN (Austria)
14th   HNK RIJEKA (Croatia)
15th   KYOTO SANGA FC (Japan)
16th   FNSWI (Australia)
17th   ESBJERG FB (Denmark)
18th   MAMELODI SUNDOWNS (South Africa)
19th   CHONBURI FC (Thailand)
20th   HENAN JIANYE FC (China)

MVP:  Gomes (MANCHESTER UTD)

Top Scorer: Hyeongyu Oh（SUWON SAMSUNG）

Fair Play Award: KYOTO SANGA FC

Play-Offs

After the group stage matches, Kyoto Sanga played two placement matches in two days against HNK Rijeka (Croatia) and FNSW Institute (Australia). In the match against HNK Rijeka, Kyoto allowed a goal to the opponents in the 17th minute and despite their comeback efforts in the second half, they lost 1-0. 

The match against FNSW saw one goal scored in the 10th minute for FNSW and another one for Kyoto in the 15th when FUKUOKA Shinpei’s feed was met and composedly put into the right corner of the goal by TSUNO Ayase. The first half finished with a 1-1 tie and the second half was also kept even until Fukuoka Shinpei directly netted a free-kick minutes before the end of the match. Kyoto finished the tournament campaign with one place higher because of the dramatic 2-1 win.   

As the result, Kyoto Sanga F.C.’s final standing was 15th place among 20 participating clubs. 

Also they were awarded with the Fair Play Award.

Kyoto Sanga F.C    0-1　HNK RIJEKA (Croatia)
Kyoto Sanga F.C    2-1　FNSWI (Australia)
Final standing: 15th

Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-15 Coach and Players’ Comments

KISHIMOTO Kosuke, Coach
It will be a great asset for us that we experienced six competitive matches throughout this tournament against great teams in the world. And it also will be a great memory for our players, too. I think they can be prouder of the sport they love and play by knowing different teams in the world playing different styles of football.

This tournament gave our players an opportunity to know those different aspects of football including intensity on the ball, speed of passes, speed of runs and athleticism. When we go back home, I expect they will start working to raise their own so-called “standard”.

Speaking of the details, other teams didn’t let us win so easily in terms of intensity on the ball, physical contacts and aerial battles. That let our players feel and understand what they need to work on after going back home and also the fact that they can’t just continue what they have been doing.

Off the pitch, I think they got strongly reminded that self-control is important including what they eat and how they sleep every day. It was a lesson we learned this time that both mental and physical aspects need to be ready when playing a match. I myself could witness with my own eyes all the talented players even at this young age. I was surprised that individually talented players were playing such a well-organised football, and it made me believe that I have so much more work to do after going home. 

After going back to Kyoto, first we will work on improving each player individually. Then we will aim to have a collection of eleven players who individually commits himself to challenging his own limit. In conclusion, I was also reminded that football is such a wonderful sport which can connect us with all the people in the world when we have just one ball. 

GK  INOO Takumi
In the first placement match we played against HNK Rijeka (Croatia), I feel I should have worked harder in leading our defence, and it was disappointing that I wasn’t able to do that. Also in the first group stage match against Brazil, I felt all my teammates were motivated to win the match at all costs, but we weren’t very aggressive toward the goal overall and our defence was hesitant. To be honest, I didn’t feel much passion in our plays.

The match that impressed me the most is the one against Ghana. We don’t have a strong impression that they are a very good team, but they knew their strength and weakness, and they knew exactly what they were supposed to do. Above all, they were better than us in everything. It was very hard to swallow that we couldn’t do anything against them.