La Manga International Women's U-23 Tournament vs U-23 Norway Women’s National Team
2016-3-2 (Wed.) - 18:00   Playing Time: 45min.×2
La Manga PitchA (Spain/La Manga)

U-23 Japan Women’s National Team   4-0 (2-0, 2-0) U-23 Norway Women’s National Team

Scores
22'   NAOMOTO Hikaru (U-23 Japan Women’s National Team)
44'   TANAKA Yoko (U-23 Japan Women’s National Team)
54'   MASUYA Rika (U-23 Japan Women’s National Team)
81'   TAKAHASHI Miyuki (U-23 Japan Women’s National Team)

Line-ups
GK: HAYASHIZAKI Mei
DF: KATSURAMA Fumina、TAKAGI Hikari、MURAMATSU Tomoko、SASAKI Mayu
MF: NAKASATO Yu、NAOMOTO Hikaru、MASUYA Rika、CHIBA Sonoko、TANAKA Yoko
FW: INOUE Ayaka

Substitutes
GK: INOUE Nene
DF: OSHIMA Mizuki、YOSHIMI Natsuki、MIYAKE Shiori、HATANAKA Miyuka、MIURA Momo
MF: MIHASHI Mana、ODA KANNA、OYA Ayumi
FW: TAKAHASHI Miyuki

HT   INOUE Ayaka → TAKAHASHI Miyuki
69'   TANAKA Yoko → ODA KANNA
69'   NAOMOTO Hikaru → YOSHIMI Natsuki
78'   CHIBA Sonoko → MIYAKE Shiori
86'   SASAKI Mayu → OSHIMA Mizuki

Match Report

U-23 Japan Women’s National Team is taking part in the La Manga International Women's U-23 Tournament in Spain and had their first match against U-23 Norway Women’s National Team. 

The match kicked off at 18:00 and Japan took control from the beginning. In the 7th minute, midfielder TANAKA Yoko received the ball from defender TAKAGI Hikari on the left wing, and moved on towards the goal, but it was failed. In the 22nd minute, midfielder CHIBA Sonoko stole the ball and passed to midfielder NAKASATO Yu, then to forward MASUYA Rika, and finally midfielder NAOMOTO Hikaru who scored the first goal from an amazingly acute angle.

In the 44th minute, defender MURAMATSU Tomoko intercepted a pass and raised a cross to the front of the goal, then Tanaka pushed the ball into the goal while clashing with the Norway’s goalkeeper. The ball successfully found the net and the 1st half ended 2-0. 

In the 2nd half, Japan didn’t stop their intensive attack. In the 46th minute, substitute forward TAKAHASHI Miyuki fired a strong shot from the left wing but it was blocked by the goalkeeper. In the 54th minute, midfielder Tanaka took a low corner kick from the right corner, and midfielder Nakasato played the ball to forward Masuya who was approaching the goal, and she scored their 3rd goal.

In the 81st minute, forward Masuya stole the ball and moved it to forward Takahashi and she successfully made a chip shot which went over the head of the opponent goalkeeper. Their first match ended with Japan’s victory 4-0.

Coach and Players' Comments

TAKAKURA Asako, Coach
Norway’s players are advantageous in speed, power, and fitness. In the beginning, our players fell down a lot due to their power, but they gradually got their pace, responding well by building up combination as a team, and they could get multiple goals in the end. Even in a limited time to prepare, the players had time to discuss well to improve their issues. We have only one day to go for the next match against Sweden. We will get ready well for this one.

TAKAGI Hikari (Waseda University)
We have just played the first match, what we want is to win all matches in this competition. From the beginning, we were very aggressive to score and we could take control from earlier time. While Norway usually attempted long balls, we paid attention to our line control, and to making decision in when to challenge or support other teammates; this worked reasonably well but we also found some issues at the same time. Today, we wanted to win to add extra meaning; our goalkeeper Coach NISHIIRI has just had a baby boy and we wanted to celebrate this with our victory. I’m happy that we could win today. For the second match, we will sort out the issues found and will get united well to win all the matches. 

TANAKA Yoko (NOJIMA STELLA KANAGAWA SAGAMIHARA)
We could win the first match 4-0. I think we could win today because we could do what we wanted to do as a team; in the team meeting we had talked about this before kicking off. Personally, I could score, but there are times that I couldn’t play as I wanted to due to the strong pressure I got from Norwegian players; it was more than I expected. I have some issues such as making decisions and how to keep the ball with myself. In this short-time opportunity in Spain, I will do my best to improve my issues, to contribute to the team, and to win the remaining 2 matches.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.
*Local Time