U-17 Japan National Team  vs  U-17 Uzbekistan National Team

2016-3-17 (Thu.) - 10:00   Playing Time: 70min. (35min.×2)
Global Stadium (Fukuoka)

U-17 Japan National Team　0-0 (0-0, 0-0, PSO 5-3)　U-17 Uzbekistan National Team

Line-ups
GK: OSAKO Keisuke
DF: TANAKA Riku, FUJIMATSU Kouya, KOBAYASHI Yuki, SUGAWARA Yukinari
MF: SAITO Mitsuki, HORI Kenta, HIRAKAWA Rei, FUJIMOTO Kanya
FW: NAKAMURA Shunta, ANDO Mizuki

Substitutes
GK: AOKI Kokoro
DF: ISHIHARA Hirokazu, AOYAMA Yusuke, SUGIYAMA Danto, IKOMA Jin
MF: NISHIYAMA Taiga, NAKAJIMA Motohiko
FW: TAGAWA Kyosuke, MIYASHIRO Taisei, KUBO Takefusa

51'　SAITO Mitsuki → KUBO Takefusa
51'　ANDO Mizuki → MIYASHIRO Taisei
51'　HORI Kenta → NAKAJIMA Motohiko

U-17 Japan National Team  vs  U-17 Korea Republic High School Federation Selection

2016-3-17 (Thu.) - 16:10   Playing Time: 70min. (35min.×2)
Green Field A (Fukuoka)

U-17 Japan National Team　3-0 (2-0, 1-0)　U-17 Korea Republic High School Federation Selection

Scores
21'　KUBO Takefusa (U-17 Japan National Team)
25'　MIYASHIRO Taisei (U-17 Japan National Team)
69'　TAGAWA Kyosuke (U-17 Japan National Team)

Line-ups
GK: AOKI Kokoro
DF: ISHIHARA Hirokazu, AOYAMA Yusuke, SUGIYAMA Danto, IKOMA Jin
MF: NISHIYAMA Taiga, NAKAJIMA Motohiko, KUBO Takefusa, FUJIMOTO Kanya
FW: TAGAWA Kyosuke, MIYASHIRO Taisei

Substitutes
GK: OSAKO Keisuke
DF: TANAKA Riku, FUJIMATSU Kouya, KOBAYASHI Yuki, SUGAWARA Yukinari
MF: SAITO Mitsuki, HORI Kenta, HIRAKAWA Rei
FW: NAKAMURA Shunta, ANDO Mizuki

HT　FUJIMOTO Kanya → HIRAKAWA Rei

Match Report

U-17 Japan National Team played against the U-17 Uzbekistan National Team and the Korea Republic High School Federation Selection and posted the two consecutive wins in the first day of the SANIX Cup International Youth Soccer Tournament 2016.

Japan first played against Uzbekistan in the tournament's opening game after the opening ceremony. Japan had a foul to the opponents, who were in an attacking mode from early, giving them a chance to score from a free kick. But defenders FUJIMATSU Kouya and KOBAYASHI Yuki protected the goalmouth with concentration, and the team managed to not give Uzbekistan further scoring opportunities, and then the momentum eventually shifted to Japan.

In the 20th minute, a free kick fired by midfielder HORI Kenta barely went above the goal bar, and in the 24th, ANDO Mizuki tried to connect a Hori cross with a diving heading but couldn't make it. The game entred halftime with a 0-0 score.

The Asian rivals displayed tough battles in the second half as well, but Japan gave a penalty kick to Uzbekistan after they competed in front of the Japan goal in the 42nd minute. Japan goalkeeper OSAKO Keisuke, however, made a spectacular stop of the kick. For Japan, midfielder FUJIMOTO Kanya and NAKAMURA Shunta fired shots, in the 49th and 61st minutes, respectively, but both went off the goal, and the game ended in a scoreless draw, going into the penalty shootout. Osako made a stop of a shot of the first Uzbekistan kicker, and Japan made all the five shots. Japan won the shootout 5-3 to take the game.

In the second game of the day against the Korea Republic High School Federation Selection, Japan hoped to have the momentum as they would be in an inferior situation had they lost it, but they were overwhelmed by the Koreans, who were physically superior, early on just like in the first game. Yet as they kept enduring, Japan gradually regained their composure. In the 12th minute, defender AOYAMA Yusuke had a nice shot from a corner kick, but the Korean goalkeeper saved it.

After that, as they began making passes to the front, Japan repeatedly created scoring chances from their side attacks. In the 21st minute, after a corner kick was cleared, midfielder KUBO Takefusa fired a powerful long shot, which went in, to give Japan a 1-0 lead. And in the 25th, forward MIYASHIRO Taisei dribbled past two defenders and made another long shot to make it up by two for Japan before halftime.

In the second half, Japan had to endure struggling time as their opponents tried to rally. In the 47th minute, Japan goalkeeper AOKI Kokoro took off reacting to a corner kick of the opponents and punched it out. A Korean player fired a shot right after, but midfielder NAKAJIMA Motohiko managed to clear it at the goal line.

In the 69th minute, Japan had a counter attack and forward TAGAWA Kyosuke reacted to a through pass from Miyashiro and smashed the ball into the net to make it 3-0. Japan kept their concentration after that and went on to post the second straight win with a 3-0 victory. Japan would take on the U-17 Beijing Selection on the next day.

Players' Comments

AOYAMA Yusuke (Nagoya Grampus U18)
Against a team that rely on long balls, our defenders kept our focus and would cover with each other, not allowing them to find a way to score and it was great. We still have issues to fix, but as we pile up training and games, we are having mutual understanding and have better plays, sticking to winning. We would like to take more communications inside ourselves and raise our team chemistry.

Individually, I made some occasion that I gave up the ball so easily and it led to create some dangerous situations for our team. So I want to make quicker judgements and have better communication, asking for support from our teammates quicker. We would like to post another win tomorrow with the entire squad, too.

FUJIMOTO Kanya (Tokyo Verdy Youth)
We still have issues, but it was huge for our team to post wins in both games. We had to endure some difficult times as we had to take of our defensive side of ball, but we kept defending with the entire team and it will lead to our game tomorrow as we ended up giving up no goals to them.

Personally, I am reflecting that I need to receive passes more and create more chances. When we are attacking, there's a lot of occasions that we are not sharing our judgements with our teammates, so we would like to actively have better communication during tomorrow's game to share our image.

TAGAWA Kyosuke (Sagan Tosu U-18)
We can give ourselves compliments that we kept our focus and didn't give up any goals in both games today. As coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro advised us, I think that it was one of the major elements that our tenacious defence led to grab us the offensive rhythm and win the ballgame. Individually, when we had chances, I sprinted quickly and contributed to some goals, so that was good.

When our opponents came aggressively up front, we were rattled in today's games, so we need to have better defence from our front so it will give us some composure. The mood of our team is getting better and hopefully we can get past the group in the first place with another win tomorrow.

Schedule

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

[SANIX Cup International Youth Soccer Tournament 2016 Participating team]

Group A: U-17 Japan National team, U-17 Uzbekistan National Team, U-17 Korea Republic High School Federation Selection, U-17 Beijing Selection
Group B: Seiryo Senior High School, Avispa Fukuoka Youth, Aomori Yamada High School, Higashi Fukuoka High School
Group C: Ichiritsu Funabashi High School, Oita Trinita Youth, Otsu High School, Kyushu International University High School
Group D: Kokugakuin Kugayama High School, Omiya Ardija Youth, High school attached to Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science, Tokai University Daigo Senior High School