International Friendly Match vs U-20 Germany Women’s National Team
2016-8-12 (Fri.) 16:00 Playing Time: 90min.（45min.×2）
Sportanlage am Haus Lütz（Germany/Mönchengladbach）

U-20 Japan Women’s National Team 1-0（1-0, 0-0) U-20 Germany Women’s National Team

Score
44'　MOMIKI Yuka（U-20 Japan Women’s National Team）

Line-ups
GK: MATSUMOTO Mamiko
DF: SHIOKOSHI Yuzuho, NORIMATSU Ruka, ICHISE Nana, KITAGAWA Hikaru
MF: SUMIDA Rin, SUGITA Hina, HAYASHI Honoka, MORIYA Miyabi
FW: MOMIKI Yuka, UENO Mami

Substututes
GK: HIRAO Chika
DF: SHIMIZU Risa, MATSUBARA Shiho, MINAMI Moeka
MF: OKUBO Mai, HASEGAWA Yui, MIURA Narumi, NISHIDA Meika
FW: KAWANO Juri, KANDA Wakaho

HT　MATSUMOTO Mamiko → HIRAO Chika
HT　SHIOKOSHI Yuzuho → SHIMIZU Risa
HT　MORIYA Miyabi → HASEGAWA Yui
61'　HAYASHI Honoka → NISHIDA Meika
68'　UENO Mami → MIURA Narumi
77'　MOMIKI Yuka → MATSUBARA Shiho
87'　SUGITA Hina → OKUBO Mai

Match Report

Friday 12 August saw the fourth day of the U-20 Japan Women's National Team’s Germany tour.

After a long spell of rainy weather, the skies cleared up. With the temperature at 27 degrees (Celsius), the team played against the U-20 Germany Women's National Team from 16:00 in the afternoon.

Germany won the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada. Despite a physical disadvantage, Japan aimed to steal the ball by pressuring the opponents up front. In the 17th minute, midfielder MORIYA Miyabi, got through with a one-two with midfielder SUGITA Hina on the left. Moriya sent the ball towards the goal, but no one was able to pick it up. Although Japan initiated attacks from the wings, they could not get any shots away. 

In the 44th minute, defender NORIMATSU Ruka intercepted and created an opportunity. Advancing the ball to midfielder Sugita and subsequently to midfielder Moriya, forward Momiki Yuka received a final pass where she calmly slotted it into the goal for the opener.

In the second half, Japan substituted three players hungry for more goals. In the 68th minute, midfielder HASEGAWA Yui got through on goal from a pass by forward Momiki, only for it to be saved by the goalkeeper. In the 72nd minute, midfielder MIURA Narumi, who came off the bench, passed the ball to midfielder NISHIDA Meika. Although Nishida succeeded in taking a shot, it unfortunately went to the right of the goal.

The match remained in the balance, despite the severe pressure from Germany utilising their speed and power. The Japanese defenders performed solidly to sustain their lead. Japan won the game 1-0.

Coach and Players' Comments

TAKAKURA Asako, Coach
We played against Germany, one of the favourites for the World Cup, on the fourth day of our Germany tour. We tried against the previous champions, Germany, to see how well we could play our style – ‘never stop moving nor thinking with or without the ball’. Although I’d like to point out the players passed the ball around, getting through the match creating goal-scoring opportunities, against a physically superior opponent throughout 90 minutes, we need to focus on improving the quality of our build-ups, combinations, and shots. Also, we should have scored another while we had the initiative in the match. That is another task of ours. We’ll play the final game after a two-day break. So we’d like to fix today’s problems as much as possible.

DF #4  ICHISE Nana (VEGALTA SENDAI LADIES)
I earned some confidence as part of a team and as a defender by winning against the former champions, Germany, 1-0. While Germany centred their build-ups from passing the ball around, Nigeria, against whom we’ll play in the first round of the World Cup in November, will use swift players to exploit the space behind our defenders. During today’s match we found that we really need to improve our stamina, mental strength, and individual skills including heading, in the remaining three months, so that we can cope with them for the full 90 minutes. We’d like to review today’s match in detail and fix our problems to get ready for the coming game.

FW #10  MOMIKI Yuka (NIPPON TV BELEZA)
I was really looking forward to today’s game against the previous champions of the U-20 Women's World Cup. During the game, all of us stayed focused on defence, while pressing up front to steal the ball. Then we got through and scored. Having said that, in terms of attack, we need to improve the quality of passes near the penalty area and create more goal-scoring opportunities. Although we performed well in this match, I’d like to practice harder, while making this team stronger. I should not be too satisfied with today’s result. 

Schedule

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