Pick-up Match

Yokohama F・Marinos Youth 5-1（1-1, 4-0）Kashiwa Reysol U-18

The Matchday 10 of the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League EAST was held on 27th and 28th of August. There were 2 matches on 27th and the remaining 3 matches were held on 28th. Yokohama F・Marinos Youth (Kanagawa) faced Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba) at their home ground Nissan Field Kozukue.

Both teams were careful to check the tactics of each other in the 1st half. The opening goal was scored in the 18th minute; Yokohama FM’s forward WATANABE Riki took a corner kick from right side, and midfielder YOSHIO Kaina moved it to defender ITAKURA Takeru who successfully pushed it to the Kashiwa’s goal. Kashiwa on the other hand equalised in the 35th minute; midfielder NAKAGAWA So moved the ball with a long pass to midfielder OTANI Kyohei, and he calmly took a shot with his left leg.

Yokohama FM’s Coach gave a pep talk during the half time saying: “You haven’t done anything we do in the training at all. You have to manage the match checking Kashiwa’s play more.” Receiving the talk, they started to accelerate their offence drastically. Kashiwa substituted forward OTA Taiga for another forward NAKAMURA Shunta but Yokohama FM’s momentum was just exceeding that of Kashiwa.

In the 58th minute, Yokohama FM’s midfielder YAMADA Kota crossed after getting the missed ball on the left wing, and Watanabe responded well with heading on the far side. Yokohama FM took back their lead. In the 63rd minute, midfielder SATA Hideya moved the ball to Watanabe, and Yamada who received the ball from Watanabe took a shot calmly; the team extended their lead to 3-1. Yokohama FM, who took a complete control of the match through the 3 goals they had scored, added 2 more goals; in the 73rd minute by FUJITA Itto and in the 81st minute by the substituted midfielder TSUBAKI Naoki. The match ended with Yokohama FM’s 5-1 victory.

Even though Yokohama FM has moved up from 7th to 5th place in the league, the team’s Coach Matsuhashi didn’t seem happy after the match. He commented: “the players have to play more aggressively. They were too passive; we can’t help if we are seen to be the team that can be confident only when they can score a goal first. ”He kept being strict to the players even after the sweeping victory.

As the Kashiwa’s Coach NAGAI Shunta reflected on his team: “The ball wasn’t settled and they couldn’t get any rhythm of their play. That expressed our weak aspect”, the team could not keep their level of passing. “This is our problem. We want to look into ourselves again”, said the team’s midfielder NAKAMURA Riku. All members of the team will share the issues to be sorted out to get ready for the next match.

Coaches' and Players' Comments

MATSUHASHI Rikizo, Coach (Yokohama F・Marinos Youth)
We won today, but I’m not satisfied with what our players did. They had to play checking the opponents more. By looking carefully at the situation of both opponents and ourselves, they have to try to move the ball forward, if that is not possible then move it to the side. We have had a series of training sessions targeting moving the ball to front, but they still struggle to do it in an actual match; they still have to work hard. U-18 players are entering the “adult football level.” I want the players to read the situation on the pitch to make the best decision. Breaking down their self-protective barrier to get new abilities is what they need now.

HARADA Gaku (Yokohama F・Marinos Youth)
What we try to accomplish is to move more than opponents and to overwhelm them. In the 2nd half we could do this. Our play was generally quite still in the 1st half since it was the first match of the 2nd half of the season, and we needed some time to turn on. After the pep talk by our Coach Matsuhashi, we were finally switched on. Our issue is that we cannot get ready to concentrate on the match by ourselves, and I think this is my responsibility. As a goalkeeper, I will raise more voice from behind.

NAGAI Shunta, Coach (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)
The match showed our weak aspect. Since we couldn’t start the match smoothly, the 1st half was especially difficult for us; the players couldn’t keep the ball as they wanted and drew the negative mood by not having any rhythm to our play until the last part of the match. Our midfielders were stuck due to simple or important passing mistakes. What is regrettable was that they created disadvantageous situation by themselves. 

NAKAMURA Riku (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)
Throughout the 90 minutes, we couldn’t do what we wanted to do and we ended the match with regrets. Personally, I couldn’t make any positive situation; I should have done something different especially in positioning and speeding-up our offence. We should have opened our formation widely, but we ended up staying inside to the centre and didn’t have changes in rhythm and positioning. They are the serious issues. We won’t forget this defeat, and will get ready well for the next match.

Other Matches

Albirex Niigata U-18　1-2（0-0, 1-2）Ichiritsu Funabashi High School
Shimizu S-pulse Youth　0-1（0-0, 0-1）F.C. Tokyo U-18 
Aomori Yamada High School　2-0（2-0, 0-0）Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa
Kashima Antlers Youth　1-2（0-1, 1-1）Omiya Ardija Youth

Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba) beat Albirex Niigata U-18 (Niigata) 2-0 away, with goals scored by KOU Takahiro and GUNJI Atsuya. They have kept their position as the top team. The 2nd placed Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) beat Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa (Chiba) by 2 goals scored both by TAKAHASHI Issei. 3rd placed F.C. Tokyo U-18 (Tokyo) beat Shimizu S-pulse Youth (Shizuoka) by the final goal scored by OIJI Yoshiatsu. These 2nd and 3rd teams have kept chasing the top position. Omiya Ardija Youth (Saitama) won the 3 points by scoring 2 goals in the each half against Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki). They moved up to 4th.

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