Pick-up Match
Yokohama F・Marinos Youth vs Albirex Niigata U-18

Matchday 12 of the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League EAST will be played on 11 September. At Yokohama’s Nissan Field Kozukue, Yokohama F・Marinos Youth (Kanagawa) and Albirex Niigata U-18 (Niigata) will square off against each other.

Host Yokohama have been unbeaten in their last five games. They have moved up to the fourth place, having defeated the league-leader F.C. Tokyo U-18 (Tokyo), the runner-up Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) and the third-placed Ichiritsu Funabashi High School (Chiba). Unlike in the first half of the season where they had better possession of the ball than their opponents but struggled to connect for scores, they have been able to capitalise on their chances resulting in favourable outcomes over this summer.

“We’ve been able to score more often when we needed and play our defence more resiliently to protect our goal. But we still have rooms to improve,” Yokohama’s coach MATSUHASHI Rikizo says. Regarding their game against Niigata, he continues: “I would like our players to keep their hard work, at the same time increasing their work rate. We also need to focus on the quality of each plays. Winning against some of the top teams in the league has given them some confidence, but they should not get overconfident. I’m telling our players that what they’ve done in the past won’t help them in their upcoming games.”

Meanwhile, Niigata have lost their last four games in a row. They have allowed 18 goals in the span. They seem vulnerable defensively. They have not earned a win since the third leg. However, looking at the bright side, they entered halftime 0-0 against Ichiritsu Funabashi in the 10th leg. “We performed reasonable well, considering that we’ve able to showcase some of the things that we worked on as a team,” Niigata coach IRIE looks back. In their game against Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka), in which they wound up losing 1-6 in the end, Niigata one time tied the contest and they had stretches within 90 minutes where they were able to play their own game.

The theme for Niigata on this matchday is to overcome tough times in the match as a team. In their previous week’s game, they lost their concentration after they allowed goal toward the end. So Irie insists that his team needs “to play resiliently by communicating with one another when they make a mistake or the team’s mood is poor.”

Coaches' and Players' Comments

MATSUHASHI Rikizo, Coach (Yokohama F・Marinos Youth)
We had some success against Ichiritsu Funabashi on the previous matchday, reflecting on the Matchday 10 victory 5-1 over Kashiwa and making the necessary adjustments prior to the match. Especially, our offence and defence were on the same page in the first half, which lead to this positive result.

Yet we still are far from perfection as a team. We’ve made some changes in our members in the second half of the season and it will take some time before each player could perform well together. I would like them to play as hard as they can. If they put in their 100 percent in practices, they’ll earn positive outcomes on their own.

SAKAMOTO Hiroyuki (Yokohama F・Marinos Youth)
One of our strengths is the ability to involve everybody in the offensive build-up including our goalkeeper and score goals. This weekend, if we can make swift transition from offence to defence when we lose the ball, I think we will be able to play the game at our pace. One of my fortes is heading, so I want to clear all the long balls by our opponents. Offensively, I want to aim at goals when we have set plays. While playing some high-level teams and players in the Premier League, I’m enjoying all the challenges I face in the contest.

IRIE Toru, Coach (Albirex Niigata U-18)
When we get behind or the momentum is shifting to the opponents, we are going to need to play resiliently, and that’s going to be our theme this weekend. Throughout the game, we have stretches where we can do that for sure, but we still need to extend them as much as we can. If we can take care of our mistakes as a team, I believe that we have a chance to increase the number of times we attack aggressively and create chances. We won against Yokohama the last meeting, but content-wise, we got utterly beaten. They dominated for a long period of time, so we would like to have better possession of the ball this time. 

HASEGAWA Takumi (Albirex Niigata U-18)
Our strengths are making swift and vertical attack and executing quick counter-attacks after we get the ball. In the game against Yokohama, the key factors will be switching swiftly between our offence and defence and winning the battles for the ball. I have confidence in one-on-one situations, so I would like to win in them in the middle of the field gaining positive momentum. By playing against competitive teams, we would like to grow as a team and as an individual.

Yokohama F・Marinos Youth vs Albirex Niigata U-18
Date：Sunday 11 September Kick-off 11:00
Venue：Nissan Field Kozukue
Directions：14-minute walk from JR Shin-Yokohama station
　　　　　    12-minute walk from Yokohama municipal subway Shin-Yokohama station
　　　　　    7-minute walk from JR Kozukue station

Premier League EAST Matchday 12

9/11
11:00　Aomori Yamada High School  vs Kashiwa Reysol U-18（Aomori Yamada High School）
11:00　Kashima Antlers Youth vs Ichiritsu Funabashi High School（Kashima Soccer Stadium）
11:00　Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa vs Shimizu S-pulse Youth（Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa）
16:00　Omiya Ardija Youth vs F.C. Tokyo U-18 (NTT East Japan Shiki Sogo Ground)

Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba) will take on Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) away from home. Aomori Yamada fell 0-3 against Reysol in their previous matchup, so they are looking to avenge it.

Ichiritsu Funabashi (Chiba), who took their second loss in the seasion, will try to regain the top spot in the table by beating Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki).

Ryutsukeizaidai Kashiwa (Chiba) was making a comeback in the league, but they have gotten off to a rough start in the second half of the season by losing consecutive matches. They are hoping to make their game against Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka) a turning point to get their momentum back.

F.C. Tokyo U-18 (Tokyo) have won their last three games. They will face Omiya Ardija Youth (Saitama) on the road.

JFA-TV (Japanese Version Only)

Highlights from Matchday 11

More Information