The second day of the South Asia - Japan U-16 Football Exchange Programme was held as part of the international contribution programme ‘Sport For Tomorrow (SFT)’ supervised by the Japanese government.

Sunday 12 March was "Holi", a festival celebrated in Nepal, and U-16 Nepal national players threw coloured powder over each other at a hotel to commemorate the annual event.

Monday 13 March will be the third day of the championship. Coaching staff from the participating countries and instructors across Sri Lanka will take part in the JFA coaching seminar. Under the direction of JFA National Youth Development Director KIMURA Kokichi, Assistant and Coach of Sri Lanka U-16 SUZUKI Chikashi, Coach of Bhutan U-16 LEE Song Jun, and Technical Director of the Nepal National Team TAKEDA Chiaki held a meeting in preparation for the seminar. Three simultaneous Japanese-to-Singhalese interpreters from JICA, namely Mr. NAKANO Mamoru, Mr. USHIODA Yoshinori, and Mr. KAWAGUCHI Jumpei also attended the meeting to prepare for the upcoming lectures as well.

On the side note, U-16 Sri Lanka beat U-16 Bhutan 5-2 in the first game on the second day, while U-15 Japan won a sweeping victory over U-16 Nepal 9-0 in the second match. Each country played with excitement, aiming to win the championship.

While U-15 Japan and U-16 Sri Lanka will play practice game on Monday 13 March, U-16 Nepal and U-16 Bhutan players will take a break and go sightseeing in Colombo.

Comments

SONIL SHRESTHA, Coach (U-16 Nepal National Team)
Japan were an excellent team – highly organised and with individual skills. To be honest, we couldn’t display any of our strengths. Despite the fact we conceded a goal, we managed to defend systematically in the first 20 minutes, which was not a bad start for us. However, thereafter we let the opponents score consecutive goals and then we got unsettled. Since experience is required to overcome this kind of problem, I’d like to raise the level of the team by playing more matches.

TAKEDA Chiaki, Technical Director (U-16 Nepal National Team)
The most important takeaway in the match against U-15 Japan was to ‘learn the gap between us and the top level of Asian football’. I believe this first step is massive and crucial. In terms of the future of Nepalese football, our national teams have been improving incredibly fast with a number of notable achievements within the past year. High potential is something I look forward as a Technical Director of Nepal.

PRITHIVI CHAUDHARY, Captain (U-16 Nepal National Team)
U-15 Japan National Team were very strong. Their physical strengths, particularly speed and power, were out of our league. Although we conceded a lot of goals, our defence did occasionally work. I’d like to learn from today and prepare for the next game.

SPORT FOR TOMORROW（SFT） South Asia - Japan U-16 Football Exchange Programme

11 March 2017(Sat.)～14 March 2017(Tue.)
Racecourse Ground（Colombo, Sri Lanka）

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