U-20 Japan National Team had its second match of the group stage in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 against Uruguay on Wednesday 24 May at Suwon World Cup Stadium. As both teams had players suffering from injury or fatigue with a two-day interval after their previous match, they replaced several starting members. Japan coach UCHIYAMA Atsushi entered the match with FUJITANI So as right fullback, HARA Teruki and ICHIMARU Mizuki as defensive midfielders.

Against one of the tournament favourites Uruguay, who got through the South American qualifiers atop, Japan came on highly concentrated, showing swift transitions between offence and defence early on. They initiated their attacks from both flanks and came close to Uruguay goal when OGAWA Koki rushed in for FUNAKI Kakeru's left cross. On the other hand, Uruguay also tried to find their goal-scoring chances while taking care of Japan’s early attacks. Then, Nicolas DE LA CRUZ stole the ball from TOMIYASU Takehiro in the 11th minute and created a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper, but his shot went wide to the left.

The Japanese side got off to a decent start but an unfortunate occurrence has forced Ogawa who had been playing well as their upfront target to leave the pitch for the rest of the match. Japan, however, managed to string neat passes even after KUBO Takefusa replaced the injured player, but struggled to create goal-scoring chances, as Japanese players looked back later, ‘We were forced to hold the ball at times (MIYOSHI Koji),’ and ‘Each of us had the ball too long (Ichimaru)’. Then, Uruguay found a gap in the Japanese defence in the 38th minute, when Jose Luis RODRIGUEZ responded to a long ball from the backline and fed the ball to Nicolas SCHIAPPACASSE, who beat few defenders with a slick touch to fire a right–footed shot into the back of the net to give his side an opening goal.

In the second half with a goal down, Japan began showcasing their style of football as been instructed by the Japanese manager at halftime, ‘Offence and defence need to coordinate their efforts together to move the ball to create chances. After regaining possession, we must make quick transitions.’ Then, in the 55th minute, Ichimaru did not miss opponent's build-up error and robbed the ball before beating a Uruguay defender to fire a right-footed looping shot, but saved brilliantly the opposing goalkeeper. Kubo also attempted to direct a header off the loose ball into the net, but saw his effort blaze over the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Kubo picked up Miyoshi's pass and launched a shot after dribbling past the defenders, but his shot was denied again by the Uruguay keeper. Doan reacted to the deflection, but his header was cleared in front of the goal by a defender. In the 67th minute, IWASAKI Yuto ran on to Kubo's incisive through ball and unleashed a shot, but again his effort was blocked by the opposing goalkeeper as well.

Dominating the match with high possession, the young Japanese internationals continued their search for goals, but failed to carve open the solid Uruguayan defence and their chance to level the match was shattered when the South American champions hit on a counter and scored the decisive goal in added time. Falling 2-0 to Uruguay, Japan now stand in third place with one win and one loss as Italy edged ahead of them on goal difference after beating South Africa 2-0.

Match Report

Coach's and Players' Comments

UCHIYAMA Atsushi, Coach
I explained to my players, ‘We need to keep the game close in order for us to have a chance to win it.’ It was very disappointing that we lost 2-0 today. We got off to a good start in the game but gave up a goal from a long ball. Our style of football is to move the ball swiftly and exploit open space to create chances, but my players attempted to break through the opposing defence with only one or two players and not with the entire team effort. We made the adjustments after halftime and created few scoring chances in the second half. However, we were inferior at finishing or capitalising on the opponents’ errors.

DF #2 FUJITANI So (Vissel Kobe)
We had several goal-scoring opportunities as well, but it was our opponents who converted those chances into goals. In regards to the second conceded goal, I saw my coverage man rushing towards the goal, but he used his body well to dodge my challenge. Such lack of tenacity on the ball led to the opponents’ scoring, and I cannot help expressing my disappointment. By having several chances to try out, I felt I can use my speed to compete against the world-class opponents. This I view it as a positive.

MF #16 HARA Teruki (Albirex Niigata)
I simply wanted to win today. I believe I could have robbed the ball more often, and even when I wasn't able to do it myself I had several chances to help my teammates steal it by restricting the ball movement and cornering the opponent. Led by our centre halves, we kept our concentration and defended solidly, but still the opponents managed to score. This is something we need to improve on and, unless we resolve it now, the gap between the world’s top teams and us will widen further.

MF #17 ICHIMARU Mizuki (Gamba Osaka)
The game seemed to have progressed as the opponents planned, especially in the first half when we had possession of the ball but unable to create effective chances. We attempted to break through the well-guarded centre, but failed to do so and ended up sending ineffective crosses from sides, which were simply cleared away by the opposing central halves. In the second half, we created several scoring chances, but unlike the opponents we didn’t have the finishing touch to score goals.

FW #20 KUBO Takefusa (F.C. Tokyo U-18)
In the first half, my first ball touches were poor and I failed to start the game well. I got a bit worried if I could perform well against the opponents whose challenges were quicker than anticipated. But I said to myself at halftime, ‘I couldn’t allow myself to give up here’.

We had several chances but failed to convert those into goals, whereas the opponents capitalise on the first chance they had. I'm disappointed to be honest, but what's done is done. We cannot look back, but instead switch our mind and refresh ourselves ahead of the coming Italy match.

Schedule

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