Day two of the NIKE NEXT HERO Project’s Italy trip brought a training session in the morning, and a practice match against FC Internazionale Milano’s subordinate organization, A.S. VIS NOVA, who’s based nearby Milan.

Hence the team has only been together for three days, coaches ASAOKA Ryuzo( Ichiritsu Funabashi High School) and NAKAMURA Shingo(Yonago Kita High School) held a meeting a night before the match to go over tactics and formations. Prior to this meeting, players were told to talk through how they envision the match, and how they were planning to approach it. These ideas were then shared at the meeting, along with players’ experience with each positions. Team tactics and formations were then molded according to what they have discussed. Players actively asked questions during the meeting, some even stayed afterwards to address their concerns to the coaching staffs. Lots of communication were displayed by the team, which left a positive impression.

The morning practice session allowed the players to go over the points they have discussed the night before. They then got onto the bus after taking lunch, to head over to the match venue located close by Milan.

The Nike project team took the initiative from the get-go, applying pressure aggressively, forcing turnovers and scoring numbers of goals. They showed no signs of slowing down, attacking from both sides tenaciously throughout the match, and eventually pulling off a blowout win against the local team. Their opponent, A.S. VIS NOVA played hard until the very end, scoring a goal in the last minutes, however, the game ended 11-1, giving the project team a lopsided win in their first match of their Italy trip.

NIKE NEXT HERO Project Italy trip vs A.S. VIS NOVA

24 January 2018 (Wed.) Kick-off 14:45(Local time)　Playing Time 90 min.(45min.×2)

NIKE NEXT HERO Project Team　11-1(4-0, 7-1)　A.S. VIS NOVA

Scores
15'　NAKAMURA Seiryu (Hannan University Senior High School)
21'　ZAIZEN Atsushi (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18)
31'　MORI Kaito (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)
36'　MIZUNO Yuta (Ozu High School)
47'　TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)
58'　NAKAMURA Shunta (Aomori Yamada High School)
59'　ZAIZEN Atsushi (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18)
59'　HIRATSUKA Jin (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)
63'　HIRATSUKA Jin (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)
69'　NAKAMURA Shunta (Aomori Yamada High School)
76'　Goal against
80'　TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)

Starting Line-ups
GK：MIYAZAKI Kotaro (Omiya Ardija Youth)
DF：OKANIWA Shuto (F.C. Tokyo U-18)、YOSHIDA Nobuhiro (Hannan University Senior High School)、NAKAJIMA Taiga (Gamba Osaka Youth)、MIHARA Kanta (Yonago Kita High School)
MF：TANIGAWA Yuma (Vissel Kobe U-18)、ZAIZEN Atsushi (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18)、NAKAMURA Seiryu (Hannan University Senior High School)、KOZUKI Shosei (Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School)、MIZUNO Yuta (Ozu High School)
FW：MORI Kaito (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)

Substitutions
HT　MIYAZAKI Kotaro → UMEDA Togo (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)
HT　NAKAJIMA Taiga → YOSHIMURA Hitoshi (Ozu High School)
HT　MIHARA Kanta → SANO Kaishu (Yonago Kita High School)
HT　NAKAMURA Seiryu → NAKAMURA Shunta (Aomori Yamada High School)
HT　KOZUKI Shosei → SHIMABUKU Kazuyoshi(Urawa Reds Youth)
HT　MIZUNO Yuta → TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)
HT　MORI Kaito → HIRATSUKA Jin (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth)

Comments

NAKAMURA Shingo, Staff (Yonago Kita High School)
I feel like we were able to display what we talked at the meeting. The players showed their intension to materialize the things we wanted to do, the kind of football we had in mind, and the tactics we’ve discussed. During the meeting, we went over how we wanted to defend and attack, so before the game we added another aspect to it by talking about transition. It was clear that the players understood what we mentioned, because we saw numbers of turnovers created from great transition. It was a little unfortunate to give up a goal at the end, but our team kept on pressing even with the commanding lead, and I think that was great.

MIZUNO Yuta (Ozu High School)
For a team that has only been together for a short period of time, I think we worked well as a team. The atmosphere of the team is also getting better. I was able to show my ability with a goal and two assists, but I wish I have scored more. I am still getting used to the tactics, so there are lots to process during the game, but I was able to keep in mind to cover my teammates. The offence applied great pressure up front, creating short counters from turnovers and that was very effective. I hope we do well in tomorrow’s game as well.

For more information and point rankings of the NIKE NEXT HERO (Japanese version only)