The 22nd International Youth Soccer in Niigata 2nd match vs U-17 Croatia National Team
Sunday 15 July 2018 Kick-off 16:30 Match duration 90mins (45mins×2)
Spo-Island Seiro (Shibata, Niigata)

U-17 Japan National Team 3-0 (0-0, 3-0) U-17 Croatia National Team

Scores
55' IWAMOTO Sho (U-17 Japan National Team)
61' WAKATSUKI Yamato (U-17 Japan National Team)
70' KURIBARA Ibrahim Junior (U-17 Japan National Team)

Starting Line-ups
GK: SUZUKI Zion
DF: INOUE Koki, INOUE Miki, SHIMOKAWA Taiyo, SUMI Seiga
MF: MATSUHASHI Yuan, IWAMOTO Sho, INOUE Ren, BABA Seiya
FW: KURIBARA Ibrahim Junior, WAKATSUKI Yamato

Reserves
GK: ITAHASHI Yosei
DF: NARUSE Shumpei, MARUYAMA Kaito
MF: SHIBATA Sosuke, ODA Yutaro, TSUKUI Takumi
FW: SOMENO Itsuki

Substitutions
HT INOUE Ren → ODA Yutaro
64' BABA Seiya → MARUYAMA Kaito
68' IWAMOTO Sho → SHIBATA Sosuke
75' MATSUHASHI Yuan → TSUKUI Takumi
75' KURIBARA Ibrahim Junior → SOMENO Itsuki

Match Report

On day two of the 22nd International Youth Soccer in Niigata, the U-17 Japan National Team defeated the U-17 Croatia National Team 3-0, recording two straight victories in the competition. Croatia just had their top national team impressively beat the world’s elites one after another, finishing as the runners-up at the recent 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.

The temperature rose even higher than the first match, as it reached 34 degrees Celsius on this day. While Japan stayed keen to record their second straight victory, Croatia could not afford another loss after their defeat in the first match. After the match started off slowly partly due to the heat, it was Croatia who took the initiative of the match. In the eighth minute, a through ball successfully reached the Croatian player up front, but the Japanese goalkeeper SUZUKI Zion came out to shut down the one-on-one situation. In the 21st minute, Croatia broke through Japan’s left side before launching a shot, but the effort went off target. Japan showcased great transitions and intensity in fifty-fifty situations, but they lacked pace in their passes while the attacking players were too passive to create goal scoring opportunities. Midfielder MATSUHASHI Yuan ran up the left flank to deliver a cross but failed to find a teammate in the centre. In the additional time of the first half, midfielder IWAMOTO Sho sent a cross to SUMI Seiga in the box, but his header barely missed the goal. The first half ended with both sides being scoreless.

After Japan’s Coach AKIBA Tadahiro gave an enthusiastic pep-talk during halftime, his players came out much more aggressively in the second half. The team kept their passes simple while adding more pace to it. As Japan found their rhythm, the team initiated their attacks from the flanks, sending crosses into the centre. In the 55th minute, defender SHIMOKAWA Taiyo, who had been repeatedly penetrating the left flank, burst through the middle and was taken down in the box, earning a penalty kick for Japan. Iwamoto calmly converted the spot kick to give his side the opening goal. In the 61st minute, forward WAKATSUKI Yamato skilfully made a turn off a throw in to drive into the box, once again inducing a foul in the penalty area. Wakatsuki himself took the spot kick to add on to their tally. Japan accelerated their attacks as the Croatian side ran out of gas due to fatigue and the heat. In the 64th minute, Japan broke through the opposing defence line on the left side before sending a beautiful cross, but Wakatsuki barely missed out on the opportunity. Wakatsuki did not stop trying as he found a way in the 71st minute to attack the goal before getting fouled once again in the box. Forward KURIBARA Ibrahim Junior capitalised on the penalty kick to make it 3-0. Japan kept on attacking as their midfielder ODA Yutaro struck the post with a freekick in the 80th minute and midfielder TSUKUI Takumi came close to finding the back of the net in the 87th minute. The match eventually ended as Japan failed to score the fourth goal but successfully made enough adjustments in the second half to earn their second straight victory. On Monday 16, the U-17 Japan National Team will take on the U-17 Niigata Select Team, who has narrowly lost 0-1 to the U-17 Mexico National Team on this day.

Players' Comments

GK #1 SUZUKI Zion (Urawa Reds Youth)
It was my first time being called up to the national team since the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, and I am very happy to be here. I have bitter memories from the FIFA U-17 World Cup, as I couldn’t play in any of the matches back then. However, being there to see and feel the top-flight completion in the world gave me great experience. I am here with great intention and high expectations. This is our first time working together as a team and it is evident that we are improving each day, both as a team and as an individual. Even in the small technical aspects, we are improving one by one through this tour. In our match today, the team possessed the ball for a long time, which allowed me to give directions to manage the risks within the defence line. I am glad we managed to keep a clean sheet today. Tomorrow’s match against the U-17 Niigata Select Team just might be the toughest match of all. We will prepare ourselves so that we can enter the match in good shape. We have won this tournament last year, so we hope to defend the title this year.

DF #2 INOUE Koki (Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18)
This was my first call up to the national team, so I must prove that I belong here. In our training sessions, my teammates have been showcasing very high quality in each of their plays, while we have been training to initiate high intensity transitions through the Gegenpress, where each one of us have to use our head. Today I was placed in a defensive midfielder position where I am not used to playing, and even though there were difficult stretches, I am glad we were able to win with a clean sheet. As a team, we failed to display our strengths in the first half, but with the help of Coach Akiba’s pep-talk during halftime, we performed well in the second half. Personally, I found tasks to work on in terms of my positioning when I am not placed as a centre-back. In offence, I feel like we could have delivered more vertical passes up front. Through this tour, I would like to heighten the quality of each plays, while obtaining ways to position myself to evade the opposing pressure. I still need to become a better defender as well. We have one more match to play, so we hope to play well as a team.

MF #7 MATSUHASHI Yuan (Tokyo Verdy Youth)
It has always been my goal to be called up to the national team, so I am very honoured to be here. The training sessions have reminded me the importance to stay strong in fifty-fifty situations while making quick transitions between offence and defence. It has given me such great inspiration and experience to train in this kind of environment. I have learnt what I lack so I will continue to work hard to become a better football player. I was really eager to score a goal, so I am disappointed that I couldn’t score in today’s match. Even though I managed to receive the ball in areas where our opponents didn’t want me to be in, I made numbers of mistakes after those plays so I need to keep my composure. We couldn’t perform well in the first half, but we manged to make the necessary adjustments during halftime and performed well in the second half. In our final match, I would like to score a goal in any form possible. We will unite as a team and showcase our commitment as the national team in our last match so that we can take down the title with three wins.

MF #10 IWAMOTO Sho (Gamba Osaka Youth)
With majority of the players making their national team debut, it took us a while until getting a feel as a team, but through our intense training sessions we have improved as a team each day. Everyone has displayed great concentration to conduct high quality training sessions thus far. In our match against the U-17 Croatia team today, we lacked action in the first half, which resulted with our opponents keeping a high possession of the ball. We made the adjustments in the second half as many of our players showcased their intentions to penetrate the space behind the opposing defence line and their intentions to attack forward. I think those approaches led to our goals. In our final match against the U-17 Niigata Select Team, we must have our pride as the national team of Japan and cap off the tournament with three consecutive wins to take down the title.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.
*MURAKAMI Yosuke (Omiya Ardija Youth), TOMA Hayate (Gamba Osaka Youth), FUJIWARA Yudai (Aomori Yamada High School), NISHINO Taiyo (Kyoto Tachibana high school) will join the training sessions as training partners.

The 22nd International Youth Soccer in Niigata

Tournament Dates: Sat. 14 - Mon. 16 July 2018
Tournament Information