Pick-up Match

Seagull Hiroshima Ladies 0-1 (0-1, 0-0) Hokkaido Lira Consadole

On Saturday 21 July, day one of the JFA 23rd U-15 Japan Women's Football Championship took place at J-GREEN Sakai in Sakai City, Osaka, where 32 regional qualifiers compete for the national title. The opening day of the tournament saw eight first round matches, including the match between Seagull Hiroshima Ladies (Chugoku2/Hiroshima) and Hokkaido Lira Consadole (Hokkaido2).

In a match where two teams entering their fourth year since their establishment squared off each other, it was Hokkaido who took the initiative. As NAKAMURA Madoka reflected the match afterwards, “We wanted to avoid conceding early in the match, so we kept our plays simple,” the team from Hokkaido initiated their attacks by attacking the space behind the opposing defenders. In the fourth minute, they created an opportunity from a corner kick where Nakamura Madoka connected with the cross delivered by NAKAMURA Tomoka, but her header went off the target. The Hokkaido side continued to apply pressure as Nakamura Madoka broke through the left flank in the 11th minute, where she collected a foul at the edge of the penalty area. The first attempt made by KAWAMOTO Mihane was blocked by the Hiroshima defenders, but KONDA Natsuho was there to convert the loose ball to give her side the opening goal.

Trailing by a goal, the Hiroshima side made adjustments in the second half to settle their defence, as HIKIDA Shuka later mentioned that, “We knew that their #11 (Nakamura Madoka) was a good player, so we talked to each other to cover ourselves.” The team showcased quick ball movements and created opportunities by forcing turnovers. However, as Coach UKITA Akina described their approach ahead of the match, “The only thing we worked on yesterday was our defence. Our focal point was on how we can maintain our concentration under this hot weather,” the Hokkaido players showed great intensity in their defence to keep out the Hiroshima players from threatening their goal. Team captain Nakamura Tomoka spoke after the match, “Everybody was talking to each other and I felt a strong sense of unity today.” In a match where both teams showcased great efforts, the one goal scored in the first half ended up as the decider, as Hokkaido earned their first win of the tournament with a final score of 1-0.

Coaches' and Players' Comments

OGAWA Junichi, Coach (Seagull Hiroshima Ladies)
It was our first ever tournament at the national level, so I was looking forward to see how our players react. I was thinking that we would have a chance if we managed to defend aggressively while keeping the ball movements as we always do, but unfortunately we looked stiff in the early minutes of the match. We saw some unusual sequence from our players at the scene where we conceded the goal, so it was somewhat regretful, but the players did a good job recouping themselves to display an okay football. The result was unfortunate but the players showcased their strong will to fight until the end, so it was a great learning experience for us.

MF #11 HIKIDA Shuka (Seagull Hiroshima Ladies)
Ahead of this tournament we ran harder than any team and we focused to keep talking to each other, but we looked nervous in the early minutes as this was our first appearance in a national tournament. At first we couldn’t play our game, but after the cooling break we managed to find our rhythm and displayed good football. During the tough stretches of the second half, I gained motivation from the voices of my teammates playing behind me and from the bench. It is disappointing that we lost the match, but I have a sense that we gave all we’ve got.

UKITA Akina, Coach (Hokkaido Lira Consadole)
I was worried to see how our players play outside of Hokkaido, but the players told me that it wasn’t too hot out after the training session ahead of today’s match. We had players who were too nervous to eat their meals last year, but this year they were seen eating two or three bowls, so I had high hopes for this match. Of course I am happy that we managed to win a match outside of Hokkaido, but the goal we have set at the beginning of the year was not just to win a match, but rather to advance deeper into the rounds, so we will continue to work hard to achieve that goal.

MF #9 NAKAMURA Tomoka (Hokkaido Lira Consadole)
Despite this being our third appearance in this tournament, we have never gotten passed the first round. The former players have given us great motivation as they told us that they wanted to see us win this year, so we were really pumped up when we arrived to Osaka. I think we fought for them today as well. We managed to score a goal because we all entered the match with a great concentration level. The team collected the second balls well and applied aggressive pressure from the front line. However, we did seem to run out of gas towards the end of the first half, which led us to attack the opposing side fewer times, so we would like to do a better job of pushing ourselves forward in our next match.

Results of other matches

Nippon TV Menina Serias (Kanto1/Tokyo) 12-0 (4-0, 8-0) Mizusawa United FC Princess (Tohoku2/Iwate)
Mashiki Renaissance Kumamoto F.C (Kyushu3/Kumamoto) 1-0 (1-0, 0-0) INAC Tamagawa Leonessa U-15 (Kanto8/Tokyo)
Toyama Ladies SC (Hokushinetsu2/Toyama) 0-1 (0-0, 0-1) FC Imabari Hiuchi Ladies (Shikoku1/Ehime)
NGU Loveledge Nagoya Youth (Tokai2/Aichi) 1-4 (1-3, 0-1) Kamimura Gakuen Junior High School Women's Football Club (Kyushu1/Kagoshima)
Fujieda Junshin SC Junior Youth (Tokai4/Shizuoka) 0-2 (0-1, 0-1) Albirex Niigata Ladies U-15 (Hokushinetsu1/Niigata)
CANA CRAVO FC (Kanto6/Chiba) 0-1 (0-1, 0-1) Nagoya Football Club Luminous (Tokai5/Aichi)
INAC Kobe Leonessa U-15 (Kansai2/Hyogo) 0-5 (0-4, 0-1) Nojima Stella kanagawa Sagamihara Avenire (Kanto3/Kanagawa)

After winning out of the competitive Kanto qualifiers, led by the offence driven by FUJINO Aoba, Serias managed to score five goals against Mizusawa to win the match. Mashiki scored their opening goal in the second minute of the match when they converted a loose ball following a free kick. The team held on to the one goal lead to earn the clean sheet victory as the team captain MURAKAMI Ayaka later reflected, “We focused on playing hard, rather than to play well. We kept on fighting until the end and defended tenaciously.” Imabari bested Toyama 1-0 to earn their first victory in their first tournament appearance as YOSHIMI Mafuyu mentioned, “Our team can apply great pressure from the offensive end and create opportunities from our side attacks.” Kamimura Gakuen won against NGU with the help of AIKAWA Haruna’s hat-trick. Niigata scored a goal in each of the halves to win against Fujieda Junshin 2-0. After making their second appearance in two years, Luminous won the close battle between CANA CRAVO to earn their first victory. Nojima Stella won their match 5-0 to get off a great start to earn their first ever title. The winners of this round will advance to the second round scheduled to be held on Monday 23 July.

The JFA 23rd U-15 Japan Women's Football Championship

Tournament Dates: Sat. 21 - Sat. 28 July 2018
Tournament Venue: J-GREEN Sakai (Sakai, Osaka)
Tournament Information