International Friendly Match vs U-20 Argentina National Team
Sat. 23 March 2019 Kick-off time 19:00 (local time) Match duration 90mins (45mins×2)
Pinatar Arena (Alicante, Spain)

U-20 Japan National Team 0-1 (0-1, 0-0) U-20 Argentina National Team

Scores
8' goal against (U-20 Argentina National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: OSAKO Keisuke
DF: SUGAWARA Yukinari, SEKO Ayumu, KOBAYASHI Yuki, SUZUKI Toichi
MF: SAITO Koki, FUJIMOTO Kanya, ITO Hiroki, ABE Hiroki
FW: NISHIKAWA Jun, MIYASHIRO Taisei

Reserves
GK: MOGI Shu
DF: TSUNODA Ryotaro, OGIWARA Takuya, NAKAMURA Takumi
MF: TAKI Yuta, HIRAKAWA Rei, KIDA Hinata
FW: SAKURAGAWA Soromon, HARA Taichi

Substitution
69' MIYASHIRO Taisei → TAKI Yuta

Match Report

On Saturday 23 March, the U-20 Japan National Team played the second match of their Europe Tour against the U-20 Argentina National Team. Despite showcasing an equally matched bout, the team suffered a 0-1 loss against the South American powerhouse.

Following their 1-4 loss in their first match against the U-20 Poland National Team, Coach KAGEYAMA Masanaga gave out a pep-talk to his players, “This match will provide us with a great opportunity to simulate the FIFA U-20 World Cup, but I don’t want you to get too satisfied by just being here, because this second match is very important for us. We must showcase our willingness to fight.” Assistant Coach AKIBA Tadahiro also mentioned, “I was very saddened by our performance in the first match. It felt like you had no pride to be representing your country. You must know that we can’t compete against the world if you decide to play selfishly. We must think team first and play with the pride of the Japan National Team.”

The match was held at Pinatar Arena in Alicante, Spain, where many U-20 and U-22 national teams from all over the world gathered to prepare for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019 and the Tokyo Summer Olympics 2020. Teams from USA, Mexico, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Netherlands, and Egypt were seen playing matches at the beautiful facility that contains seven natural grass football fields.

For Japan, their opponent was the U-20 Argentina National Team who showed great intensity from the start of the match. With their world-class transition between offence and defence, Argentina took the initiative of the match, while Japan showed their persistency to defend against one of the best teams of the world in this age group. However, the opening goal came from a miscue between the Japanese defender and goalkeeper in the eighth minute, as KOBAYASHI Yuki misread where the goalkeeper OSAKO Keisuke was positioned and sent a back-pass into the open goal.

Despite the unfortunate own goal, Japan gradually picked up their rhythm and showcased an equally matched bout against Argentina. The Japanese defenders kept their cool to respond against the speedy attacks initiated by the South American side, while their midfielders kept a compact formation to keep the ball moving smoothly. In the 28th minute, ABE Hiroki received a cross ball delivered by MIYASHIRO Taisei, and shook off a defender before striking a shot, but his effort went wide of the target. Another opportunity was created by Abe in the 30th minute, when he received the ball from NISHIKAWA Jun before dribbling up the field to fire a powerful shot, but his attempt was saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

After entering halftime with a goal lead, Argentina rotated their line-up in the second half. With their centre half delivering quality feeds from the back-line, Argentina started to show their dominance in the match. A close opportunity came in the 57th minute when an Argentinian player showcased a superb individual effort to breakthrough the left flank before striking a powerful shot, but the Japanese goalkeeper Osako was there to parry the ball away.

The Japanese defenders played with great tenacity to keep the Argentinians away from scoring any goals, while their offence created opportunities to equalise the match, but the match turned into a deadlock in the second half as it ended with a final score of 0-1 in favour of the South American side.

The U-20 Japan National Team will face the U-20 USA National Team in their final match of their Europe tour.

Players' Comments

DF #15 SEKO Ayumu (Cerezo Osaka)
Following our big loss against the U-20 Poland National Team, we travelled over to Spain with a new mindset. Compared to our match against Poland, we were able to show more intensity and stronger mentality, but ended up losing the match, which was very disappointing. We have been discussing as a team to find out what we lack and what we need to do to win these matches. We still have one more match to play, so we will give our best effort as a team and strive to win the match.

MF #8 FUJIMOTO Kanya (Tokyo Verdy)
After we played the U-20 Poland National Team, we analysed how we conceded the four goals and discussed how we can make ourselves better ahead of the match against the U-20 Argentina National Team. Our opponents came out with enormous intensity, but we focused on the fundamentals, such as winning the one-on-one battles, making quick transitions, and out running our opponents. Despite losing the match, I believe that we were able to perform the way we wanted, so it feels much different from our match against Poland. However, we will be asked to earn results at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019, so we will focus on winning our final match of this tour.

MF #10 ABE Hiroki (Kashima Antlers)
Although we lost the match against the U-20 Argentina National Team, we performed much better than we did against the U-20 Poland National Team, and it allowed us to really see what we need to work on to become a better team. If we can play with patience and keep our composure for the entire 90 minutes, we can give ourselves a good chance to win against any team at the World Cup. We will prepare ourselves thoroughly ahead of the final match.

FW #11 MIYASHIRO Taisei (Kawasaki Frontale)
The match in Poland has given us a wonderful opportunity to simulate the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019, but our performance in that match was very disappointing. With that in mind, we entered today’s match against the U-20 Argentina National Team with great motivation. We managed to stay on the same page to play good defence, but we lacked quality in the final third and couldn’t convert our chances. We hope to finish off this tour by winning our final match. I will personally try to earn good results so that I can make a case for myself to be selected in the roster for the World Cup.

FW #20 NISHIKAWA Jun (Toko Gakuen High School)
After traveling from Poland to Spain, we entered today’s match with a strong sense of redemption. From the early minutes of the match, we managed to initiate some good counter attacks, but couldn’t convert those opportunities. It felt like we clearly lacked quality in the final third. These two matches have really given us the opportunity to feel what it’s like to compete at the world level in this U-20 category. Our time is limited ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019, so I will work hard to improve myself and earn my spot into the final roster.

Schedule

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

International Friendly Match - Europe Tour

Dates: Mon. 18 - Wed. 27 March 2019

Match Information