On Sunday 8 December, the quarterfinal fixtures of the Empress's Cup JFA 41st Japan Women's Football Championship took place. At Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Aichi, two fixtures took place, as Nippon TV Beleza (Nadeshiko1/Tokyo) faced Nittaidai FIELDS Yokohama (Nadeshiko1/Kanagawa), while INAC Kobe Leonessa (Nadeshiko1/Hyogo) squared off against Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara (Nadeshiko1/Kanagawa).

Pick-up Match 1

Nippon TV Beleza 5-0 (3-0, 2-0) Nittaidai FIELDS Yokohama

The first fixture held at Paloma Mizuho Stadium, featured a matchup between the defending champions Nippon TV Beleza and Nittaidai FIELDS Yokohama. With the team playing at the AFC Women's Club Championship 2019 (Korea Republic) between the second and third round of the Empress's Cup, Beleza has gone through six matches in a span of 15 days, but showed no signs of fatigue, as they played with great intensity from the early minutes of the match.

The opening goal was scored by Beleza in the third minute, when DOKO Mayo delivered a pinpoint pass to TANAKA Mina. The shot taken by Tanaka went off the Nittaidai goalpost, allowing KANNO Oto to convert the deflection to give the defending champions an early lead. With momentum on their side, Beleza went onto score two more goals in the ninth and 22nd minute, both scored by Tanaka to take a commanding lead before the half-hour mark.

With Beleza taking full control over the ball possession, Nittaidai struggled to pick up their pace, but saw a close opportunity created in the closing minutes of the first half, when HASHITANI Suguri connected with a corner kick delivered by SHIMADA Chiaki, but the shot was blocked away by the Beleza defence.

While Nittaidai continued to make efforts in the second half, Beleza showed no mercy to shut the door, as KOBAYASHI Rikako scored the fourth goal in the 59th minute, followed by HASEGAWA Yui’s goal in the final minutes of the second half, cruising through the quarterfinals with a 5-0 victory. The defending champions will now face Chifure AS Elfen Saitama (Nadeshiko2/Saitama) at the semi-finals.

Pick-up Match 2

INAC Kobe Leonessa 1-0 (0-0, 1-0) Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara

The second quarterfinal match played at Paloma Mizuho Stadium was a fixture between INAC Kobe Leonessa and Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara. Although it was Nojima Stella who took the initiative in the early minutes of the match, INAC gradually took control of the match following the 20th minute mark. Led by IWABUCHI Mana, the Kobe side created numerous chances, but Nojima Stella showcased a persistent effort to keep the clean sheet, as the match entered halftime scoreless.

Despite showing their dominance, INAC struggled to break through the Nojima Stella defence, as the match approached the hour mark without seeing a single goal. However, the deadlock was broken in the 59th minute, when MIYAKE Shiori connected with a corner kick delivered by NAKAJIMA Emi to give INAC the long awaited goal.

The final opportunity for Nojima Stella to equalise the match came during additional time of the second half, as they earned a free kick inside the INAC territory. With their goalkeeper MORITA Yukari taking the free kick, Nojima Stella had all field players trying to convert the set piece, as KITAKATA Sae, KUNITAKE Aimi, and OGA Risako made efforts to crack open the INAC goal, but their attempt fell short from capturing the equaliser.

After earning their third consecutive shutout victory, INAC Kobe Leonessa will now face Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (Nadeshiko1/Saitama) at the semi-finals.

Players' Comments

DOKO Mayo (Nippon TV Beleza)
In today’s match, we focused on managing the risks in defence, but it didn’t go as we planned. In terms of offence, we are good at connecting short passes, but we are always anticipating to throw in long balls to create opportunities. We saw the Nittaidai defence pressing high, so I communicated with Tanaka to exploit that open space. Despite the tight schedule, I am not feeling fatigued. To be honest, I wanted to pay the entire match in the third round.

SHIMADA Chiaki (Nittaidai FIELDS Yokohama)
Whether it’s an offensive approach or a defensive approach, we have tried variety of tactics in our league and cup matches against Beleza, but today we took a new approach where we made our adjustments as the match progressed. Despite conceding two goals in the early minutes, it felt like we were showing more options in our offence and although we lost the match, I was able to see our team’s improvements. We were able to make it this far because everybody did their job to improve the team, and I feel like my teammates carried me here.

MIYAKE Shiori (INAC Kobe Leonessa)
Instead of using my head, I struck the ball with my foot, so I wasn’t sure if the ball was going in, but the ball delivered by Nakajima was perfect, so I just had to tap it in. I have been struggling to score goals lately, so I was feeling like I had to change something in order to score goals. Set-plays have always been our strong point, so I am glad we were able to score a goal from it.

MATSUBARA Arisa (Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara)
We all shared a strong intention to win the title and we were highly motivated for this match, so it is very disappointing that we weren’t able to earn the result we were looking for. We lost our momentum through our own mistakes and gave up the initiative to our opponent. However, we still managed to showcase great persistency in defence, and we didn’t give up any goals from a run of plays. It shows how much we have improved as a team, and our strong commitment towards this match, but at the same time, it makes it that much regretful that we lost by that one goal.

Empress's Cup JFA 41st Japan Women's Football Championship

Tournament Dates: Sat. 2 November - Sun. 29 December 2019
【1st Round】Sat. 2 & Sun. 3 November
【2nd Round】Sat. 23 & Sun. 24 November
【3rd Round】Sat. 30 November & Sun. 1 December
【Quarterfinals】Sun. 8 December
【Semi-Finals】Sun. 22 December
【Final】Sun. 29 December

Tournament Information