SPORT FOR TOMORROW South America - Japan U-17 Football Exchange Programme
U-17 Japan National Team vs U-17 Paraguay National Team
Fri. 22 February 2019 Kick-off time 10:00 (Local time) Match duration 90mins (45mins x2)
Estadio Munichipal de San Bernardo (Santiago, Chile)

U-17 Japan National Team 1-2 (1-1, 0-1) U-17 Paraguay National Team

Scores
8' goal against (U-17 Paraguay National Team)
11' WAKATSUKI Yamato (U-17 Japan National Team)
84' goal against (U-17 Paraguay National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: NOZAWA Taishi Brandon
DF: SHIMOKAWA Taiyo, SUMI Seiga, SUZUKI Kaito, HATA Taiga
MF: ARITA Keito, NARUOKA Hikaru, TANAKA Satoshi, NAKANO Keita
FW: WAKATSUKI Yamato, TSUKUI Takumi

Reserves
GK: SUZUKI Zion
DF: YAMADA Nao, NAKANO Shinya
MF: TANAKA Katsuyuki, FUJIWARA Yudai, MITO Shunsuke
FW: TOYAMA Shoji

Substitutions
55' TSUKUI Takumi → TOYAMA Shoji
65' ARITA Keito → NAKANO Shinya
65' WAKATSUKI Yamato → MITO Shunsuke

Match Report

On Friday 22 February, the U-17 Japan National Team played their first match of the “SPORT FOR TOMORROW (SFT) South America - Japan U-17 Football Exchange Programme” against the U-17 Paraguay National Team in Santiago, Chile.

Following their match against the U-17 Chile National Team played on Wednesday 20, the Paraguayan side entered the match with their eyes set on the upcoming South American U-17 Championship scheduled this March. For Japan, the match represented a rematch from their 2-3 loss in last year’s U-16 International Dream Cup 2018, providing both sides plenty of reasons to win the match.

Prior to the match, Coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro told his players, “We must showcase our character even if are playing on the opponent’s turf,” and the Japanese players entered the match with great intensity to battle against the aggressive Paraguayan side. An early opportunity was created by WAKATSUKI Yamato in the fourth minute, but his final shot went straight to the opposing goalkeeper. Paraguay responded with an opportunity of their own in the eighth minute, when they created a one-on-one situation against the Japanese goalkeeper and converted the chance to take the lead. However, Japan managed to equalise just three minutes later, when TSUKUI Takumi delivered a through ball to allow Wakatsuki to break away and capture the net with his right foot. The match entered a deadlock from then on, as the first half ended with a tied score of 1-1.

The second half saw the Paraguayan players running out of gas, as Japan started to take advantage of the situation to gradually pick up their pace. However, Japan lacked quality in their final touches and failed to capture the go-ahead goal. The deciding moment came in the 84th minute, when Paraguay caught Japan pressing forward and launched a counter-attack. The cross delivered from the left flank was met perfectly by the forward, who shook the net to give Paraguay the lead once again. Despite the closing efforts made by Japan, Paraguay maintained their lead until the final whistle to win the match.

The U-17 Japan National Team will now face the host, U-17 Chile National Team, on Saturday 23.

Players' Comments

GK #1 NOZAWA Taishi Brandon (FC Tokyo U-18)
Although Paraguay showed great aggression to win the ball and applied so much pressure from their front line, we still had to make the adjustments and play our game. As a goalkeeper, my job was to defend the goal, but I allowed two goals today and it was very disappointing. I had to do a better job of keeping the team focused and work together to show a collective effort to defend the goal. We saw many tasks we must work on, but we must reset our minds and prepare ourselves in the best way ahead of our next match against Chile.

DF #5 SHIMOKAWA Taiyo (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
I am very disappointed losing to Paraguay 1-2. I was told by our coach to keep an eye on the opponent’s through balls, so I was able to display a good job in defence. However, I wasn’t able to showcase my strong point in offence, as I had very few opportunities to make the overlapping runs and penetrate the flanks to create chances. I hope to showcase my strengths in our next match against Chile and help the team win. We don’t have many opportunities to face teams from South America, so I hope to challenge myself and make the most out of these matches.

DF #15 SUMI Seiga (Nagoya Grampus U-18)
In our match today, we gave up the first goal from our own mistake but managed to recoup shortly after it by communicating with each other. We were able to find our rhythm in the second half but failed to score the goal to take the lead. Instead, we conceded a goal in the closing minutes to lose the match 1-2. It made us realise that we must manage the risks even when we are dominating the match. We must also show quicker transitions when the ball is lost. Those are some aspects we must keep in mind by communicating with each other on the pitch. We have another match tomorrow, so we will feed off of this match to do a better job.

MF #13 ARITA Keito (Kawasaki Frontale U-18)
I am very glad to be a part of this newly gathered U-17 Japan National Team. Although we were able possess the ball for a long time today, we were caught off guards and conceded the goals to lose the match. Tomorrow’s match against Chile will be our final match of this tour, so we hope to unite as a team and earn the victory. Personally, I would like to get myself more involved with the ball and help the team win with my mobility.

Schedule

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

About “SPORT FOR TOMORROW”

“SPORT FOR TOMORROW” is an international sport contribution initiative led by the Japanese government, which was announced by Prime Minister ABE Shinzo during the IOC Congress in order to promote the bidding activities for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. It is aimed to spread the value of ‘SPORT’ to more than 10 million people across all generations in over 100 nations, especially in developing countries, from the year 2014 leading up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.