The 3rd Youth Olympic Futsal Tournament Semi-Final
vs U-18 Spain Women's Futsal National Team

Mon. 15 October 2018 Kick-off 16:00 (Local time)
Main Futsal Hall (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team 3-2 (0-1, 3-1) U-18 Spain Women's Futsal National Team

Scores
18' goal against (U-18 Spain Women's Futsal National Team)
22' MAEDA Miu (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
25' ARAI Ichika (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
33' OINO Sara (U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
40' goal against (U-18 Spain Women's Futsal National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: SUTO Yuria
FP: YOKOYAMA Rinka, IKEUCHI Aki, MAEDA Miu, YAMAKAWA Rikako

Reserves
GK: KOBAYASHI Mitsuki
FP: MIYAMOTO Mai, OINO Sara, ARAI Ichika, ABE Mirano

Match Report

On Monday 15 October, the U-18 Japan Women's Futsal National Team faced the U-18 Spain Women's Futsal National Team at the semi-finals of the 3rd Youth Olympic Futsal Tournament Buenos Aires 2018 and won the match 3-2 to advance to the final.

In a match where a win would guarantee the team a medal at the Youth Olympics, Japan came out applying aggressive pressure from their front line. Despite allowing Spain to take control of the ball possession, the Japanese side denied their opponents from creating a clear opportunity. In the eighth minute, from their persistent defence, Japan came close to scoring the opening goal when MAEDA Miu delivered a ball cutting across the opposing goal, but YAMAKAWA Rikako failed to connect with the delivery. Japan would continue to threaten the Spanish goal, but conversely gave up the first goal of the match in the 18th minute when they were caught off guards from a kick-in.

Japan entered the second half with a fresh mindset as they attacked tenaciously from the early minutes. In the 22nd minute, Maeda received the ball from IKEUCHI Aki and captured the goal to level the match. ARAI Ichika followed in the 25th minute, when she forced a turnover deep in the opposing end and capitalised on the opportunity to give her side a 2-1 lead. In the 33rd minute, OINO Sara, who later reflected, “It was very nerve-racking to play with over 6,500 spectators,” captured the team’s third goal to give them a commanding lead.

In efforts to score goals, Spain employed their power-play for the remainder of the match, as Japan’s patience were being tested. Japan will concede a goal in the final seconds of the match but managed to win the match with a final score of 3-2. With the win, Japan has now secured their spot into the final as well as a medal that would come in a colour of either silver or gold.

The team will now face the U-18 Portugal Women's Futsal National Team at the final, an opponent who they have lost to in the group stage. The match will take place on Wednesday 17 October with a kick-off time of 18:00 local time.

Players' Comments

FP #5 OINO Sara (Laufen)
We got rattled a bit when we conceded the opening goal in the first half, but we managed to stay vocal and keep our composure to come from behind by scoring three goals. I think we were able to showcase are persistency. Our opponents came out playing their power-play at the end and scored a goal, but we managed to sustain our lead and won the match 3-2. I am happy that was able to contribute to our victory by scoring the team’s third goal. At the final, we will be facing the Portugal team who we have lost in the group stage, so we will enter the match with a strong intention and great courage to win the match.

FP #6 ARAI Ichika (Fukui Maruoka RUCK)
First of all, I am so glad we managed to win the match. Although we conceded the opening goal and we were forced to play defence for a long stretch, the fact that we managed to keep our focus has led to this result. We hope to showcase great defence and score goals at the final as well. Our next match is the final match of the tournament. I will play to leave no regrets and try to enjoy the match as much as possible. We will give our very best to take home the gold medal to Japan.

Schedule

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