AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship 2015 (East)
Tue. 19 May 2015 - 17:00　Playing time: 70min (35minx2)
Beijing National Football Centre Pitch 5 (Beijing, China)

U-14 Japan Selection  0-2 (1st 0-0, 2nd 0-1)  U-14 Korea Women's National Team

Scorers
10'  CHO Mijin (U-14 Korea Women's National Team)
36'  CHO Mijin (U-14 Korea Women's National Team)

Line-ups
GK: MIYAKE Sayu
DF: TOMIOKA Chihiro, GATTO Yukino, YOSHIMOTO Konatsu, MITANI Wakana
MF: NAKAO Momo, TANAKA Tomoko, TERADA Himeka, NAKAE Moe
FW: UEDA Kana, ONO Haruka

Sub Member
GK: ITO Nanami
FP: NOJIMA Ayami, SAITO Riko, NAGAE Ibuki, OIKAWA Riko, AOKI Yuzuka, ONISHI Ayuka

HT  ONO Haruka → ONISHI Ayuka
HT  TERADA Himeka → AOKI Yuzuka
58’  NAKAE Moe → SAITO Riko

Match Report

Japan’s tournament opener began in fine weather three days after the team arrived in China. The opponents were rival Korea Republic. Japan, who took a Korea trip as the Elite U-13 last year and won a series with a record of one win and one draw, dominated the match from the start.

Japan soon had a golden opportunity after six minutes but failed to make it through. On the other hand, Korea Republic opened the scoring four minutes later when their forward ran through to a long pass from the defensive line deep in the Korean side.

As Japan gradually got back in form after the early goal against, they finished the first half a goal down. Although the Japanese bench replaced two players for the second half, they conceded another goal just one minute into the second half when the Korean side did not miss a controlling lapse by the Japanese defensive line and fired a blast from the middle.

But Japan also created situations to break through the opposing flanks through careful passing moves. In the closing minutes, Japan came close to the Korean goal many times, yet their shots were denied by the post and Korean goalkeeper’s fine save.

Despite dominating the match, Japan lost with a goal from a single long pass and a single subtle mistake.

In a meeting after the match, head coach Kato said, “You guys did what we were trying to do until the end. That’s was a great match. But the outcome sometimes turns out to be like this. Don’t forget this match and take this experience for the next level.” The players refreshed their mindset for tomorrow’s second match against Guam.

Head Coach and Players' Comments

KATO Kenji, Head Coach
We created good stretches by aggressively going on attacks from the start. But because we weren’t able to cope with a single long pass and conceded a goal, we took too much time to get back our momentum. We tried to play too carefully that our attacking moves tended to be easy for the opponents to predict. To pursue bravery, we created many goal-scoring opportunities in the closing minutes but weren’t able to turn them into a goal. It’s very disappointing our current issues came out there and that led to the outcome of the match. We still have matches coming up. We will try to overcome such issues in those following matches.

GATTO Yukino (Urawa Reds Ladies Junior Youth)
We played against Korea Republic today. I was tensed as the atmosphere was just like a typical international match and different from my usual matches. Korea got speed and physical strength and came to challenge on the ball quickly. I felt they've picked up momentum. We dominated the match early in the first half. But in the second half, we ran out of steam as a team and allowed space between the midfield and defence, so we struggled to pick up second balls. Individually, I was able to challenge on one-on-one situations but wasn't able to cope with long passes well. I want to always get well-prepared and will try to win aerial battles over any opponents to clear the ball. And I will try to get a lot of interceptions and connect them to our attacks. We lost today, but with this experience, I want to play each one of following matches seriously.

NAKAE Moe (Albirex Niigata Ladies U-15)
I was tensed before the match today. I went out for the match to aggressively take shots for a goal. I was actually able to take shots but not able to turn them into a goal. That's something I need to improve. But I've got some positive outcome as well. I'm glad I was able to send crosses from sides taking lots of tries. In tomorrow's Guam match, I will stick to passing accuracy and hopefully score a goal.

NAKAO Momo (JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies Rame)
Today's Korea match was played in a different environment from the one in Japan, but we were able to have good preparation for it. Because it was our first match, we aimed to put pressure with hard-running from the front line and play with individual plays when facing forward. In the first five minutes after the kick-off, we were successful in putting pressure from the front and playing collective defence so that we could play at a higher area.

As an individual goal, I was able to play aggressively with individual plays.
But I've got some inaccurate passes while moving and failed to score in front of goal. For the next match, we will get well-prepared in training and improve the team.

Schedule