AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship East 2016/Group A  3rd Match vs U-14 China PR Women’s National Team
2016-5-19 (Thu.) - 17:00   Playing Time: 70min. (35min.×2)
National Football Training Centre Pitch 5 (China/Beijing)

U-14 China PR Women’s National Team   0-3 (0-2, 0-1)   U-14 Japan Women's Selection

Scores
5'   ITO Megumi (U-14 Japan Women's Selection team)
12'   ITO Megumi (U-14 Japan Women's Selection team)
39'   SHIROWA Reina (U-14 Japan Women's Selection team)

Line-ups
GK: OBA Shu
DF: NOGUCHI Akari, KATANODA Suzu, TABATA Haruna, MATSUHISA Kanna
MF: TAKARA Kotone, ABE Ayane, FUCHIGAMI Nonoka, YOSHIZUMI Warai
FW: ITO Megumi, SHIROWA Reina

Substitutes
GK: TAKESHITA Kanasa
FP: SHIMADA Mei, IMADATE Nodoka, KIMURA Chisa, KASAI Yui, KAWAGISHI Emika, KAWAMOTO Sae

HT   ABE Ayane → KASAI Yui
HT   OBA Shu → TAKESHITA Kanasa
44'   SHIROWA Reina → KIMURA Chisa
54'   TAKARA Kotone → KAWAMOTO Sae
63'   ITO Megumi → SHIMADA Mei
67'   YOSHIZUMI Warai → IMADATE Nodoka

Match Report

The U-14 Japan Women’s Selection team has already got through to the semi-final by winning their second match of the group stage against China. In the meeting prior to the match, the team’s Coach YODOKAWA said to the players: “whoever you will play, what you have to do is always the same; what is important is that you will keep your level of play. Just like in the match yesterday, start the game in a good mood and show off that you are the ones who take control.”

China seemed highly motivated right from the warming-up session; they were at a higher risk of leaving this competition if they lost this match.

As the Coach Yodokawa expected, Japan calmly managed the game from the beginning. In the 2nd minute, YOSHIZUMI Warai (Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls) ran into the right wing spot behind China’s defence and tried to cross the ball deeper from where she was, but the ball just hit one of the Chinese players. 

3 minutes after this, Yoshizumi jumped into the same right side spot and received the ball from forward player SHIROWA Reina (JFA Academy Fukushima), and successfully crossed to the centre. ITO Megumi (JFA Academy Fukushima) caught the cross well and scored the opening goal. Japan could get the first goal early in the first half. 

In the 12th minute, China had a free-kick which was taken from just off the left side of Japan’s penalty area but Japan’s goalkeeper OBA Shu (JFA Academny Fukushima) caught the ball. Oba cleared the ball up to Shirowa who moved forward with it. Ito’s loop shot went over the head of the Chinese goalkeeper and found the Chinese net. Japan kept attacking China and the 1st half ended 2-0. 

4 minutes in to the 2nd half, centre-back FUCHIGAMI Nonoka (JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA LADIES U-15) made a deep pass to Shirowa who was running closer to the goal. The Chinese goalkeeper went outside of the penalty area to intercept this pass before Shirowa could get it but the cleared ball hit Shirowa’s body and she could then hit it into the open goal. It was the Japan’s third goal which utterly dampened China’s momentum at the beginning of the 2nd half.

After the goal, China tried hard to score and made some long pass, but Japan stayed consistent based on their defence players. Even though there was some time that Japan couldn’t take control, the substitutes worked well making use of their advantages and finally the match ended. Japan won the match with a good result which makes them positive for their next match which will be the semi-final. 

Japan finished top of their group with 9 points from three consecutive wins. They will play against Chinese Taipei who finished another group in second place in their group. The semi-final will be on 21 May. The players will take a good rest on the 20th to head to the final stage of the competition. 

Assistant Coach Comment

TODOROKI Natsuko (JFA National Training Centre Coach/Cerezo Osaka)
Today we have played to go through this group stage as the top team. The players could get 2 goals in early in the match and they could manage the game calmly in the 1st half. They also could score in the 2nd half, but they allowed them to take control of the match, while being a bit nervous with the opponents who tried to move up to the front with long balls. 

It was good that we could finish top of the group with this 3-0 result, however many issues were also found in this match such as how to respond to long balls, improving our passing, and how to get involved better in the play. We will correct these issues as much as possible and get ready well for the semi-final on 21st and we hope we can go through to the final. 

Players' Comments

FP #4  ITO Megumi (JFA Academy Fukushima)
Even though we knew that we could go through to the next stage, this match was still important for us to be the top of the group. We could win the match 3-0 and we could finish top. I played to contribute to the team. It was good that I could score two goals, at the time of these goals I could stay calm looking at the opponent players. 

Especially, the first one was a good one since we could make it in the earlier time and we could take control after the goal. Yet we couldn’t score well regardless of the chances that we had, so for the next time we want to score more. We have another two matches to go and we want to get ready well as a team and to take a gold medal to Japan. 

FP #6  KATANODA Suzu (Kusunoki Club Ladies)
The issue found today was that we were late to go closer especially to the China’s No. 10 player when they received the ball, and we allowed them to make shots easily. We also could not clear the ball well at times and the ball went back to the opponent players. In the next match, I will pay more attention to these issues. 

The good things were I could head back the ball when China made punt kicks, and I could try plays that could trigger attacking. We want to get the title, so I will raise more voice for coaching from behind to make a good effect to the team. We want to keep clean sheets throughout this competition.

FP #5  KASAI Yui (SHRINE LFC)
Today I paid extra attention to heading, not rolling my body and to bounce the ball straight away. Another one I was careful about was not using my hand since we conceded fouls by using hands especially in the match against Korea Republic. What I could do today was that I could kick the ball away, responding well to the goal kicks and clearing balls made by opponents, and that I could cover well at the time of heading. 

What I couldn’t do today was making pass mistakes; I couldn’t move the ball around calmly, and the timing to receive the ball was not right. Next time I will pay attention to these issues to improve. The Chinese players were generally taller and fitter and we normally can’t play against these types of players in Japan. Off the pitch, the food I have here is very impressive, it is very different and that surprises me. 

Schedule

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