Pick-up Match

Y.S.C.C Yokohama (Kanagawa) 1-2（0-1, 1-1）University of Tsukuba (Ibaraki)

Remaining 11 first-round matches of the 97th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship were played on Sunday 23 April, and all the teams advancing to the second round were determined.

Y.S.C.C Yokohama (Kanagawa) and University of Tsukuba (Ibaraki) squared off at Shonan BMW Stadium Hiratsuka. While Y.S.C.C. made their first appearance after three years, Tsukuba were focusing on advancing to the second round, where they missed out last year.

Y.S.C.C. came close to the opponents’ goal in the early part of the game. In the 4th minute, MATSUDA Kosuke headed a free kick from the left side, but it went wide. In the 10th minute, cutting in from the left corner of the box, OKUDA Hiroki threatened Tsukuba's goal.

Meanwhile, Tsukuba defended with composure especially by showing their strength on the ball and denied Y.S.C.C.'s attacks. Then in the 28th minute, the Ibaraki side took advantage of one of their few chances. Against the opponents trying to build up from the goalkeeper, MITOMA Kaoru pressed hard and blocked a pass from Yokohama’s defender. He then picked up the loose ball near the goal line and sent it into the box where NAKANO Seiya found the back of the net.

Y.S.C.C.'s string of efforts in the 41st and 45th minutes both hit off the post when Matsuda fired a free kick from range and Okuda rushed up to launch a shot from the right side attack. The Yokohama side failed to tap in the deflections before finishing the first half scoreless with eight unsuccessful shot attempts.

Into the second half, the J.League Division 3 outfit went up with positioning changes and a wider range of moves but still struggled to combine for a shot. It was rather the university counterparts who finished their attacks with shots or crosses after holding up and hitting on the break.

Although Y.S.C.C. made their substitutions to level the scoring and gain their attacking momentum, Tsukuba took the flow of the game instead as they created goal-scoring chance from a counter-attack after picking up a loose ball off Yokohama’s corner in the 68th minute. Furthermore, in the 81st minute, Tsukuba hit back on the left flank from their end. KITAGAWA Shuto, just two minutes after he came on, delivered a beautiful lofted ball to the centre of the pitch, and Nakano received it beyond the reach of the opposing defenders and composedly beat the goalkeeper to give his side a crucial two-goal advantage.

Match Details (Japanese version only)

Y.S.C.C.'s substitute also made his presence felt as MIYAO Koichi put a direct free kick into the net. But their comeback effort ended without finding an equaliser. Tsukuba advanced to the second round, where they will face Vegalta Sendai (J1).

Coaches' and Players' Comments

HIGUCHI Yasuhiro, Coach (Y.S.C.C. Yokohama)
In a knockout tournament, it's more important to grab the ticket to the next round rather than playing good football. Unfortunately, we couldn't take advantage of our fine performance and win the match. Especially in the first half, we were tactically organised as we robbed the ball and connected passes to create quite a few scoring chances. In the second half, the opponents sat back and tried to hit us on the counter, and we simple failed to break through their defensive block. I realised that we still have a lot of room for improvement. We needed to press forward and take risks to score goals. Substitution was made to change the formation to a more attacking one with one anchor. But how we gave away the ball was the problem and, as a result, the fast-paced opponents beat us. Next, we will try to take advantage of our good performance and grab a win in the yet winless league matches.

OIZUMI Kazuya (Y.S.C.C. Yokohama)
We had possession in the first half better than any other league matches, and were able to play as we intended. However, we conceded a goal because of a howler and failed to score when we should have. We had more players up front to score a goal, but lacked the smooth ball movements compared to the first half. They intercepted our balls when we attacked, and since we weren't well prepared for their counter-attacks, we ended up giving up a goal. The first-half performance was the best of the season, but we couldn't find a goal even when we were attacking at our pace. That's the main reason why we lost today. We haven’t found our winning ways, and we will be looking to do so this season.

KOIDO Masaaki, Coach (University of Tsukuba)
This is the only tournament for the university students to play against the professionals, and we were talking to each other that we want to play as many matches as possible. Looking back at the game, the opponents dominated the match while we were trying to cope with their attacks. My players have to work harder, and every one of them has to increase the things that he can do on the pitch. Our basic playing style has not changed since last year. I always try to get the most out of my players by capitalising on their strengths. Clearly, this will depend on who will play in the game. I believe my game management including substitutions has improved since last year by having patience when needed.

NAKANO Seiya (University of Tsukuba)
Talking about the first goal, Mitoma exploited the open space superbly when we faced tough stretches with opponents having better possession of the ball. I recognised the exact positions of the defenders when I received the ball, which allowed me to composedly fire it past the goalkeeper. I must say that the majority of the game was tough, but the entire team focused their efforts on defence to get through the match. The most important thing was that we didn’t lose our composure.

I scored the second goal thanks to Kitagawa's perfect assist. This may be asking too much, but I wish I'd scored earlier and helped the team to play more comfortably. The opponents dominated the game again, and I felt the need to improve even more. Unless we have the courage to take on the opponents to create chances or aggressively exploit the space behind the backline, we will not make it against the J1 teams. We will be working on those aspects in the upcoming league matches resuming next week.

22 April 2017 (Sat.) ～ 1 January 2018(Mon. New Years Day)

Tournament Information