On Saturday 19 March, the 27th All Japan Ladies Football Tournament got underway at Tokinosumika Sports Centre in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The first day had the first two secs of the first round with 16 regional representing teams in four preliminary-round groups battling for the eventual final match. (Every match consists of two 25-minute halves.)  

Unfortunately the first sec matches started at 10:00 in a heavy rain. Group A saw Oideyasu Kyoto (Kansai/Kyoto) and Tokyo Artemis SC (Kanto2/Tokyo) start their campaigns with two straight wins. The most notable was Tokyo Artemis SC who showed their prowess both offensively and defensively by cruising through the first match 4-0 and holding FC Benibana (Tohoku 2/Yamagata) to 1-0 in the following sec.

In Group B, Tonakai Ladies F.C. (Kyushu 1/Fukuoka) defeated Muroran Icebirds (Hokkaido) 3-0 and Kochi Ganador FC (Shikoku 1/Kochi) 2-0 to lead the group standings. The Hokkaido side exhibited not only outstanding plays on the pitch but also great teamwork including their bench, as their player NAKAGAMI Chika said “we want to prove that we were the most cohesive team in the country”. 

In Group C’s first sec, also seeing torrential rain, UILANI FC (Kanto 1/Saitama), winning the Kanto Tournament atop, and Nagano Friends (Hokushinetsu/Nagano) came out their respective close match victoriously. In the second sec, UILANI FC’s offence exploded to dominate Mizusawa United FC (Tohoku 1/Iwate) from the beginning all the way to the 6-0 ending and the lone consecutive victory recorded in the group. ISHIDA Mihoko tallied three of four goals scored by the Saitama side in the second half. 

Matches turned out to be close as well in Group D. The first match between Shimizu FC Ladies (Tokai/Shizuoka) and Ehime Selection (Shikoku 2/Ehime) went into the second half with a 1-1 tie, but SHIGEMOTO Shiho scored her second goal of the day in the 33rd minute to lead her Ehime Selection to the victory. FC BB (Kanto 4/Saitama) and Tottori Ladies (Chugoku 2/Tottori) also showed a scoreless see-saw battle until IWAI Hiromi robbed the ball from the opposing goalkeeper for the match winner for FC BB. FC BB also grabbed another close 3-2 win in the following match to finish the day with a perfect record.

As everyone wished, the morning rain stopped around noon and the afternoon matches were held in a completely reversed weather with strong sunshine. Although teams were forced to play on a slippery, ball-stopping pitch, high-level competitions were seen in many matches.

Sunday 20 March will have the group stage’s last sec and the first round of tournaments to be held by group stage ranks. There is no wonder that more of exciting matches are to be on full display.  

Players' Comments

KIKKAWA Sayo (FC BB)
Our team has been operating since 2007 mostly with the players who used to play together, but as a matter of fact, we get together only five times or so in a year. Each of us plays futsal or football somewhere else, and when the prefecture qualifier comes around, we get together. I personally play futsal usually, but when I play football I feel like I am playing another sport. It’s fun to play with this team, because we all can feel the mood on the team and adjust to it. It will best if we can enjoy this tournament and also win matches. We all hate to lose, so we will do our best! 

OYAMA Yuriko (Tokyo Artemis SC)
At the first match, there was water all over the pitch and couldn’t move the ball as we usually can. Even so, we could play a different game plan and start off very well from the beginning. This year it is our 10th straight appearance, but we have some elder teammates who have played in all those. Also the starters for the first match included eight players out of 11 who are in their forties. With all those players who are called “Legends”, we aim to play “football that can be enjoyable no matter how old we are”. We want to make sure to win all the matches. 

HIGASHIKAWA Aya (Oideyasu Kyoto)
As a result of us all having fun playing, we got consecutive wins and it was good. We are here with players from all over Kyoto Prefecture. Some of us play regularly and others don’t play except for a tournament like this one. This tournament reunites me with my old teammates and friends, so it’s fun to have such meetings and playing together. Of course if we keep winning, that’s better. But our first goal is to enjoy playing games. So we want to keep playing without pushing us too hard. 

NAKAMURA Yuko (Tonakai Ladies F.C.)
Last year we lost at the last eight, so we have targeted at something better than that. It was good that we won both two matches. In the second match, there were some things we did more poorly than the first one, but we kept talking to each other and covering for each other and we could move around the ball. This team have such a good chemistry that age doesn’t matter. We have fun and at the same time we are leaving good results. So for matches for the rest of the way, everybody gets to play with “going all out with smiles” as our goal, and hopefully we will do good job altogether to grab wins. 

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

The 27th All Japan Ladies Football Tournament

19 March 2016 - 21 March 2016
Susono Ground of Tokinosumika Sports Centre (Susono, Shizuoka)
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