Japan-Mekong U-15 Football Exchange Programme  - 3rd Match vs. U-15 Vietnam National Team
2015-7-2 (Thu.)- 11:00    Playing Time: 60min. (30min. x2)
J-GREEN Sakai (Sakai, Osaka Prefecture)

U-15 Japan National Team   3-2(1st 0-2, 2nd 3-0)   U-15 Vietnam National Team

Scores
14'   Goal against (Vietnam)
16'   Goal against (Vietnam)
51'   MASUTANI Takara (Japan)
57'   ISHII Kaisei (Japan)
58'   HOMMA Shion (Japan)

1st Half Members
GK:   ASANO Taro
DF:   MASUTANI Takara, ENDO Hikaru, INOUE Miki, KANBE Kosuke
MF:   HOMMA Youhei, IGARASHI Arata, YACHIDA Teppei, HOMMA Shion
FW:  KURIHARA Ibrahim Junior, ISHII Kaisei

2nd Half Members
GK:  TAKADA Yuma
DF:  KAMIYAMA Kyosuke, IWAI Ryuji
MF:  YAMAMOTO Rihito, FUNAKOSHI Hiromu

Substitutes
21'　  HOMMA Youhei → IWAI Ryuji
HT     KURIHARA Ibrahim Junior → FUNAKOSHI Hiromu
60+1'   HOMMA Shion → YAMAMOTO Rihito
60+1'   KANBE Kosuke → KAMIYAMA Kyosuke

Match Report

The U-15 Japan squad took on the U-15 Vietnam National Team in their final group league match on the second day of the Japan-Mekong U-15 Football Exchange Programme. Vietnam, who came in the game with the momentum as they'd won both games they played on the previous day, gave Japan hard times from early with their pressing. Japan were overwhelmed and were forced to play passively.

On 14th minute, a Vietnam player created a one-on-one situation after he received a through pass and then netted it to take a 1-0 lead. They extended the lead on 16th when Japan's defenders made a mistakes with their combination and it led to allow their opponents to have another through pass behind the defenders and score. The game entered halftime with Vietnam up 2-0.

Japan head coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro told his players during halftime, “Which team is more active and which team is speaking louder? Let's run all out in the remaining 30 minutes and get two goals for us.” With the pep talk behind, the Japan players came out aggressively from the beginning of the latter half. Japan looked completely different from they were in the first half, in terms of their one-on-one battles and pass exchanges, and kept attacking on their opponents.

On 51st minute, MASUTANI Takara received a pass in the middle and got fouled in the box to earn a penalty shot. Masutani took the shot himself and scored. ISHII Kaisei headed a free kick that YACHIDA Teppei launched into the goal to equal the contest on 57th. And on 58th, FUNAKOSHI Hiromu fired a shot and it was deflected by the Vietnam goalkeeper, but HOMMA Shion put it in to take a lead in the last minute. Japan posted a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory and qualified through the group league in the first place.

Players' Comments

MASUTANI Takara (Kawasaki Frontale U-18)
We had to play a tough game as we allowed them to take a lead of two goals, but we developed our awareness of fighting as the whole team during halftime, and we had the mind-set to boldly attack the goal and it allowed us to have the rally. But we should have played like we did in the second half from the first half, and we didn't have any necessity to get passive against the opponents who were aggressively pressing. For tomorrow's championship match, we would like to show the fighting attitudes from the first half, winning every one-on-ones by any means.

HOMMA Shion (Albirex Niigata U-15)
We came in the game in a bad fashion and were overwhelmed by our opponents' pace. But we were able to rally past them in the end and it gave us a confidence. I could make some chances with my dribbling, so I want to aggressively attack. We would like to win the championship with these members.

KURIHARA Ibrahim Junior (Mitsubishi Yowa SC Sugamo Junior Youth)
Our team, including myself, were behind the opponents from the preparation process already. The Vietnam U-15 team had a high motivation and they were doing what we were supposed to do in the first half. As a forward, I left so many issues such as making big actions, keeping long balls and creating spaces. For tomorrow's game, I would like to give all out so I won't have any regrets afterward.

YACHIDA Teppei (Nagaoka Junior Youth FC)
We were able to adjust to our opponents' fast pressing and I couldn't play my game as I lost the ball for a few times today. As a team, we made many passing mistakes and lacked concentration. I played better, seeing the moves of our teammates and our opponents, and it led me to feed some effective lateral passes to create scoring opportunities in the second half, so it was good. I could go tough on the ball and picked it up predicting the second balls so many times. It gave us confidence that we ended up winning it, and we would like to show our fighting spirits from the first half and win the championship.

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

Future Schedule

Japan-Mekong U-15 Football Exchange Programme

Wed. 1 July - Fri. 3 July
J-GREEN Sakai (Osaka)
Participating Teams: 
Five U-15 National Teams of Mekong Countries (Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos), U-15 Japan National Team, Vissel Kobe U-15, Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Junior Youth
More information