U-15 Japan National Team  vs  Ichiritsu Funabashi High School
2015-8-26 (Wed.) - 16:00   Playing Time: 135min (45min✕3）
Frontier Soccer Field (Chiba)

U-15 Japan National Team   2-7 (0-1, 1-3, 1-3)   Ichiritsu Funabashi High School

Scores
33'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
53'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
59'   SUZUKI Toichi (U-15 Japan National Team)
60'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
85'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
94'   TANAHASHI Akito (U-15 Japan National Team)
120'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
123'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)
125'   Goal against (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School)

1st
GK: TANI Kosei
DF: IWAI Ryuji, KOBAYASHI Yuki, SEKO Ayumu, AMANO Yuki
MF: FUKUOKA Shimpei, HIRAKAWA Rei, SUGAWARA Yukinari, KUBO Takefusa
FW: MIYASHIRO Taisei, NAKAMURA Keito

2nd
GK: AOKI Kokoro
DF: KIKUCHI Kenta, KOBAYASHI Yuki, KEMMOTSU Takumu, MIKI Norihiro, SAKUTA Ryutaro
MF: SEKO Ayumu, SUZUKI Toichi, HIGASHI Shunki
FW: KUBO Takefusa, YAMADA Hiroto

3nd
GK: OUCHI Issei
DF: NOZUE Satoru, KEMMOTSU Takumu, KIKUCHI Kenta, KATO Hayato
MF: KUDO Aoi, AWANO Kento, HARA Mikoto, KATSURA Rikuto
FW: TANAHASHI Akito, HIGASHI Shunki

45'   TANI Kosei → AOKI Kokoro
45'   IWAI Ryuji → KIKUCHI Kenta
45'   AMANO Yuki → SAKUTA Ryutaro
45'   FUKUOKA Shimpei → MIKI Norihiro
45'   SUGAWARA Yukinari → HIGASHI Shunki
45'   MIYASHIRO Taisei → YAMADA Hiroto
45'   NAKAMURA Keito → SUZUKI Toichi
68'   KOBAYASHI Yuki → KEMMOTSU Takumu
68'   HIRAKAWA Rei → SUGAWARA Yukinari
68'   KUBO Takefusa → TANAHASHI Akito
68'   SEKO Ayumu → FUKUOKA Shimpei
90'   YAMADA Hiroto → KATSURA Rikuto
90'   SUZUKI Toichi → HARA Mikoto
90'   FUKUOKA Shimpei → AWANO Kento
90'   SUGAWARA Yukinari → KUDO Aoi
90'   MIKI Norihiro → NOZUE Satoru
90'   AOKI Kokoro → OUCHI Issei
90'   SAKUTA Ryutaro → KATO Hayato
113'   KIKUCHI Kenta → SAKUTA Ryutaro
113'   HIGASHI Shunki → YAMADA Hiroto

Match Report

U-15 Japan National Team, nicknamed "00JAPAN*," had three 45-minute games against Ichiritsu Funabashi High School.

In the 1st period, Japan were not able to connect passes and failed to find the rhythm at all against the high school opponents who were physically stronger. As both teams showed intense battles in the midfield, goalkeeper TANI Kosei denied Ichiritsu Funabashi's golden opportunity in the 20th minute before Japan started creating chances.

In the 27th minute, forward NAKAMURA Keito rushed for forward KUBO Takefusa's through ball and found himself 1-on-1 with the opposing goalkeeper, but his shot went wide. While Japan were not able to convert their chances into a goal, the high school side opened the scoring with a long-range shot in the 33rd minute. The first period finished without any more notable actions.

Japan started the 2nd period with aggressive challenges early on. They played the match with their pace as substitute forward YAMADA Hiroto and midfielder SUZUKI Toichi had shooting chances, yet conversely Ichiritsu Funabashi found a small gap in Japan's defence in the 53rd minute.

Japan goalkeeper AOKI Kokoro parried Ichiritsu Funabashi's shot that came from a side attack, but the opponents picked up the clearance to neatly send it into the net for their second goal of the match. Japan kept attacking without flinching despite the conceded goals. In the 59th minute, Japan finally scored a long-awaited goal when Suzuki dribbled into the box from midfielder HIRAKAWA Rei's pass and fired a blast from distance into the left side of the net.

Yet soon after that in the 60th minute, Ichiritsu Funabashi intercepted Japan's sloppy pass in the midfield and sent it into the net. Japan came close several times afterwards. In the 74th minute, midfielder FUKUOKA Shimpei dribbled through the right side and launched a shot, but the opposing goalkeeper saved his shot.

While careless and passive passes increased, Japanese defence was completely broken through in the 77th and 82nd minutes. But Aoki did not allow an additional goal with superb saves on those 1-on-1 situations. Japan managed to hold up but gave up space behind the defensive line from a through pass and conceded the third goal in the 85th minute. Japan allowed the opponents to extend the lead before finishing the 2nd period.

The early stage of the 3rd period saw Japan's substitutes play aggressively just as the 2nd period after being advised passionately by their coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro. In the 94th minute, TANAHASHI Akito responded to defender NOZUE Manabu's long ball and floated it over the opposing goalkeeper rushing forward to score his side's 2nd goal of the match. Japan sought for continuous attacks but fell behind the opponents who have superior physical intensity.

Although Japan kept the opponents away from a goal with midfielder KUDO Aoi's shot block and goalkeeper OUCHI Issei's save, Ichiritsu Funabashi repeatedly troubled Japanese defence in five minutes after the 120th minute and scored three goals. Japan tried to rally back, but their efforts did not pay off until the end. The lost the match 7-2 in total.

The next training match of "00 Japan" is scheduled on 28 August against Jef United Ichihara U-15.

* ”00 JAPAN” is the nickname of the U-15 Japan National Team that consists of members who were born in 2000.

Players' Comments

AOKI Kokoro (JFA Academy Fukushima U15)
In today's match, I took an aggressive challenge, but each one of plays was not accurate and safe enough. And there were not enough instruction aloud from me for risk management to predict next moves.

Starting from tomorrow's training, I will try to improve accuracy of a single catching that I worked on today and want to play more calmly and accurately. I will try to communicate with my teammates more and win the next match with a clean sheet.

AMANO Yuki (F.C. Tokyo U-15 Musashi)
When I received the ball from central defenders, my position was too low so that we couldn't simply connect the ball because our decision-making was poor. I came here to this camp to find more playing options for myself, so I will take advantage of what I learned from today's match for the next one. From the training tomorrow, I will polish the accuracy of each one of my passes and my playing judgement to capitalise on my own strength speed.

IWAI Ryuji (Yokohama F・Marinos Junior Youth)
Compared to the last camp in Thailand, we were able to commit ourselves in battles in front of goal and shot blocking. We still have a lot of situations where we lost the ball easily and our shift between offence and defence was slow. So we will pursue better accuracy and quickness even in training. Still, our combination has some problem. We will be aware of accurate coaching and positioning. We will refresh our mind and go all out for the training tomorrow.

SUGAWARA Yukinari (Nagoya Grampus U15)
Even though the opponents were strong, the loss was disappointing, and I wanted to win. I felt we couldn't catch up easily with them unless we improve as a team and as an individual. What we learned in today's match were collective defence as a team, everyone's awareness for a goal, accuracy of important passes and positioning and composure in inferior situations. Taking advantage of this loss, we will share reflections and keep up our work from tomorrow as well.

YAMADA Hiroto (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
In today's match, we spent a lot of time allowing the opponents to dominate the ball, and we weren't able to pass the ball around with our rhythm. But as a team, we were able to create a couple of chances against the strong team. And I had some shooting chances, so it reminded me of necessity to capitalise on limited chances. It was good that I was able to try out various things like running through behind the defensive line and challenging with dribbles.

On the defensive side, positioning between attackers was poor because of lack of combination, and we allowed the opponents to complete through balls. Starting from tomorrow's training, we will stick to a win, focus on finishing touch and collective defence, and improve our condition.

Schedule

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