2015 "Changan Ford Cup" CFA International Youth Football Tournament Qingdao
3rd Match vs U-18 Uzbekistan National Team 
2015-9-11 (Fri.) - 16:00　Playing Time: 90min (45min ×2)
Qingdao Guoxin Stadium (Qingdao, China)

U-18 Uzbekistan National Team   1-1 (0-1, 1-0)   U-18 Japan National Team

Scores
45+1'   OGAWA Koki (U-18 Japan National Team)
52'   Goal against (PSO) (U-18 Uzbekistan National Team)

Line-ups
GK: KOJIMA Ryosuke
DF: FUJITANI So, NODA Hiroki, MACHIDA Koki, FUNAKI Kakeru
MF: DOAN Ritsu, SAKAI Daisuke, SASAKI Takumi, NAGANUMA Yoichi
FW: YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa, OGAWA Koki

Substitutes
GK: WAKINO Atsushi
DF: IWATA Tomoki, OKANO Jun, TOMIYASU Takehiro, URATA Itsuki
MF: MIYOSHI Koji, SUZUKI Tokuma, MORISHIMA Tsukasa, TAKAGI Akito
FW: ICHIMI Kazunari, IWASAKI Yuto

64'   MACHIDA Koki → TOMIYASU Takehiro
64'   NAGANUMA Yoichi → SUZUKI Tokuma
74'   YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa → IWASAKI Yuto
90'   SASAKI Takumi → ICHIMI Kazunari

Match Report

U-18 Japan National Team's final opponents in the tournament were Uzbekistan.

While Uzbekistan would claim the championship with a win or a tie, Japan still had possibility for the title if they got a win. The contest began with Japan's aggressive plays as they penetrated in the Uzbekistan end in attempt for the opening goal.

The match saw Japan's counterparts Uzbekistan also playing acute offence after winning the ball as they created 1-on-1 situations on sides with long balls side to side and attempted attacks from there through dribbling.

It was Japan that opened the scoring. Heading into the first-half’s added time, YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa initiated his team's attack on the left flank and passed the ball to NAGANUMA Yoichi. After cutting into the centre and grasping the opponents, he slotted a floated through ball behind defenders. OGAWA Koki controlled the ball on his chest and fired it into the net with his left foot before the team finished the first half 1-0.

Japan continued to attack for an additional goal in the second half, yet in the 52nd minute, they allowed Uzbekistan to find a small gap on the right flank. Japan committed a foul for a penalty to let the opponents level the score. Both teams did not yield after that as there were many situations where they attacked into the box but struggled to add a goal.

And as the match was getting into the closing minutes, Uzbekistan on the verge of the championship only with a draw started to pack the defence in front of goal to avoid risks. Japan focused on side attacks and created shooting chances with cross balls into the box. But they were not able to score a go-ahead goal before ending the match 1-1.

Uzbekistan clinched the title, while Japan rounded off the tournament in third place with a record of one win, one loss and one tie. OGAWA Koki (Toko Gakuen High School) won the top scorer award with four goals. U-18 Japan National Team's play the AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016 Qualifiers starting on 2 October, facing Laos, Philippines and Australia.

Coach and Players' Comments

UCHIYAMA Atsushi, Coach
This tournament turned out to be a good simulation for the AFC Championship Qualifiers in October. Every time we stepped onto the pitch, the players were highly aware of various things such as the competition schedule, the competition environment and opponents.

The outcome came out to be not good, but they faced the opponents today without giving up until the end. We have a limited time till the qualifiers. But we will share the team concept together during the given time, and in terms of details, we will try to improve the accuracy of plays and the awareness of scoring goals in front of goal.

SAKAI Daisuke (Oita Trinita)
It was good we had the competition in the completely same schedule as the Asian qualifiers, only one-day interval between matches. The goals we conceded came when we gave away set-pieces through our mistakes and when we wasted our momentum despite playing in our favour. We all are not satisfied with the results.

And we will take it positively because this happened before the qualifiers and we try not to repeat the same mistakes. Talking about the goal we scored, we were playing how we intended to break through the defence. And it was good our efforts paid off in the end.

IWASAKI Yuto (Kyoto Tachibana High School)
We gained only one win in the end but got a good experience for the qualifiers in October. We will improve what we learned in this tournament as much as possible and go for the qualifiers. First I need to work hard in my team to be selected for the squad for the qualifiers. Thank you all for your support.

MACHIDA Koki (Kashima Antlers Youth)
While today we still had a possibility to win the championship, we got rattled early in the match. We gradually got used to the opponents and scored in our favour in the favourable time. But I'm very disappointed as a defender we weren't able to finish the match 1-0. As a team and as an individual, we made careless passing mistakes and got in a tough spot by ourselves. We felt again we needed to get an ability to close out any opponents.

DOAN Ritsu (Gamba Osaka Youth)
In a situation where we would win the championship with a win today, the match was very tense. The outcome was 1-1, and we weren't able to win the title. But the style of football we are pursuing, "going aggressively to win the ball, going aggressively to score a goal," is getting better so much. The camp finishes at this point, but it turned out to be a good experience in simulating the Asian qualifiers.

Schedule