2016 NTC Invitational Tournament 1st Match vs U-19 Panama National Team
2016-6-29 (Wed.) - 15:00   Playing Time: 90min. (45min.×2)
U.S. Soccer National Training Center (Los Angeles/USA)

U-19 Panama National Team   0-0 (0-0, 0-0)   U-19 Japan National Team

Line-ups
GK: KOJIMA Ryosuke
DF: KOJIMA Masaya, TOMIYASU Takehiro, MACHIDA Koki, URATA Itsuki
MF: DOAN Ritsu, KAMIYA Yuta, WATANABE Kouta, ENDO Keita
FW: OGAWA Koki, KISHIMOTO Takeru

Substitutes
GK: YAMAGUCHI Rui
DF: YANAGI Takahiro, OMINAMI Takuma, NODA Hiroki
MF: NAGANUMA Yoichi, ICHIMARU Mizuki, KUBOTA Kazune, TAKAGI Akito
FW: KAKITA Yuki, IWASAKI Yuto

67'   KISHIMOTO Takeru → IWASAKI Yuto
75'   ENDO Keita → NAGANUMA Yoichi
85'   DOAN Ritsu → TAKAGI Akito
85'   URATA Itsuki → YANAGI Takahiro

Match Report

On 29 June. the U-19 Japan National Team played against the U-19 Panama National Team for the first match of the 2016 NTC Invitational Tournament.

At the beginning of the 1st half, Japan made mistakes being nervous about Panama’s pressure and couldn’t find their rhythm to move the ball around well. After the 10th minute, they started to take control moving the ball around and made some shots. In defence, they made the distance between forward players and defence line narrower; at the moment when Panama passed the ball to their full-back players, Japan immediately started combination press defense to steal the ball and start to counter attack from their side wings. However, Japan couldn’t score and the 1st half ended 0-0. 

In the 2nd half, Japan continued to attack Panama to get the opening goal but could not do it. Gradually Japan started to be too pressured to pass the ball well and they started to allow Panama to counterattack. Japan still blocked them not to allow any decisive chances and continued to attack from side wings. However, they couldn’t make good combination in front of the goal and eventually they started to dribble or pass with individual decision. Effective and organised offence was missing in the team of Japan, and the match ended 0-0. 

The second match against the U-19 Costa Rica National Team will take place on 1 July. 

Players' Comments

DF #4  MACHIDA Koki (Kashima Antlers)
Since it was the first match, we kicked off with a higher level of concentration. At the beginning we were pressured a bit, but we gradually started to make chances from our compact defence. However, we could never score and I am regretting it. I felt that I have to be the player who can lead us to win in a difficult game, such as making a difference utilising set plays as a defender. We will have the next match soon, so we want to play well sticking to getting the victory as a team. 

MF #18  ENDO Keita (Yokohama F・Marinos)
It was a hard match today. Throughout the match, we had a big chance and we could have managed the match much more easily if we had scored at that time. Defenders remained patient to keep a clean sheet. As a midfielder, I want to perform well sticking to getting victories in the next two matches. 

GK #1  KOJIMA Ryosuke (Waseda University)
We have played against Panama in the first match. At the beginning, we kicked off without knowing about Panama’s play style and allowed them to keep the ball. As a result our general defence line went deeper. We then gradually improved ourselves and made more combination in defence; it was good that we then could steal the ball and started to attack more. However, we couldn’t score even when we had good chances; this is our issue now. It was good that we could keep a clean sheet after all, but there are small mistakes that I made today so I will adjust my play to make a more settled defense and offense for the next matches. I will prepare well to win the next match. 

MF #7  KAMIYA Yuta (Shonan Bellmare)
I think how we built up our formation from the bottom line was not bad, but we still had some gap and issues in individual plays today. In defence we did well in line control and trapping the opponents, but we should have been much stronger in the intense moments against Panama, they were strong in these moments. For the next match, to take more control to win, we will have to build up better and quicker, and to improve our quality of play especially in front of the goal. 

Schedule

*Local Time
*This competition is four nations tournament.
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.