Balcom BMW CUP International Youth Soccer in Hiroshima 2015  vs  U-17 Uzbekistan National Team
2015-8-11 (Tue.) - 16:00　Playing Time: 40min. x 2
Hiroshima kouiki kouen (Hiroshima City, Hiroshima)

U-16 Japan National Team  0-1 (0-0, 0-1)  U-17 Uzbekistan National Team

Scores
48'   Goal against (U-17 Uzbekistan National Team)

Line-ups
GK: WAKAHARA Tomoya
DF: FUJIMATSU Kouya, AOYAMA Yusuke, MIYAMOTO Toshiaki, SUGA Soma, ISHIHARA Hirokazu
MF: TANAKA Kosuke, IZAWA Haruki, SAKAI Masaki, SAITO Mitsuki
FW: SUZUKI Kaito

Substitutes
GK: OSAKO Keisuke
DF: IYORI Keitaro
MF: SUGIURA Fumiya, KOBAYASHI Mao, WATAI Masaki
FW: FUJIWARA Shiryu, TAKAGI Shinya

HT   SAKAI Masaki → FUJIWARA Shiryu
56'   SUGA Soma → WATAI Masaki
69'   SUZUKI Kaito → TAKAGI Shinya
75'   TANAKA Kosuke → KOBAYASHI Mao
77'   IZAWA Haruki → IYORI Keitaro

Match Report

U-16 Japan National Team had their second match at the Balcom BMW CUP International Youth Soccer in Hiroshima 2015, facing U-17 Uzbekistan National Team, who beat U-17 Poland National Team on a penalty shootout in their opener.

Just as their opening match, U-16 Japan National Team put aggressive pressure on the opponents early in the match and created several goal-scoring opportunities, but failed to turn them into a goal. 

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan gathered the ball at the feet of their side attackers. The attackers challenged on brave dribbling and found chances, but Japan showed strong defence to end the first half 0-0.

Three minutes into the second half, an Uzbekistan's second-half substitute dribbled through Japanese defence to fire a blast from the centre of the box into the net. Then, Japan kept attacking in attempt to level the score, but their finishing accuracy was not good enough before hearing the final whistle for Japan's 1-0 loss.

Japan's opponents in the final match tomorrow are U-17 Poland National Team.

Coach and Players' Comments

KIMURA Kokichi, Coach
I said to the players before the match, "From today's second match, you are going to face overseas teams. They are physically stronger and I want you to stick to a victory in the match." They were playing well from the start but missed a lot of scoring opportunities. And on the other hand, we allowed them to open the score early in the second half. 

But my players kept their pace even after conceding a goal and showed performances to stick to a win as I told them before the match. They were strong on the ball and didn't give up until the end. Those turned out to be a good experience. Tomorrow's match will be the final all-out battle. We will go for a victory while I will fire the players up.

IZAWA Haruki (Urawa Reds Youth)
In today's match, we were able to put pressure up front early but failed to score when to score. Then, we gave up a goal in the second half. We kept missing chances, which actually resulted in making the match tough.

Even though we didn't give so many chances to the opponents, on the contrary, they scored on such limited chances. That's something we need to learn from them. Individually, my hard-working and playing accuracy got worse as time went on, so I want to develop more stamina and concentration.

IYORI Keitaro (Kawasaki Frontale U-18)
It's my first call-up to the national team, and I was so happy to score in the opener of our tournament against Hiroshima Selection, which was my debut match.

In the second match today, I played only the last five minutes of the match. It's disappointing I wasn't able to take advantage of my aerial ability and get an equaliser. In the next match, if I get a chance to play, I will try to contribute to team's win.

WATAI Masaki (Shizuoka Gakuen School)
Just like the first match, I played from the second half today. My role was to change the course of the match, but I wasn't able to try dribbling and still haven't showed off my strength. I want to contribute to a win with my game-changing dribbles and passes in tomorrow's match.

I was tensed a bit because it was my first time to be called up to the Japan national team. But I can learn a lot when playing with quality players and will keep up my work to hold a spot to play in such an environment.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to condition of the team, the weather, etc.

Balcom BMW CUP International Youth Soccer in Hiroshima　Match Schedule