22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek 2015 vs U-17 Ukraine National Team
2015-8-18 (Tue.) 17:00　Playing Time: 45min×2
LAZNE BOHDANEC (Lazne Bohdanec, Czech)

U-17 Japan National Team  2-0 (1-0, 1-0)  U-17 Ukraine National Team

Scores
3'   SUGA Daiki (U-17 Japan National Team)
84'   MORISHITA Reiya (U-17 Japan National Team)

Line-ups
GK: YAMAGUCHI Rui
DF: SUGIOKA Daiki, MORISHITA Reiya, MORIOKA Riku, HASEGAWA Takumi
MF: YASUI Takuya, TOMIYASU Takehiro, WATANABE Kouta, KAJIYAMA Kanta
FW: YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa, SUGA Daiki

Substitutes
GK: WAKINO Atsushi
DF: TATSUTA Yugo, HASHIOKA Daiki
MF: MIYAZAKI Kiwara, SASAKI Takumi, DOAN Ritsu, ITO Ryoya, KUROKAWA Atsushi
FW: NAKAMURA Shunta

53'   YASUI Takuya → ITO Ryoya
60'   KAJIYAMA Kanta → DOAN Ritsu
66'   MORIOKA Riku → HASHIOKA Daiki
86'   SUGA Daiki → NAKAMURA Shunta

Match Report

The rain unfortunately fell on the opening day of the 22nd International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek. The temperature was also low, and U-17 Japan National Team played against U-17 Ukraine National Team in a condition where the ball often stopped on the waterlogged pitch.

The Japanese side put pressure up front on the opposing passing moves early on and intercepted their passes to create chances. After three minutes, forward SUGA Daiki (Consadole Sapporo U-18) beat an opposing defender and fired a calm toe-poked shot with his left foot. Japan opened the scoring with his effort.

Japan maintained their pace after scoring with solid defence and offence targeting for space behind the opposing defensive line before ending the first half. While Japan kept their momentum from the start of the second half, Ukraine also tried to fight back and sought for an equaliser. 

Both teams replaced a couple of players and found a number of chances. In the late stage of the second half, after a battle for a right corner kick, defender MORISHITA Reiya (Cerezo Osaka U-18) composedly put a loose ball into the net to give his side further ahead. Japan battled it out to defend in the rest of time and grabbed a 2-0 win with a clean sheet in their tournament opener.

Japan's second opponents are host nation Czech, who defeated Hungary 2-0 in their opening match.

Coach and Players' Comments

UCHIYAMA Atsushi, Coach
We came out for the tournament as our players' condition varies due to a long trip and jetlag. Yet throughout the match, they were focused and played the game. Sharing our concept, which is playing and trying aggressively at both ends of the pitch, and judgements on play selections, they played the match with a high level of determination. I hope they will continue to try aggressively and gain a good experience in this tournament.

SUGA Daiki (Consadole Sapporo U-18)
In today's match, we got an opening goal at the beginning and were able to play with our pace. There were lots of stretches when we allowed the opponents to attack, but I'm happy we got another goal near the end of the match and finished with a victory.

Personally, I was able to score the opening goal and the timing to start running was also good. But in the second half, I had only a few chances to start moving forward and my awareness toward goal became poor. I will try to keep playing well throughout a match. We have a match tomorrow as well and will try to stick to how we play and the outcome. Hopefully that will end in our favour at the end.

MORISHITA Reiya (Cerezo Osaka U-18)
Today in our first match of the tournament, every player had high motivation and came out for the match in good form. We got the opening goal early. We allowed the opponents to keep attacking midway through the match, but we were able to keep them scoreless. That's something we can take advantage of for the next. As an individual, I'm happy to contribute to the team with my goal. We will go for a win and work hard together in the next three matches to win the tournament title.

Schedule

※Local Time

22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek 2015 Participating Nation

Group Ａ: Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, Ukraine
Group Ｂ: Slovakia, Slovenia, USA, Russia