22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek 2015
5th/6th placement match vs U-17 Slovakia National Team
2015-8-22 (Sat.) - 11:00   Playing Time: 45min×2
LAZNE BOHDANEC (Czech)

U-17 Japan National Team   3-1 (1-1, 2-0)   U-17 Slovakia National Team

Scores
27'   Goal against (U-17 Slovakia National Team)
37'   MIYAZAKI Kiwara (U-17 Japan National Team)
74'   SUGA Daiki (U-17 Japan National Team)
88'   NAKAMURA Shunta (U-17 Japan National Team)

Line-ups
GK: YAMAGUCHI Rui
DF: HASEGAWA Takumi, MORISHITA Reiya, HASHIOKA Daiki, SUGIOKA Daiki
MF: DOAN Ritsu, TOMIYASU Takehiro, SASAKI Takumi, MIYAZAKI Kiwara
FW: NAKAMURA Shunta, YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa

Substitutes
GK: WAKINO Atsushi
DF: TATSUTA Yugo,  MORIOKA Riku
MF: YASUI Takuya, KAJIYAMA Kanta, WATANABE Kouta
FW: SUGA Daiki, ITO Ryoya

61'   SUGIOKA Daiki→ WATANABE Kouta
67'   MIYAZAKI Kiwara → SUGA Daiki
73'   YOSHIHIRA Tsubasa → KAJIYAMA Kanta

Match Report

After finishing the group stage at third place, Japan faced Group B’s third-placed Slovakia at the 22th International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek 2015.

Neither side could afford finishing the tournament with a loss, and Japan and Hungary both came out very aggressively. Japan dominated in terms of possession until halfway through the first half, but lacked the finishing touch necessary to score a goal.

Then in the 27th minute, Hungary took the ball up and broke through Japan’s right flank to score the opening goal. Japan, being resistant to lose, had midfielder MIYAZAKI Kiwara receive the ball on the left flank in the 37th minute, who penetrated into the middle and right-footed it for the equaliser for his side and his goal in two matches in a row. The first half finished with both tied at one goal.

Japan kept their overwhelming pace in the second half, and in the 74th minute forward NAKAMURA Shunta met a left cross for his shot and the deflection off the opposing goalkeeper was put into the back of the net by substitute forward SUGA Daiki to gain the lead in the match.

Japan never sat back after that and kept attacking until moments before the end of the match when forward Nakamura got a perfect through ball from midfielder DOAN Ritsu and beat the goalkeeper in 1-on-1 to extend Japan’s lead. The match eventually finished 3-1 in favour of Japan.

Japan’s overall record in the tournament was fifth place among the eight participating countries.

Players' Comments

HASHIOKA Daiki (Urawa Reds Youth)
In this tour, I learned and experienced many things in playing together with those who are a year older than I, including guys playing with top teams or overseas teams.

When playing against overseas teams, I tried to play with passion, which is a strength of myself, and tried never to lose in aerial battles. In those aerial battles, I could often beat bigger foreign players, but at the same time I made many bad passes. So I want to keep working hard after I come back to my club in order to raise the quality level of each play.

ITO Ryoya (FC Schalke 04)
Before the tournament started, we didn’t have everybody on the team together until the night before the first match. We had some question mark about our combinations. But as we played matches, we got better as one team.

But during that process, there was a match we couldn’t close out and win, and at last we finished the tournament at fifth place. Throughout the tournament we learned the difficulty of closing tough matches. Also I usually play in Germany, so it was very inspiring to play with Japanese players of my generation.

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