The U-17 Japan Women’s National Team, who are participating in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Jordan 2016, played the quarterfinals against the U-17 England Women’s National Team at Al Hassan International Stadium in Irbid on Thursday 13 October.

Japan won all three group-stage games to advance to the next stage. The team attacked aggressively from the beginning of the match again. In the third minute, UEKI Riko with the ball in the centre drew in multiple defenders to pass the ball to the right. KANNO Oto at the centre, who received a low cross from TAKARADA Saori, struck at the goal. Although the shot was defended by the opponent’s goalkeeper, ENDO Jun swiftly reacted to a loose ball to strike the opener.

Japan stayed ambitious for more goals. After 11 minutes, although NAGANO Fuka, who ran towards KANNO’s pass, went close to the goal, she could not find the back of the net. Japan, instead, struggled against an England that had one forward Ellie BRAZIL in attack and 10 players defending.

The opponent started to attack from set pieces, while Japan were looking for their second goal. After the goalkeeper TANAKA Momoko and the defensive line led the team in some strong defence, Japan struck the long-awaited second goal just before halftime. In the first minute of injury time, Japan counter attacked, passing the ball from KANNO to MIYAZAWA Hinata. UEKI, who had got through the offside line skilfully, reacted to MIYAZAWA’s last pass and struck a goal. The game went into the second half 2-0.

As the England coach John GRIFFITHS later commented: ‘if we got that one goal, I believed we could change the game’, England attacked back in the second half. After 59 minutes, Japan let the opponent counter attack and Alessia RUSSO took a shot, only for it to be saved by the goalkeeper TANAKA Momoko. USHIJIMA Riko followed up on a loose ball, and prevented the opponent from taking a shot.

The opponent pushed forward tenaciously, while Japan showed their stamina in defence. After 60 minutes, UEKI and ENDO up front, as well as NAGANO and TAKARADA at centre, chased around the pitch, putting pressure on the opponent. The two centre backs WAKISAKA Reina and TAKAHIRA Miyu calmly controlled the defensive line to support the team.

Each player’s contribution finally paid off at the end of the match. In the 80th minute, NAGANO got the ball on the left and passed it to UEKI, who started to dribble from the halfway line and struck a strong long-distance shot with her right foot. The shot went into the right-hand corner of the goal.

After scoring the third and deciding goal, Japan continued to create several goal-deciding opportunities, staying highly motivated until the final whistle. The team won the match 3-0 and reached the semi-finals, keeping a clean sheet in their third game of the championship.

Match Details

The semi-finals – the first between U-17 Venezuela women’s and U-17 Korea DPR women’s, and the second between U-17 Spain women’s and U-17 Japan women’s – will be played on Monday 17 October for the two spots in the final.

Coaches' and Players' Comments

KUSUNOSE Naoki, Coach (U-17 Japan Women'S National Team)
I’m very pleased that we won the game 3-0. The players played for the team with real dedication. The opener at the beginning of the match and UEKI’s shot towards the end of the first half contributed to the team’s victory. Having said that, as we struggled to score the second goal, I encouraged the players during halftime: ‘let’s move around more!’ The semi-finalists, including our opponent Spain, are strong. I hope the players will learn how well they can perform against those teams.

GK #1 TANAKA Momoko (NIPPON TV MENINA)
Managing to keep a clean sheet meant a lot to us. We worked on positioning properly in set pieces. Personally, I tried to judge accurately whether or not to react to crosses. We were occasionally under pressure and there is still room to improve in many aspects, but I’d like to fix our problems in preparation for the game against Spain. I’m a little concerned, as we haven’t got much experience in playing against European teams. I look forward to seeing how we can win.

FW #9 UEKI Riko (NIPPON TV MENINA)
I’m over the moon to be selected as the PLAYER OF THE MATCH. Also, the team’s victory means a lot and I’m pleased I could contribute by scoring a goal. With this win, we got through to the semi-finals and could play the full six games. I’m happy that I could get some good experience. We played against Spain, the opponent we’ll meet in the semi-final, in the previous championship. Although I do feel nervous, I look forward to achieving our goal – winning the championship. I’d like to contribute to the team’s victory, while staying ambitious for goals.

FW #16 ENDO Jun (JFA academy FUKUSHIMA)
I was feeling frustrated, because I didn’t have an opportunity to play after starting the game in the 1st Sec. As the team performed well to win matches in the 2nd and the 3rd Sec., I prepared ‘to contribute to the team if I have a chance to be on the pitch.’ I told the others: ‘I’ll impact the game by scoring.’ So I was chuffed when I struck the opener. After that, we struggled to create goal-scoring opportunities and let the opponent go close the goal. Still, I’m glad we have the opportunity to play right until the end of the championship with this team.

John GRIFFITHS (U-17 England Women'S National Team)
I’d like to congratulate Japan. It was great to play against them – their players worked hard and their plays were of a high quality. When I look back at the match, the second goal we conceded just before the end of the first half, as well as the opener, really had a major impact on the game. Although it was a shame to lose the game, we learned that Japan is a strong team and it was difficult to defend against them. The players learned a lot through this championship. England would like to find our own playing style just like Germany, Spain and Japan.

Schedule

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