SLOVAKIA CUP 2014
Tuesday 29 April 2014　11:00 Kick Off　80 minutes（40 minutes half）
Dolne Vestenice(Slovakia)

U-18 Japan National Team　0-1(1st Half 0-0、2nd Half 0-1)　U-18 Norway Natinal Football Team

Scores
55min　Morten THORSBY（U-18 Norway Natinal Football Team）

Starters
GK：KAWASHIMA Daiki
DF：ISHIDA Ryoma、MOTEGI Rikiya、MISAO Kento、MIZUTANI Takuma
MF：SAKAI Daisuke、IDEGUCHI Yosuke、MARUOKA Mitsuru、NAKANO Masaomi
FW：WATANABE Ryoma、SUGIMORI Koki

Substitutes
GK：YOSHIMARU Kenshin
DF：MATSUBARA Ko
MF：SUZUKI Tokuma、AIZU Yuki、OGAWA Hiroki
FW：OSHIMA Koki、NAKASHIMA Kensei

HT　SUGIMORI Koki　→　AIZU Yuki
HT　IDEGUCHI Yosuke　→　SUZUKI Tokuma
HT　MOTEGI Rikiya　→　MATSUBARA Ko
67min　WATANABE Ryoma　→　OSHIMA Koki

Match Report

The second opponent in the Slovakia Cup 2014 was Norway, which won the first match against Belgium 2-0 and now stands at the first in the group league. With the win against Norway potentially putting Japan on top, they started off the match with very aggressive attacks.
Norway, on the other hand, set up their firm defence in their pitch, trying to steal the ball for counter-attacks. Japan dominated the possession and kept leading the course of the match, although they couldn't end their offence with a goal before the saw the end of the first half.
In the second half, Norway started putting defensive pressure high in the Japan's half, which led to bad passes and ineffective ball movement by Japan. Norway began threatening Japan's goal as well.
Then at 55th minute, the corner kick by Norway, once cleared away, got back to the left side of Norway's offence. A cross ball was kicked into the middle from there, which led to a strike into Japan's goal. It was especially a period in the match when Japan really wanted to hold on to the tie, but failed to do execute their game plan.
Right after the lost goal, however, Aizu, who subbed in at the beginning of the second half, sneaked out behind the Norwegian defenders and fired a shot. But it hit the goal post and couldn't give Japan a goal to tie the match.
Even after that, Japan kept controlling the ball and playing mostly in Norway's half, but never reached to any good looks to shoot until the end of the match.
Japan lost to Norway with no goals in two straight matches. However it is still possible to get the second place in the group league and advance to the third-place match if Japan wins the next match against Belgium and the other match in the group ends up in Japan's favour. Japan will certainly review the last two losses, correct mistakes and get ready to play against Belgium.

Comments from Players

SAKAI  Daisuke (Oita Trinita U-18)
In the first half, we kept the possession and played on our pace, but in the second half, they started putting early pressure on us. We made mistakes and created some crucial moments for them. We haven't scored any goal in this tournament, so I want to get back to the practice and try to minimise mistakes around their goal. 

WATANABE  Ryoma (Maebashiikuei High School)
This match gave me another assignment. I couldn't do well in terms of the small things of each play such as how to receive a pass. So I will be careful. We have only two more matches. I will keep playing as winning is the most important goal for us. And also I want to get better through those matches, too. 

AIZU  Yuki (Kashiwa Reysol U-18)
I got out to play at the beginning of the second half when the score was 0-0. I didn't get to play yesterday, so today I was so determined to play well. Right after we allowed the first goal, I could sneak behind the defenders, just like I had always wanted, and create a great chance, but it hit the goal post and didn't go in. And we lost. A striker has to score a goal even when he has only a few chances. So it was very disappointing. We still have matches to play. We will get ready to play well and get good results.

MATSUBARA  Ko (Hamamatsu Kaiseikan High School)
It was a draw against Russia, so we really wanted this match. It's very disappointing that we lost. I am a defender, so that was supposed to my job to keep the opposition scoreless. We will win against Belgium no matter what, and get ourselves up in the standings.

Schedule