International Friendly Match vs U-20 USA Women's National Team
2016-5-27 (Fri.) - 19:00   Playing Time: 90min. (45min.×2)
Sir John Guise Stadium (Papua New Guinea/Port Moresby)

U-20 Japan Women's National Team　5-0 (3-0, 2-0)　U-20 USA Women's National Team

Scores
15'　KAWANO Juri (U-20 Japan Women's National Team)
39'　KANDA Wakaho (U-20 Japan Women's National Team)
44'　MIZUTANI Yuki (U-20 Japan Women's National Team)
56'　KAWANO Juri (U-20 Japan Women's National Team)
73'　MATSUBARA Shiho (U-20 Japan Women's National Team)

Line-ups
GK: MATSUMOTO Mamiko
DF: MORIYA Miyabi, ICHISE Nana, MINAMI Moeka, MATSUBARA Shiho
MF: YOSHIDA Nagisa, OKUBO Mai, KANDA Wakaho, MIZUTANI Yuki
FW: KAWANO Juri, KONO Fuka

Substitutes
GK: ASANO Natsumi
MF: NISHIKAWA Ayaka, SHIMAMURA Yukiko, UENO Mami, ANZAI Yuka
FW: TORIUMI Yuka

59'　YOSHIDA Nagisa → NISHIKAWA Ayaka
68'　KONO Fuka → SHIMAMURA Yukiko
79'　ICHISE Nana → ANZAI Yuka

Match Report

The U-20 Japan Women’s National Team played against the U-20 USA Women’s National Team on 27 May.

The stadium was filled with nearly 2,800 people and the match kicked off at 19:00. From the beginning Japan launched its attack towards the USA’s goal. In the 15th minute, Japan’s defender ICHISE Nana passed the ball from distance to the front and USA’s defender couldn’t clear the ball well, then forward KAWANO Juri picked it up and smashed it to the USA’s goal. Japan scored the opening goal.

In the 39th minute, defender YOSHIDA Nagisa passed the ball to midfielder KANDA Wakaho who then broke down the right wing strongly with dribbling. With the one-two passing made with defender MORIYA Miyabi, she scored the team’s second goal. Additionally, very before the end of the 1st half, in the 44th minute, Moriya overlapped on the right wing and crossed the ball to the front. Midfielder MIZUTANI Yuki got it and successfully scored their third goal.

Japan continued to attack the USA’s goal. In the 56th minute, midfielder Mizutani cut into the opponent’s pass and made a deep pass to forward Kawano, her calm shot found the net and the score became 4-0. In the 73rd minute, defender MATSUBARA Shiho was felled in the opponent’s penalty area and got a penalty. Her shot successfully found the USA’s net. The match ended 5-0; the U-20 Japan Women’s National Team finished their trip in Papua New Guinea with two consecutive wins.

Coach and Players' Comments

TAKAKURA Asako, Coach
It was very precious experience for us to play against the world’s top team the U-20 USA Women’s National Team in Papua New Guinea, the hosting country of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. As a result of our players having maintained the team’s discipline and worked hard, they could score the opening goal at a good time and could add more goals. On the other hand, there were some issued found such as pass mistakes, shots accuracy, and making a good balance in the defence line. We have 5 months to go for the World Cup, I expect the players to take these issues back to their daily training and I hope individual players will grow up which will contribute to the team’s improvement.

DF #4  MINAMI Moeka (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies Youth)
At the beginning of the 1st half, we allowed an opponent player to go into the spot behind us which put ourselves into some difficulty. USA gradually became tired and we could keep our pace in moving the ball around, yet we lost the ball and got nervous and made unnecessary deep passes. We could have seen the whole situation better to build up a better offence which didn’t allow any counterattacks. It was good that we could score in good forms and could win in the end.

FW #11  KAWANO Juri (Waseda University)
We could continue to play with a good level of concentration throughout the match. However, we found various issues such as pass speed and quality. It would have been much better if all of us could change the flow of the play by considering what would happen next. This is the end of our trip, yet I will continue to pay attention to improving these issues that were found this time.

Schedule

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