On 14 November, the 4th All Japan Seniors (over 40) football tournament had its last day in venues such as Fujieda Sports Complex Park Soccer Stadium, in Fujieda city, Shizuoka prefecture, and CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA (Tokai/ Aichi) won the tournament.

Both semi-final matches were very close. CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA managed the match a bit stronger against Yokohama Senior (Kanto2/ Kanagawa), the only team who won all three first-round matches and have a former J. League player MINOWA Yoshinobu, but they could not find Yokohama Senior’s goal. The match continued to be exciting in the 2nd half, but at the very end of the match, NAGOYA could finally score the decisive goal and qualified for the final. Koyo Club (Kyushu2/ Saga) and Fujieda Football Club (Hosting prefecture/ Shizuoka) could not score at all until the end and went on to a penalty shoot-out. Koyo Club’s goal keeper stopped 2 shots and they managed to go through to the final.

Semi-Final

Yokohama Senior (Kanto2/ Kanagawa)　0-1　CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA (Tokai/ Aichi)
Koyo Club (Kyushu2/ Saga)　0-0 (PSO:4-3)　Fujieda Football Club (Hosting prefecture/ Shizuoka)

NAGOYA who showed off their strengths in running in both offence and defence in the semi-final, continued their momentum. They used the width of the pitch well and moved the ball across to the front of the goal from the beginning of the match. Koyo Club also made plays with aggressive dribbling to find any small chance to attack them, and before the end of the 1st half they took a shot from inside of the penalty-area but it missed the goal-post slightly to the right.

In the 2nd half, Koyo Club gained their strengths especially in intense moments and they tried to compete by moving the ball simply to their front line. In the 30th minute, NAGOYA changed the air. NAGOYA moved the ball to the left wing and crossed it to the front of the goal, IWAKI Hiroyuki’s strong volley-shot smashed the net. NAGOYA continued their aggressive mentality and running strengths until the end. As a result, CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA won the title of the tournament.

Final

CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA (Tokai/ Aichi)　1-0　Koyo Club (Kyushu2/ Saga)

Coaches' and Players' Comments

KOBAYASHI Masayuki, Coach (CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA/ Aichi)
I usually tell the players that we need to understand well about what we can and cannot do. I think they understood these things even amongst team mates, and that worked successfully. It is such a strength that all players play with a same passion and mentality. We usually organise the time for us to practice together and our communication has been very good. I am happy that we can come to one place to play together and playing seriously against strong teams in the national-level competition as a qualified team of Tokai area has been our big target. We continue to work hard to come back here again next year.

AOHARA Naoki (CLUB COMPASS NAGOYA/ Aichi)
This team is based on the former Aichi prefectural squad team who won this title 2 years ago, and we launched as an independent team. It is nice that we could achieve the best result as we wanted. Since the team was launched, we have stuck to being stronger in running than anyone else to win. Each of us is strict to ourselves hence if we don’t work hard, we cannot stay in the team, and we cannot be selected for matches. Keeping our mentality higher from our daily lives is the reason we can run throughout the match. Winning the title is such a good and positive aspect for us to keep working hard. Our target is to be the players who don’t seem senior. We will keep working hard.

HIRAISHI Yoshiharu, Coach (Koyo Club/ Saga)
We kept playing to win the title of this tournament, so it is a shame but I appreciate the players for doing their best. The players take efforts to play each of their roles and keep their mentality to play as a united team. While we had to make the most of limited number of players in this tournament, we could improve the issues found in each matches and we could kick off the semi-final in a good condition. However, our opponent was also a wonderful team. After the final, one of our players said: “I will build-up my fitness to compete well next year.” In the national-level competition, we can see where we are now. In this opportunity, there were many players who experienced this tournament for the first time so hopefully we can make use of this experience for the future.

MATSUO TOMOHIRO (Koyo Club/ Saga)
I came to this tournament last year as one of the Saga Prefectural Squad team and we lost in the semi-final. This year, we could go through to the final. We really wanted to get the title… In our team, there are diverse types of members with different careers such as business people and teachers, and we all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses to play as a united team. I am happy to play with my teammates and in this occasion I deeply felt that football is the world-best sport. Next year, we all will be one-year older so I think we will have to strengthen the team including inviting younger players. All the opponent players of this tournament from the first match are very fit and they seem to enjoy football in a very healthy way. I was inspired a lot by them.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Semi-Final Highlights

Final Highlights

The 4th All Japan Seniors (over 40) Football Tournament

2016-11-12(Sat.)-14(Mon.)
Match Venue： Fujieda Sports Complex Park Athletic Field(Natural Turf), Sports Complex Park Athletic Field (Artificial Turf), Fujieda Sports Complex Park Soccer Stadium (Natural Turf), Fujieda City Soccer Ground (Natural Turf)
Tournament Information