International Friendly Match vs U-20 Poland National Team
Thu. 21 March 2019 Kick-off time 17:00 (local time) Match duration 90mins (45mins×2)
Stadion Widzew (Lodz, Poland)

U-20 Japan National Team 1-4 (1-1, 0-3) U-20 Poland National Team

Scores
28' goal against (U-20 Poland National Team)
35' SAITO Koki (U-20 Japan National Team)
68' goal against (U-20 Poland National Team)
72' goal against (U-20 Poland National Team)
83' goal against (U-20 Poland National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: OSAKO Keisuke
DF: SUGAWARA Yukinari, SEKO Ayumu, TSUNODA Ryotaro, SUZUKI Toichi
MF: KIDA Hinata, ITO Hiroki, HIRAKAWA Rei, ABE Hiroki
FW: SAKURAGAWA Soromon, SAITO Koki

Reserves
GK: MOGI Shu
DF: OGIWARA Takuya, KOBAYASHI Yuki, NAKAMURA Takumi
MF: FUJIMOTO Kanya, TAKI Yuta
FW: NISHIKAWA Jun, MIYASHIRO Taisei, HARA Taichi

Substitution
32' ABE Hiroki → MIYASHIRO Taisei
32' SEKO Ayumu → KOBAYASHI Yuki
HT SUZUKI Toichi → NISHIKAWA Jun
HT SAITO Koki → TAKI Yuta
HT SAKURAGAWA Soromon → HARA Taichi
HT HIRAKAWA Rei → FUJIMOTO Kanya
HT TSUNODA Ryotaro → NAKAMURA Takumi
HT OSAKO Keisuke → MOGI Shu
62' KIDA Hinata → OGIWARA Takuya

Match Report

On Thursday 21 March, the U-20 Japan National Team lost to the U-20 Poland National Team 1-4 in their first match of the Europe Tour.

The match was held at Stadion Widzew in Poland, where the Championship match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland is scheduled to be played. With over 5,000 local fans attending the stadium, the match kicked-off with an exciting atmosphere surrounding the football field. Japan started off the match looking a bit nervous, as they were on the defensive end against the intense pressure applied by the host nation, but gradually found their rhythm by moving the ball around with quick short passes. In the ninth minute, ITO Hiroki received the ball at the central area before striking a shot from distance, but his attempt was denied by the goal post. A freekick was earned by ABE Hiroki in the 20th minute when he penetrated the left flank. The set-piece found SAKURAGAWA Soromon at the far side of the goal, but the header struck by the forward went just wide of the goal. The Polish side anticipated for their opportunities to counter attack and took numbers of long-shots to create chances. In the 25th minute, the home team came close to scoring the opener, but the powerful shot taken from distance was blocked by the Japanese goalkeeper OSAKO Keisuke. However, just three minutes later, Poland captured the first goal of the match, when they converted a loose ball following a free kick situation. The Japanese side responded rather quickly, as they equalised the match in the 33rd minute, when KOBAYASHI Yuki flicked the ball off a corner kick to allow SAITO Koki to fire a bicycle kick into the Polish goal.

After finishing the first half with a tied score of 1-1, Japan rotated eight players to change the dynamics of their attacks. In the 46th minute, TAKI Yuta controlled the long pass delivered by Kobayashi before sending a cross towards the goal, but the shot taken by MIYASHIRO Taisei went off the crossbar. Japan continued to show dominance with their quick transition between offence and defence, moving the ball from side to side and exploiting the space behind the opposing defence to create opportunities. Another close chance came in the 58th minute, when HARA Taichi responded to a through ball delivered by NISHIKAWA Jun, but the shot taken by Hara went wide of the target. Despite taking control of the match, Japan struggled to convert their opportunities, and conversely, the persistency shown by the Polish defence was starting to get paid off. In the 64th minute, a long countering pass from the home side exploited the open space behind the Japanese defence line to create a one-on-one situation. Japanese goalkeeper MOGI Shu came out to make a brilliant save to deny the opportunity, but four minutes later, the Polish attackers penetrated the central area with a quick give and go, before launching a powerful shot that struck the goalpost before finding the back of the net. Now down by a goal, Japan had no choice but to apply more numbers upfront, but the Polish side took advantage of the situation by initiating their quick counter attacks effectively, as they captured their third and fourth goal in the 72nd and 83rd minute.

Japan finished their first match of the tour with a final score of 1-4. The match gave the team a wonderful opportunity to simulate the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019, but their overall performance showed that the team lacked quality in the final third and their inability to read the game flow was exploited.

The U-20 Japan National Team will travel to Spain on Friday 22, and face the U-20 Argentina National Team on Saturday 23.

Players' Comments

GK #1 OSAKO Keisuke (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
This match against Poland was held at the match venue of the U-20 World Cup and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to simulate the World Cup. The match itself made us realise that we must become more flexible and be able to make the adjustments during the match. In order for us to showcase our best performance, each player must demand more from other teammates. We will now travel to Spain and face strong teams, so we must focus on preparing our conditions. As a team, we must learn from today’s match against Poland and share our tasks ahead of the next match. We have limited time before the World Cup, so we must make the adjustments along the way and strive to become a better team.

DF #3 KOBAYASHI Yuki (Vissel Kobe)
When looking at the result, we have conceded four goals and suffered a big loss. We failed to convert our chances while we had control of the match, and we couldn’t respond to our opponents’ simple attacks. This match made us realise that we lack the ability to read the game flow. I personally had issues responding to the counter attacks and the long-balls. We hope to learn from this match and make the adjustments ahead of our trip to Spain. This is our final tour abroad before the World Cup, so we hope to polish our combinations and heighten our teamwork ahead of the tournament. I will give my best to earn a spot into the final roster.

DF #5 SUGAWARA Yukinari (Nagoya Grampus)
There were some good stretches where we managed to possess the ball well as a team, but at the end, we conceded four goals and lost the match. If we give that much space to our opponents, any player at the world stage will take advantage of it to score goals. It made us realise that we must do a better job to work as a team in defence. We just have to learn from this bitter experience. Once we arrive in Spain, we will face Argentina and USA, so we must implement what we learnt from the match against Poland and challenge ourselves to make the team better. The U-20 World Cup is a tournament I’ve been striving for since I played at the U-17 World Cup, and it could be a life changing tournament for me. The intense competition of the World Cup is something very unique, and it is a rare opportunity to test my ability, so I will give my very best to achieve my goal against the World’s best teams.

MF #6 KIDA Hinata (Avispa Fukuoka)
We struggled dearly in our first match of the tour against a physical team that can take powerful shots from any direction. By experiencing the match venue, hotel, city, and the atmosphere of the match, it has given us the opportunity to simulate the U-20 World Cup. We still have two more matches to play, so we hope to make the adjustments to finish the tour in a high note. We have limited time ahead of the World Cup, so we hope to learn as much as possible from this tour.

MF #18 SAITO Koki (Yokohama FC)
This match gave us the opportunity to learn what we lack as a team. We must all learn from this match and reorganise what we are capable of doing and what we must work on. It was great that we were able to get a feel of what it’ll be like at the World Cup. We will be facing strong teams in Spain, so we hope to make the most of the experience. The U-20 World Cup is a special tournament for me, so I hope I can prove that I belong to this team and utilise the experience to heighten myself to a whole new level.

Schedule

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

International Friendly Match - Europe Tour

Dates: Mon. 18 - Wed. 27 March 2019

Match Information