The 18th sec. of the Prince Takamado Trophy JFA U-18 Football Premier League 2019 EAST took place on Sunday 8 December at various locations. With Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) already clinching the title, the focus turned to the relegation race, as ninth place Shoshi High School (Fukushima) welcomed Urawa Red Diamonds Youth (Saitama) to their home with their survival at stake, but lost the match 1-2 to get demoted to the Prince League next season.

Pick-up Match

Shoshi High School 1-2 (0-0, 1-2) Urawa Red Diamonds Youth

On this day, the players entered the match escorted by students of Akagi Elementary School, a school located in the area deeply affected by Typhoon Hagibis. With the school still recovering from the effects of the natural disaster, both Shoshi High School and Urawa Red Diamonds Youth took this opportunity to make donations for the school.

With the team in a must win situation to avoid being relegated from the Premier League, Shoshi’s coach NAKAMURA Koji positioned their defender CHASE Anrie (#38) upfront to take advantage of his height, as the coach later reflected, “We wanted to implement a football style that would frustrate a J.League youth team.”

In contrast to Shoshi’s approach, Urawa kept their short passing football style to build their plays. While both teams created close opportunities to threaten the opposing goal, the match entered halftime scoreless.

The second half saw Urawa making the appropriate adjustments against Shoshi’s play style, as their defenders started to showcase their resilience to deflect off the pressure. With the team picking up the momentum through their defence, Urawa’s HATA Shota (#9) scored back to back goals in the 51st and 55th minute to take full control of the game, as coach IKEDA Nobuyasu mentioned after the match, “We worked all season not just to become a good team, but we strived to become a good and strong team. Today, we were able to showcase a performance that reflects our approach.”

Despite giving up the two goal lead, Shoshi showed great efforts to rally back, scoring a goal during additional time to make it 1-2, but the match ended with Urawa preserving their lead. As a result, Shoshi finished in last place in the EAST to get demoted to the Prince League next season, along with ninth place Kashima Antlers Youth(Ibaraki).

The Prince Takamado Trophy JFA U-18 Football Premier League Play-offs will take place on Friday 13 and Sunday 15 December to determine the two teams who will be promoted to the Premier League next season.

Coaches and Players' Comments

NAKAMURA Koji, Coach (Shoshi High School)
When we first joined the Premier League in 2011, we were forced to play defensively all season and we were limited with our player selection. Compared to that season, we were able to utilise variety of players and try many offensive tactics during this season. We were able to gain so much from this season and we hope to make our return to the Premier League again.

FW #24 ABE Kanato (Shoshi High School)
With the team in a must win situation, we trained all week to win this match. Although we managed to execute our game plan in the first half, it was unfortunate that we couldn’t score any goals while we had control over the game. Despite the loss, I feel like we were able to give our best efforts until the end.

IKEDA Nobuyasu, Coach (Urawa Red Diamonds Youth)
The third year players did well to lead the team into third place. I might have been harsh on them all season, but they responded by improving themselves as a team. In that sense, it was great to see our third year player, Hata score a brace in our final match of the season. Today I feel like we were able to showcase what we have been working all season.

FW #9 HATA Shota (Urawa Red Diamonds Youth)
I wasn’t able to score much goals this season, so I was very eager to score goals today. It was great that I was able to score two goals today. I received a similar pass last week, but couldn’t capitalise on it, so I am glad I was able to convert it this time. Our coach has told us that the third year players must show more leadership, so I focused on leading the team in today’s match.

Results of other matches

Kashiwa Reysol U-18 7-4 (4-1, 3-3) Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School
Funabashi Municipal High School 0-4 (0-0, 0-4) Aomori Yamada High School
Shimizu S-Pulse Youth 2-0 (1-0, 1-0) Omiya Ardija U18
Jubilo Iwata U-18 0-2 (0-2, 0-0) Kashima Antlers Youth

Kashiwa Reysol U-18 (Chiba) marked seven goals including OKUDA Hiryu’s hat-trick to win over Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High school (Chiba). EAST leader Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori) scored four goals in the second half to defeat Funabashi Municipal High School (Chiba). Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka) registered a goal apiece in each half to finish the season with a win over Omiya Ardija U18 (Saitama). Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki) scored two goals in the first half to win their match against Jubilo Iwata U-18 (Shizuoka), but failed to avoid the relegation zone with a mere goal difference.

Prince Takamado Trophy JFA U-18 Football Premier League 2019

League Duration: Sat. 6 April - Sun. 8 December 2019

League Information