Japan Women’s U-14 training camp - JFA Elite Program Training Match second game
Mon. 15 September 2014    Kickoff at 15:45    (35min. halves)
J-GREEN Sakai(Sakai, Osaka)

U-14 Japan Women's Selection 1-1 （1st 0-1, 2nd 1-0）U-14 Korea Women's National Team

Scores
32min   Goal against（U-14 Korea Women's National Team）
43min   KUTUWADA Ayumi（U-14 Japan Women's National Team）

Starters
GK:   INO Maya
DF:   TAKAYAMA Nohara, SHIBAYAMA Fumina, SUZUKI Haruna, NEZU Makoto
MF:   TOGAWA Yuki, NAKAE Moe, KUTUWADA Ayumi, FUNAKI Nodoka, MATSUDA Shino
FW:  MIURA Haruka

Substitutes
GK:  YAMASHITA Rina
DF:  INOUE Moe, TAKEDA Asumi
MF:  KANNO Oto, ENDO Jun, MATSUZAKI Aika
FW:  HATANO Kurumi

HT    INOU Maya → YAMASHITA Rina
HT    SUZUKI Haruna → INOUE Moe
HT    TAKAYAMA Nohara → KANNO Oto
51min   NAKAE Moe → HATANO Kurumi
61min   NEZU Makoto → TAKEDA Asumi
61min   TAKEDA Asumi → ENDO Jun
61min   KUTUWADA Ayumi → MATSUZAKI Aika

Match Report

Japan Women’s National U-14 Team had played against Korea Republic Women’s National U-14 Team for the second time in this training camp. Korea kept their midfield compact and put intense pressure from the beginning, while their offence sent the ball behind Japan’s backline to get close to the goal. Japan tried to connect the ball properly to build up their attack, but struggled to possess the ball against Korea’s fast defensive challenges. Getting past the first 30 minutes, Korea’s cross directly went into the goal to give Japan a goal down before the first half ended.

After the interval, Japan started robbing the ball with their collective defence in the midfield and fed it to side spaces. That initiated effective attacks and set up goal-scoring opportunities, which led to an early equaliser. Korea used a lot of long balls to attack Japan’s goal, but Japan’s swift transition between offence and defence and solid defensive end prevented Korea from creating crucial moments. Japan continued taking their pace with their timely passing but could not take advantage of arising opportunities. The match ended up with a 1-1 draw. Although they still need to improve deliberate attacking tactics to break through in front of the goal, one of their achievements in the match was that they got back their own rhythm by themselves in the second half.

Comments

MATSUDA Shino (Nippon Television Menina)
I was very tense before the match because the match was my first one. I was worried how opponents would look like and if I could work well with my teammates. In the first half, we could not keep the ball as we wanted and allowed a goal. Those are something we need to solve. Yet in the second half, we could catch our pace. I couldn’t play well in the side position in the first half, touching the ball only few times. But when I moved to the side back in the second half, I tried to defend with my whole body. My passes were not accurate enough, and traps were also sloppy. In practice I will focus on playing more neatly in each play.

KANNO Oto (Nippon Television Menina)
I was on the bench in the first half, but I was able to play after the break. Looking at the match from the bench, I felt our team was giving away a momentum to the opponent. And we couldn’t pass the ball well enough and all we did was just kicking it forward. I was thinking that if I would play, I was going to dribble forward when getting the ball in the midfield. I actually received the ball in the middle of the field easier than I expected. I tried to turn around and dribble in various ways, and they were successful. That was great. The match result wasn’t satisfactory as we couldn’t win the match with the 1-1 draw.
In the match against Korea, I’m happy to learn once again how big the world is. That reminded me that I need to work harder from now on.

SUZUKI Haruna (JFA Academy Fukushima)
Korea was quite different from the first match-up as they were very active and had continuous pressure forward this time. What I learned most in the match was the ball control. Korean players were very fast-footed and pressed very quickly. When I failed to control the ball and kept it a little too long, they came close to me very quick. That reminded me that it is important to look around before receiving the ball, change where I keep the ball time to time, and use first-time passes. I will keep it in mind and work on it from next practice.

Schedule