The 24th All Japan High School Women's Football Championship kicked off - Tokiwagi Gakuen High School blocked #football

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 13:44:36 +0900

The 24th All Japan High School Women's Football Championship kicked off at several venues in Hyogo prefecture on 3 January. 32 qualified teams from 9 areas of Japan had their first matches and 16 teams were selected for the second round.

Pick-up Match 1

Daisho Gakuen High School　(Kansai1/Osaka)　6-0 (2-0, 4-0)　Hokkaido Otani Muroran High School　(Hokkaido2)

The intensive match moved suddenly: in the 3rd minute, Daisho Gakuen High School’s FUJINE Arisa got a blocked ball and shot it back to Hokkaido Otani Muroran High School’s net. The ball successfully found the right corner of the net. Regardless, Hokkaido Otani Muroran High School kept playing positively.

They pressured the opponent’s final line intensively trying to attack the goal as quickly as possible. Daisho Gakuen broke their offence sometimes, but Hokkaido Otani Muroran’s defenders and goalkeeper TODA Riko blocked well the opponent’s counter attacks.

However, Daisho Gakuen got the momentum by scoring a 2nd goal at a good time. At the end of the 1st half, TSUNEDA Mayu pushed the ball into the net, and in the 3rd minute of the 2nd half, HAYASHI Minori successfully scored the 3rd goal.

Then Daisho Gakuen kept attacking; in the 50th minute, Tsuneda scored another goal, and 2 substitute players such as captain NAKAYAMA Momoka scored 2 more goals. In total, Daisho Gakuen had 27 shots and scored 6 goals to move on to the second round.

Match details (Japanese version only)

Pick-up Match 2

Hinomoto Gakuen Senior High School　(Kansai2/Hyogo)　0-1 (0-0, 0-1)　Tokiwagi Gakuen High School　(Tohoku1/Miyagi)

For the past 7 years, Hinomoto Gakuen Senior High School and Tokiwagi Gakuen High School have competed to get the title of this championship. These top schools had to play from the first round. The match went intensive to get the ball and initiative, and Hinomoto Gakuen tried to make a chance making the most of pass work to their speedy front player MEHARA Rina.

However, the more consistent team with making shots and crosses was Tokiwagi Gakuen; front players such as forward OKINO Kurea moved a lot more with tough fitness. Even though the 1st half ended 0-0, Tokiwagi Gakuen had more shots and corner kicks than Hinomoto Gakuen.

In the 50th minute of the 2nd half, Tokiwagi Gakuen’s DOI Asuka, Hinomoto’s Mehara made shots from crosses, but both couldn’t find the net. The breakthrough of difficult match came in the 63rd minute.

Tokiwagi Gakuen’s substitute player SUZUKI Hinako picked up the ball in the opponent’s area and made a drastic shot from distance. The ball hit the cross bar and KURATANI Narumi pushed it back to the net. Hinomoto Gakuen tried more vertical and quick attacks but they couldn’t score. Tokiwagi Gakuen achieved the victory to move on to the second round.

Match details (Japanese version only)

8 matches of the second round will be held on 4 January.

Coach and Players' Comments

YAMAMURA Miku (Hokkaido Otani Muroran High School)
For the past year, we couldn’t win the important matches in Hokkaido and I personally didn’t want to see any more tears of my teammates in this championship. In drawing lots, we were shocked to get Daisho Gakuen, but we kept working hard to beat any team.

For the past few months, we couldn’t use the ground due to the cold climate, but we kept having hard training such as running. It is indeed frustrating to be defeated, but we have 16 players who are first year students and nearly half of the starting players were from them. I expect them to do a good job in the next 2 years.

FUJINE Arisa (Daisho Gakuen High School)
At the beginning, we couldn’t control the ball well and it wasn’t how we usually play. Even in that situation we could get the opener and that helped us to get the rhythm of the match. We had some times that we couldn’t finish making shots even though we could reach the goal.

For the next match, I want to pay more attention to finish our offence with shots. We have more players in the first year and second year in this team and I have been selected for the Inter High School Sports Festival and this championship since I was selected for the member of the squad in my first year, so this time I want to lead the other teammates.

KURATANI Narumi (Tokiwagi Gakuen High School)
It was a difficult match, so I am happy to win. When I scored, it was just pushing the ball back to the net; Suzuki Hinako initially struck a good shot which went slightly off the goal. I just appreciate her for my goal. Since I joined the team, we haven’t beaten Hinomoto Gakuen, so all of us said to each other "Today is the time for us to beat them." When we got to know that our first opponent would be Hinomoto, we were highly motivated and that helped us to begin the match with strong mentality.

We are missing KOBAYASHI Rikako due to injury, and we all have tried to change ourselves by not being too dependent on the star player. We have to manage even without her. From tomorrow, we keep working hard for each of the matches to get the title.

TANABE Tomoe (Hinomoto Gakuen High School)
The match went as we expected. We thought that the key would be how much we can maximise the chance going through a difficult situation. I think we have various factors that meant we couldn’t win the match today. I think we have worked to improve ourselves, but the opponent also worked hard; we just couldn’t go beyond them with our skills. We still have to be strict to ourselves. To finish our attack with a good shot requires strength and consistency in how we move even when we are off the ball. For next year, we keep working hard giving pressure to ourselves.