U-16 Japan Women's National Team crowned as Champions at the 4th Delle Nazioni Tournament #football

Sun, 05 May 2019 10:55:21 +0900
U-16 Japan Women's National Team crowned as Champions at the 4th Delle Nazioni Tournament

The 4th Delle Nazioni Tournament vs U-17 DPR Korea Women's National Team
Fri. 3 May 2019 18:00 (Local time) Match duration 80mins (40mins×2)
Gradisca d'isonzo, Italy

U-16 Japan Women's National Team 1-1(0-0, 1-1, EX: 0-0, 0-0, PK: 5-4) U-17 DPR Korea Women's National Team

Scores
52' KOYAMA Shinomi (U-16 Japan Women's National Team)
68' goal against (U-17 DPR Korea Women's National Team)

Starting Line-up
GK: NODA Nina
DF: KOYAMA Shinomi, HAYASHI Manaka, ISHIKAWA Rion, HAZEKAWA Yuna
MF: TANNO Ririka, OYAMA Aemu, AMANO Suzu, MINOWA Chisato
FW: NISHIO Hanon, HAMANO Maika

Reserves
GK: HATTORI Momoka
DF: ASAKURA Kanako
MF: OTA Moe, OGIKUBO Yuri, KIMURA Sana
FW: MATSUO Mizuki, MUNAKATA Minami, NISHIKIORI Miki

Substitutions
51' HAZEKAWA Yuna → MINOWA Chisato
53' HAMANO Maika → NISHIKIORI Miki
71' MINOWA Chisato → MATSUO Mizuki

Match Report

On Friday 3 May, the U-16 Japan Women's National Team played the U-17 DPR Korea Women's National Team at the 4th Delle Nazioni Tournament Final.

Prior to the match, Coach KANO Michihisa told his players to, “Showcase what we have been working on and give your best performance.”

The match kicked off under a rainy weather, where the two sides showcased an equally matched bout. While anticipating for their opportunities, the Japanese defence displayed their persistency to keep the opponents from creating major threats. With both sides playing with great intensity, the match entered halftime scoreless.

Japan opened up the scoring in the 52nd minute, when OYAMA Aemu delivered a lobbing pass to HAMANO Maika, who sent a cross towards the goal. It was the Japanese defender KOYAMA Shinomi who connected with this delivery to score the opening goal. DPR Korea came close to equalising the match in the 55th minute, when they struck a shot from a freekick taken deep in the Japanese territory, but goalkeeper NODA Nina made a fine save to deny their opportunity. However, the match was levelled in the 68th minute, when DPR Korea converted a shot taken from the central area. With the score tied at one apiece, the match entered extra time, but neither team managed to find the net during the extended period, sending the match into penalty shootouts. After all four players from both sides converted their spot-kicks, Japan’s fifth kicker, ISHIKAWA Rion calmly scored her shot. Japanese goalkeeper Noda stepped up to make a big save against DPR Korea’s fifth kicker to give Japan the tournament title.

As a result, the U-16 Japan Women's National Team has won all four matches to finish their first ever international tournament as the champions.

Coach and Players' Comments

KANO Michihisa, Coach
We are sincerely thankful for this opportunity to play at the Delle Nazioni Tournament. We are happy to win the title at this international tournament, and I am very proud of my players for their performance and improvements they’ve shown at this tournament. We entered this tour with the goal to develop these players into a group, and into a team. We focused on heightening the intensity of both offence and defence, while allowing the individuals to showcase their strong points. In the final match against the U-17 DPR Korea Women's National Team, we were not able to determine the winner in regulation time and ended up playing all the way to the penalty shootouts. It was certainly a tough match, but the team showcased great unity and I am sure that this match has given them great confidence moving forward. Through this experience of playing in an international tournament, the players were able to gain precious match experience against foreign players. The players were required to make accurate decisions under intense pressure, while understanding the importance of individual tactics, techniques, and hard work. Although we managed to finish off the tournament as the champions, we still saw many aspects we must work on, so we will try to make the most of the remaining time in Italy to improve ourselves.

GK #18 NODA Nina (Nippon TV Menina)
We entered the match with the goal to remain focused and make adjustments to the one-touch plays of our opponents. We managed to keep control of the ball possession in the first half but couldn’t create any goal scoring opportunities. In the second half, we played much better and scored a goal from a set of plays we worked on in our training sessions. We entered the penalties with the intention to enjoy the moment, which led our team to convert all five spot-kicks and win the title.

DF #12 KOYAMA Shinomi (Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls)
I was very excited to play this match today. Although we struggled to find our rhythm in the first half, as the match progressed, we managed to adjust to our opponents’ speed and showcase our usual performance. In the scene where I scored the goal, I made the run believing my teammates would send me the ball. We will utilise this experience to reach a higher level.

MF #11 TANNO Ririka (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies Youth)
In our pre-match meeting, we were given the analysis of our opponents, and we entered the match with a good amount of nervousness. As our opponents warmed up next to us, their intense atmosphere made us more nervous, but at the same time got me fired up. With the rain pouring down at game time, it made the pitch condition even worse, and we struggled to settle the ball. But even under such circumstance, we kept communicating with each other to break down our opponents. After I was kept scoreless in regulation time, I was committed to convert the penalty kick as the first spot-taker. I am glad we were able to win the title, but I wasn’t able to showcase a satisfying performance at the individual level, so I hope to improve myself in the remaining team activities.

Scheduled

The 4th Delle Nazioni Tournament

Sun. 28 April

3-0

1st Group Stage Match vs U-17 Italy Women's National Team
(Gradisca d’Isonzo, Italy)

Mon. 29 April

2-0

2nd Group Stage Match vs U-17 Russia Women's National Team
(Latisana, Italy)

Tue. 30 April | AM/PM | Training

Wed. 1 May

4-0

3rd Group Stage Match vs U-17 Macedonia Women's National Team
(Marano, Italy)

Thu. 2 May | AM/PM | Training

Fri. 3 May

1-1
PK: 5-4

Final vs U-17 DPR Korea Women's National Team
(Gradiscad’Isonzo, Italy)