Today, we played a friendly match against Jeonju Citizen FC.
Starting Lineup
GK: Tateno
DF: Hatanaka, Takagi, Honda, Takada
MF: Hotta, Gunji, Hiruoka, Takeda
FW: Sato, Tsujimura
Substitutions
Hatanaka → Ando (55th minute)
Takeda → Okada (55th minute)
Since today's match was not an official one, we approached it in a more relaxed mood compared to previous days.
The match proceeded at Antlers' pace. In the 3rd minute of the first half, Sato broke free, and Takeda shot, but it went wide.
However, in the 14th minute of the first half, we scored the opening goal. From Takeda's post play, Takada sent a floated pass behind the defense, and Sato scored with a lob shot over the goalkeeper, putting us in the lead.
In the 15th minute of the second half, Honda scored from a rebound off a corner kick. In the 17th minute, Sato met a cross from Hotta, and Tsujimura scored on the rebound after the goalkeeper parried it, making it 3-0.
In the 28th minute, Sato scored from a rebound off Hotta's cross, making it 4-0.
Although we conceded a goal from a penalty kick in the closing moments, we secured the victory.
Kashima Antlers 4-1 Jeonju Citizen FC
Goalscorers: Sato (2), Honda, Tsujimura
After returning to the hotel, during lunch, representatives from Seogwipo City, Kashima City's sister city, visited to greet us and gave us tumblers and famous Jeju Island tangerines.
Afterward, we went to watch the quarter-final match between Palmeiras and PSV.
Palmeiras won the match 6-0, demonstrating their strength. There was a significant difference in individual technical quality, awareness of space, and the team's momentum when it mattered most.
The team members on this expedition, who will be heading to Brazil in about a week after returning to Japan, were keenly aware of the gap with the world that their coach always talks about, after watching this match.
During the meeting after dinner, the players shared their impressions of the match they watched and felt their own shortcomings.
Here are the results of the other quarter-final matches in this tournament:
Gamba Osaka 1-1 (PK 2-3) Seongnam
Dortmund 3-2 Augsburg
Pohang 3-0 LA Galaxy
Tomorrow's semi-final matches are as follows:
Seongnam vs Pohang
Palmeiras vs Dortmund
Tomorrow, we will play a friendly match against Jeonbuk Hyundai, also starting at 10:30 AM. In the afternoon, after shopping for souvenirs, we plan to go and watch the Palmeiras vs Dortmund match.