Having finished their official games in the Japan-Brazil Friendship Cup yesterday, the Kashima Norte team spent today sightseeing at Corcovado and shopping, while the Tsukuba team played a friendly match.
Unfortunately, it rained until morning, and then the sky remained cloudy.
The Tsukuba team had breakfast at 6:00 AM, left the hotel at 7:15 AM, and moved to the CT Ground, which had been used for the Japan-Brazil Friendship Cup until a few years ago. There, they played a friendly match against CFZ União, who also participated in this tournament. On the way to the venue, they passed by the main venue of the Rio Olympics and the Athletes' Village.
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[Friendly Match Result]
Tsukuba 2 (1-0, 1-0) 0 CFZ União
Goal scorers: Ryota Kimishima 4 min, Junya Sekiguchi 70 min
Squad: So Nakajima, Goto, Fujiwara (HT Taku Ishikawa), Kimishima, Yui Nakajima (HT Sekiguchi), Kaneko (HT Ko Ishikawa), Maruyama, Wagatsuma, Hanao, Aragaki (HT Fukazawa), Suzuki (HT Kokubu)
Ryota Kimishima, who had recovered from an injury, opened the scoring from a corner kick in the 4th minute, playing with full intensity from the start. However, the opponent also adjusted, and an evenly matched battle ensued. That made the opening goal even more valuable. In the second half, the opponent changed all their members, so although there were moments when we were pressed, we were able to transition to attack by securely connecting passes to our teammates from solid defense.
In the 70th minute, just when it seemed the match would end as it was, Taku Ishikawa intercepted the ball on the right side of the opponent's half, and a brilliant exchange of 4 or 5 one-touch passes, professional-level in execution, led to Junya Sekiguchi calmly scoring, making it 2-0 and ending the match. We finished our games in Brazil in good form.
After returning to the hotel and having lunch, the Tsukuba team went to the beach from 3:30 PM. The players were having a blast in the sea.
Despite the unfortunate weather, the Kashima Norte team went up Corcovado, which is always shown in live broadcasts of the Rio Olympics. They took a train to the summit, and if the weather had been good, they would have seen beautiful scenery, but unfortunately, they couldn't see it this time. They took a commemorative photo amidst the mist at the summit. Afterward, they finished shopping at Hatano Shoten, which has been good to them every year, and returned to the hotel.
At the hotel, we enjoyed our last dinner. Every day, player Erik Fujii served a large plate of feijão for both lunch and dinner.
Afterward, the Norte and Tsukuba teams held their final meeting.
In the evening, Indian club team FC Goa was training at the Zico Center. Among them, under the direction of coach Zico, was former Brazil international player Lúcio.
So far, no players on the Brazil expedition have been injured or fallen ill, and all participants have been healthy throughout their stay. Tomorrow is finally the last day, and we hope to return to Japan in good health.
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