Today was the second match of the tournament preliminary league.
Tsukuba Junior vs South Australia Select
December 14 (Thursday) 12:50 PM Kick-off
Venue: MSN-FIFLD E, Bukit Jalil
Starting members
GK: Maya Alex FP: Takahata, Jinno, Shinbo, Ogura, Kameyama, Yoshida, Masuda, Ouchi
Substitutions: Higuchi (for Yoshida), Oyama (for Ouchi), Green Kaydin (for Kameyama), Tanaka (for Takahata), Oe (for Ogura)
First half 1-0 Second half 2-0 Total 3-0
Goals by: Ouchi, Yoshida, Ouchi.
As a result, Sporting is in 1st place with 2 wins, Tsukuba is in 2nd place with 1 win and 1 draw, Malaysia Representative is in 3rd place with 1 draw and 1 loss, and South Australia Select is in 4th place with 2 losses. This is the current ranking.
After waking up, we took a walk and then had breakfast. We had a meeting in the coach's room, shared a video review of yesterday's game, and confirmed what we needed to focus on for today's match.
Since the U-13 team of Urawa Reds was at the same match venue, we traveled together by bus. Even though it was a weekday, many people came to watch the match. There were facilities for dining, and an ambulance was on standby in case of injuries. In addition, a water truck was also deployed for heat counter-measures.
At the match venue, after watching the Sporting vs Malaysia representative match, we warmed up to get ready for our own game.
In the match, in the 7th minute of the first half, Ouchi capitalized on an opponent's defensive error and scored the opening goal, allowing us to proceed with the game to our advantage. The overall defense also responded calmly, not allowing the opponent to launch any threatening attacks. However, we failed to score on chances to extend our lead, creating a difficult situation for ourselves.
In the second half, the opponent made four substitutions, bringing in a particularly large forward. Tsukuba continued to play defensively in the second half, pressing from the front. In the 7th minute of the second half, Yoshida stole the ball from the opponent and scored an additional goal. Furthermore, our attacking prowess shone through, and in the 10th minute of the second half, Ouchi dribbled and scored with his left foot, extending our lead. Thanks to the contributions of the substitute players, we won 3-0. In this match, GK Maya's brilliant saves kept our goal at zero.
After the match, we moved to the shade and cooled down, led by trainer Ito.
 | | Photo on the right |
Comment from Coach Tsuchida・First, we started with defense and responded well. Despite the heat, we were able to implement the defensive awareness we had decided on as a team and keep a clean sheet.
・It was also good that we were able to intentionally connect stolen balls and score goals.
・Our challenge for tomorrow is that we lost the ball due to simple mistakes, so we want to maintain our concentration as much as possible and connect the ball accurately.
Tomorrow's match will be against Sporting Lisbon, with a 9:10 AM kick-off.
After the match, we returned to the hotel, showered, and had a late lunch. In the evening, under the instruction of trainer Ito, we cooled down in the pool to adjust our physical functions.
After that, everyone spent time doing laundry, writing in their expedition notebooks, and resting. After dinner, we had a meeting and prepared for tomorrow's match.
