Academy Report

It was humid and muggy in Guangzhou from the morning.

The tournament started today, with matches for all categories from U-12 to U-15 kicking off simultaneously.

We had breakfast at 6:30 AM, followed by a training session focused on running from 9:00 AM.


The running took place mainly around the facility's main stadium, where many matches were already underway.


After the morning training, we had lunch. It was a substantial meal to prepare for the afternoon match.We had a meeting at the hotel before departure.

We arrived at the match venue by bus in about 5 minutes. It suddenly started raining, but the rain stopped by the time the match began, and the strong sun shone down. The match was played on a natural grass pitch.Match Result Day 1
Kashima Junior vs Qingdao U-12 Select

First Half 0-0
Second Half 1-0
Total 1-0

Goal scorer: Haruto Niibori (direct free kick)

We ended the opening match with a victory.

Kashima Starting Lineup
GK: Daiki Nakai・DF: Yudai Miyazawa・Itsuki Miyoshi・Kaihio Sato・Yuto Otsuki
MF: Ryunosuke Arakawa・Sota Sasaki・Ryota Kaneda・Kota Tsukuda・Atsushi Kiuchi・Haruto Niibori

SUB: GK: Shona Kurosawa・Ryoki Ito (substitute)・Yumeki Toyoshima (substitute)・Ryota Tonooka・Haruto Miyazaki (substitute)・Naoto Miura・Kanawa Asahina (substitute)

From the start of the match, we faced an onslaught from opponents with superior physiques, making for a tough beginning. We immediately issued instructions for a positional change, moving Niibori from FW to CB to counter the opponent.

This adjustment proved successful, and from then on, we prevented their tall FW from being effective.

Throughout the first half, the opponent largely dominated possession, but we created chances through short counters after winning the ball in midfield. We spent a long time defending, but everyone remained focused, and we kept a clean sheet in the first half.During the 15-minute halftime, Coach Kotani gave instructions on defensive balance and other aspects.In the second half, the opponent, unable to score, started to show impatience, leading to more mistakes and fouls.

Then, in the 20th minute of the second half, we earned a direct free kick about 35 meters in front of the goal. Following instructions from teammates and the coach, Niibori aimed directly for the goal. It was a magnificent arc that curved into the net.

This goal proved to be the decisive one, securing a victory in our opening match.After training for players who had limited playing time or did not play, we returned to the hotel for dinner.

After dinner, there were two surprises. We celebrated the birthdays of Asahina, whose birthday is today, and Nakai, whose birthday is tomorrow. The first surprise was ice cream.


The second surprise, at the end of the meeting, was a handmade cake from Mou, who works at Evergrande Football School and is supporting our team in this tournament. Everyone, not just the birthday boys, was delighted.


Tomorrow's match will also be at 4:00 PM against Shenzhen Sunday Springs.