As fatigue sets in from back-to-back games, it's crucial to get proper nutrition from daily meals.
The hotel's meals are very substantial, offering meat, fish, salads, fruits, as well as paella, a typical Spanish dish, and pizza and various types of bread at every meal. The players ate a balanced and plentiful diet, and also made efforts such as eating bananas during the bus ride after matches.
Today, we took a walk, had breakfast, held a meeting, and then headed to the match venue. We played the first round of the knockout stage at the same venue as yesterday.
Our opponent was the strong team, Atlético Madrid.
As it was the knockout stage, the attention on the match was even greater. Players from the moderation team participating from Japan came to cheer us on.
However, this is Spain. Amidst a completely hostile atmosphere with loud cheers from the opposing team's supporters, including their families, the kickoff whistle blew at 11:30.
We established our rhythm from the start. As a team, we intentionally won possession of the ball and moved it precisely, pressing towards the opponent's goal. However, the opponent's defense in front of their goal was solid, making it difficult for us to take shots.
Although we were sometimes put on the defensive, we maintained a strong defense.
In the 24th minute, Yajima intercepted a vertical pass from the opponent. He directly connected with Kato, and through excellent passing play with Tobita and Kiuchi, we broke through the opponent's midfield. Kiuchi distributed the ball behind the opponent's defensive line, and Ogasawara, who ran into the space, scored with a lob shot over the goalkeeper's head. This magnificent goal gave us the long-awaited opening score.
With increased momentum, Antlers, just before halftime, saw Itami break through on the left flank and deliver a minus cross, which Tobita shot with his left foot. The ball struck the post, narrowly missing the goal.
In the second half, Atlético, eager to score, pressed and put pressure on us from the front. The opponent launched attacks effectively using the flanks, but we maintained a compact shape and responded tenaciously without giving them space.
In the 18th minute, a cross from the opponent's left flank went over the touchline, and it was thought to be a goal kick, but it was ruled a corner kick. From the rebound of that corner kick, we conceded our first goal of the tournament.
The stalemate continued thereafter, and the match ended 1-1. It went to a 3-man penalty shootout.
Atlético took the first shot. Goalkeeper Fujii made a superb save on their first attempt. Our first kicker was Serizawa. He calmly scored.
Fujii then made another excellent save on the opponent's second shot. And Antlers' second kicker, Kato, calmly slotted it into the side netting, making it 2-0.
We defeated Atlético 3-1 overall, getting revenge for our previous loss during the U-17 Youth expedition to Guangzhou.
〈Match Result〉
3-1 (1-0/0-1/PK2-0)
〔Starting Members〕
GK Fujii FP Yajima, Oshima, Kosaka, Serizawa, Kato, Ogasawara, Kiuchi, Tsuchiya, Tobita, Itami
〔Substitute Members〕
FP Tsukuda
〔Scorer〕
Ogasawara (Kiuchi)
Coach Hashino's comment
"We went into the game aiming to control it. We scored the opening goal in the first half and were able to play to our advantage, but we conceded a goal from a corner kick in the second half, bringing us back to square one. However, we were able to fight through the remaining time without losing our spirit. Regarding the penalty shootout, I trusted not only goalkeeper Fujii but also the kickers. I'm worried about fatigue, but we want to prepare well as a team."
After the match, we returned to the hotel for lunch. We did some cooling down in the pool to aid recovery from fatigue.
From 19:00, we had a meeting. While watching footage of today's match, we discussed and corrected decisions made in both offense and defense based on the team concept, aiming for team unity.
We also received words of encouragement from Koyo Matsuura, a senior from the Antlers Academy who is currently playing professionally for FC Jumilla in Spain. Matsuura came to visit during his off time and watched today's match.
Tomorrow's quarterfinal match will be against "Levante" from Spain.