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The conditions for advancing to the upper bracket were for Athletico Paranaense (Brazil) to defeat Anderlecht (Belgium) and for us to surpass Anderlecht in goal difference.
During the warm-up after the meeting, the team's enthusiasm for the match was evident, starting with Brazilian gymnastics.
Today was cloudy with occasional light rain, making the weather more suitable for playing than the previous days.
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Match 3
vs Shanghai Port (China) 4-0 (2-0)
Goalscorers
Kumazawa 2, Oyama, Ikita
Starting lineup
GK Kimura, DF Morishima, Nakamura, Kobayashi, Shiraishi, MF Ito (Shu), Okano, Okawa, Oyama, Umezu, FW Kumazawa
Substitutions: Kiuchi (31 min), Imai (HT), Ikita (HT), Odanagi (56 min), Hanawa (73 min)
In this tournament, our starts to matches have been poor, leading to early crises and many mistakes, but the start of this match was calm overall.
The opponent's defensive line was high, so we created many chances by getting in behind them, but a lack of precision in front of goal and offsides meant we went for a while without scoring.
The game remained evenly matched until the 28th minute of the first half when Kumazawa scored the opening goal with a header from a cross by Shiraishi, who was making his first appearance in the tournament.
One minute later, Oyama received the ball in midfield, spread it to the side, and then ran to the far side to score an additional goal from Kumazawa's cross.
We had more possession than in previous matches and pushed forward more. We also dealt with several dangerous counter-attacks, mainly thanks to the goalkeeper and defenders, ending the first half strongly.
At halftime, Coach Nakano gave instructions on things to be aware of and offensive targets, given the situation where we needed to score many goals.
In the second half, Antlers took the initiative again, and Shanghai Port aimed for counter-attacks, similar to the first half.
Substitutes Ikita and Imai delivered many early crosses from the right side, while Oyama and Shiraishi combined on the left side for attacking plays.
In the 14th minute of the second half, Ikita's early cross was volleyed into the net by Kumazawa, holding off an opponent, for the third goal.
In the 36th minute of the second half, Ikita received a pass, entered the penalty area, and scored the fourth goal with a shot from a tight angle to the opposite side of the goal.
We continued to press forward to score more goals, but the match ended as it was.
In the other match, Athletico Paranaense took a two-goal lead in the first half, but Anderlecht equalized with two penalties in the second half, and the match ended 2-2.
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As a result, unfortunately, we were unable to advance to the upper bracket tournament.
Coach Nakano spoke to the players regarding this result.
After returning to the lodging, we cooled down in the pool and then had lunch.
In the afternoon, we had a long rest period and then held a meeting at 5:00 PM.
We discussed strengths and challenges for each position, and the players reviewed their plays by watching videos under the guidance of Coach Morishima for FW, Academy Advisor Ogasawara for MF, Coach Nakano for DF, and Coach Ohashi for GK.
After the meeting, we had dinner, and the day's activities concluded.
Tomorrow is a rest day with no match, but due to the typhoon, the specific schedule is still undecided.
The day after tomorrow, we are scheduled to play against Hubei FC (China) at 9 AM in the ranking tournament.