At 11 AM, they took a stroll around the hotel and took commemorative photos in front of the very large Chengdu East Station. After their walk, they returned to the hotel and had lunch at 1 PM in preparation for the match.
They had a meeting at the hotel at 2:20 PM and departed for the venue at 2:50 PM. They traveled by bus and arrived in about 20 minutes. They warmed up on an adjacent ground before the match.
Both the match venue and the warm-up ground were artificial turf with sand infill, so the match was played in extremely high temperatures.
The tournament regulations for this event are a round-robin format with all 8 teams. The official match duration is two 30-minute halves. A subsequent 30-minute period is designated as a training match.
Also, instead of the 8-a-side format usually played in Japan, it's 11-a-side on a regular adult-sized pitch. They also use a size 5 ball, which is one size larger.
The first opponent for the Antlers School Selection U-12 team is Henan.
Starting lineup
Takahashi, Awano, Fujii, Tsukahara, Niwa, Serita, Tanaka, Sakayori, Bannai, Tanimoto, Ohashi
First Half: Kashima 1-0 Henan Goalscorer: Sakayori
Second Half: Kashima 3-0 Henan Goalscorers: Tsukahara, Otomo, Bannai
Total: Kashima 4-0 Henan
Training Match (changed to 15 minutes)
Kashima 1-0 Henan Goalscorer: Own Goal
They won their first match.
After returning to the hotel and having dinner, they held a meeting and then went to bed early as they had the first match tomorrow.
