NEWSNews

2023.5.20[Academy]

[U-15 Fukagawa] Italy Expedition Day 6

On the morning of the 19th (Friday) of the 6th day of the expedition, some players had sleepy expressions due to the late game time yesterday, but we started the day with our usual morning walk.

After doing gymnastics, we split into groups and held a dance competition. Each person expressed themselves while coming up with ideas, and we were able to see sides of each other that we don't normally see.

Afterwards, preparations for the match continued and the third round of the qualifying league was held at 17:30 local time. The opponent was the strong Swedish team, Malmo FF, which is also the hometown team of player Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

There is no other way to advance to the qualifying league than to win, so naturally we will be fired up.


From the start of the game, we will aggressively try to take the ball from the front and aim for the goal, but the players of Malmö FF use their high skills to move the ball quickly and it is difficult to press them.

We conceded a goal from a cross from the left side in the 10th minute of the first half.

The situation has become more difficult, but the players will aim for a comeback and exchange fierce words.

Defensive corrections have increased and ball possession time has also increased due to increased ball retrieval in high positions.



As the attack intensified, in the 21st minute of the first half, Soma ARATA was fouled in the penalty area and Kanato HATAYAMA calmly converted the penalty kick to equalize the score at 1-1.



We were able to confirm ourselves as a team again during halftime and were able to play aggressively on both offense and defense from the start of the second half.

Obtained a free kick on the right side in the second half, 2 minutes remaining. The ball kicked by player Tsumugi OBATA was passed to player Arata who was free on the far side. We had a chance to score, but the shot missed above the goal and we were unable to turn the game around. We continued to take daring shots, but were unable to score.

Entering additional time, we increase the number of attackers in order to score another goal and aim for a comeback. However, despite our efforts, we were unable to score against the opponent's strong defense and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

The players were filled with frustration as they narrowly missed their goal of advancing to the top tournament.

The team's results have placed them in 4th place in the group league, and tomorrow they will face Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine in the ranking match.

Tomorrow will be the last game of this tournament.

We finished our 6th day of activities, switching our mindset to win for all the people who support us.