Courtesy: jfa.jp

The 12th All Japan Women's futsal tournament gets underway, 16 teams competing for Japan championship

The 12th All Japan Women's Futsal Tournament got underway on Friday 6 November in Kushiro, Hokkaido. A total of 16 teams assembling from all over the nation compete for the Japan championship.

The opening day had two matches each for Group A and B and one match each for Group C and D.

In Group A, SWH Ladies Futsal Club (Kansai 1/Hyogo) finished the day as the only team who grabbed two consecutive wins. After beating Shrine Ladies FC (Tohoku 1/Aomori) 3-0 in the first match, the Hyogo outfit defeated Cafuringa Boys Higashikurume (Kanto 4/Tokyo) 4-0 in the second match with Japan Women's Futsal National Team field player SAKATA Mutsumi's brace.

As a win or loss record between the teams at stake is prioritised when equalling on points, SWH ladies already made a final round berth on the first day.

In Group B, tournament's new face, two-year-old, FC Kouyama Ladies (Host/Hokkaido) made a surprise. The host team edged Bardral Urayasu Las Bonitas (Kanto 1/Chiba) 3-2 in their opener and thrashed Member Of The Gang (Tokai 1/Mie) 4-2 in the second match.

FC Kouyama Ladies can advance to the final round with a win or draw in the third fixture against Sakura no Seibo Gakuin High School (Tohoku 2/Fukushima). In case Seibo Gakuin beat FC Kouyama, Bardral Urayasu and Seibo Gakuin also have a chance to get through to the final round by getting the best results among the three-team battle also involving FC Kouyama.

PeSelva (Shikoku/Tokushima), who made their second appearance in three years, eased to a 3-0 win over FC Aregre Caminho (Kyushu/Saga) who are in this tournament for five straight times. PeSelva are topping Group C followed by Leograsta (Kansai 2/Osaka) and Veex Tokyo Ladies (Kanto 3/Tokyo), who shared spoils.

Last year’s runner-ups Maruoka Ruck Ladies (Hokushinetsu/Fukui) are leading Group D. Maruoka snatched a comeback win over Safilva Colmillo (Hokkaido) with field player KITAGAWA Kana's two tallies.
On Saturday 7, the second day of the tournament, the rest of the 12 first round matches are to be held. The four teams who advance to the final round will be determined.

Players' Comments

SAKATA Mutsumi (SWH Ladies Futsal Club/Hyogo)
We were tensed as most of the players had not experienced a national tournament. Even so, every one of us fulfilled her minimum duty so that such efforts led to this result. There is still some more part that is not enough. We want to be aware of that for tomorrow.
In scoring two goals, I did basically nothing in both of them. They were just set up for me to put it in. But I'm always told by my coaches, "Kick it to the upper side", and the goalkeeper was stooping. So I thought "Maybe it can go in if I kick it up" when I kicked the ball. I have experienced the Japan National Team, and I’m aware I need to lead the team as the captain.

KITAGAWA Kana (Maruoka Ruck Ladies/Fukui)
We came here after all this time only thinking to get the championship. We didn't perform well in our opening matches in the past, so we were talking with each other like "Let's brace ourselves first thing in the opener." But we gave up a goal first. Even so, no one seemed pressed and everyone was composed to play her game.
It was good we won in the end. The flow of the game wasn't so good, so I thought it would remain that way afterwards unless I scored a goal. I was happy with my second goal. But I was happier when I scored the equaliser first as I really felt we needed to get a point.

SUGI Hiromi (Leograsta/Osaka)
We are a challenger here so didn't have anything to fear. All we needed to do was just go forward. That's a good thing as a result. Even though we took the lead in the first half, we didn't have so much information about the opponents and didn't know how they would come. So we came out to just show what we'd done. That also turned out to be a good thing.
We wanted to get three points. Our assistant coaches believed in us in spite of the situation where our coach was absent. We are glad to get a point and go forward for tomorrow. We will have good food to recover and get ready for tomorrow's match.




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