Japan Under-20 women's team will play Canada in a warm up match

The Japan Under-20 women's team will play their Canadian counterparts in a warm-up friendly in Fukushima on August 13th ahead of the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup.

The match has been arranged in an attempt to boost the spirits of the people of Fukushima who suffered from last year's East Japan earthquake and tsunami.
"The J. Village national training center and Fukushima served important roles for Japanese football development," JFA Vice President Tashima Kozo commented. "We, the JFA, would like to help the people and the area more and more."

The kick-off time is 7 p.m. at Azuma Track and Field Stadium in Fukushima.
Both Canada and Japan will play in the World Cup, which will be held at five cities from August 19th to September 8th

Source: jfa.or.jp

Tags: Canada, Cup, FIFA, Football, Japan, Soccer, Under-20, Women's, World

Favorite

1 member favorited this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on July 8, 2012 at 10:21

The stadium holds about 20 000 spectators. It will be interesting to learn how many turn up for this curtain raiser.

Which teams are the favourites for the final?

Permalink Reply by Asa on July 8, 2012 at 10:53

Agree,the National team is very well supported.I think it will be a good tournament not sure who the favourites are could be a close one.

Permalink Reply by Hiroshi Umezu on July 8, 2012 at 12:22

Fukushima Azuma Stadium can certainly accommodate 21,000. Technically speaking, however, Fukushima Azuma Stadium is not an all-seater stadium but a 6,500-seat one. If the stadium should be filled to capacity, 14,500 spectators would end up sitting on the grass.
When an international friendly match between Shimizu S-Pulse and Brazilian club CR Vasco da Gama was held in 1994, the number of spectators topped 18,000, which was the largest ever.
(I actually rang up and heard from some people working for that stadium.)

Permalink Reply by Hiroshi Umezu on July 8, 2012 at 12:24

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on July 8, 2012 at 12:59

Thank you Hiroshi. 6 500 at a practice match soon before the tournament starts would seem a goodly number.

Hiroshi Umezu said:

Fukushima Azuma Stadium can certainly accommodate 21,000. Technically speaking, however, Fukushima Azuma Stadium is not an all-seater stadium but a 6,500-seat one. If the stadium should be filled to capacity, 14,500 spectators would end up sitting on the grass.
When an international friendly match between Shimizu S-Pulse and Brazilian club CR Vasco da Gama was held in 1994, the number of spectators topped 18,000, which was the largest ever.
(I actually rang up and heard from some people working for that stadium.)

Permalink Reply by Hiroshi Umezu on July 10, 2012 at 23:13

According to the Mainichi Shimbun, the head coach Hiroshi Yoshida said that Mana Iwabuchi, who currently plays as a forward for NTV Beleza, would join Japan's U-20 team after participating in the London Olympics.
It will indeed take Mana Iwabuchi to fill injured Mai Kyokawa's shoes. 19-year-old Mana Iwabuch was awarded the adidas Golden Ball at the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
Mai Kyokawa, who now plays as a striker for INAC Kobe Leonessa, has been withdrawn from Japan’s U-20 team due to her injury.

The FIFA Record of Mana Iwabuchi: http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/play...

Permalink Reply by Hiroshi Umezu on July 10, 2012 at 23:19

Permalink Reply by Gromit on July 11, 2012 at 0:00

And when will little Mana get a rest ? ;)

Can you tell us, Hiroshi, what's this "ceremony" with Maruyama (if if I'm not mistaken about the player) and a bamboo branch mean ? And what is written on the yellow ribbon ?

Norio Sasaki looks always so quiet, calm and nice. What do you think of him ? What kind of a man is he ?