U-18 Germany Expedition Day 6.
Today, in the morning, I had the opportunity to visit the stadium of the prestigious local team, Menhengladbach, in the Nordrhein-Westfalen state where the hotel is located, as well as observe the training of the TOP team. The players seemed to be reflecting on their own dreams while experiencing the greatness of the club's history and tradition firsthand.
The opponent for the fourth match of the Germany Series is the amateur team "Teitona" from the German 6th division. It was a match against the only adult team on this expedition. The kickoff was at 18:30, borrowing the ground of the suburban club "Shagu".

In the early stages of the match, we were confused by the opponent's aggressive defense, which pushed deep into our territory, and we struggled to find our rhythm.
Still, Nishimoto, Hitoshi YOSHIMURA, Yuzuru YOSHIMURA, and Hayatani Yosuke in the forward line show aggressive moves and shots, gradually gaining control of the pace.
And in the 32nd minute, Hanaya, who ran into the center from a cross by Yoshimura on the right side, calmly controlled the ball and skillfully placed it into the bottom left corner of the goal, scoring the long-awaited opening goal.
After that, we continued to dominate the game, but we conceded a goal in the 40th minute due to a careless mistake in front of our own goal, and the first half ended in a 1-1 draw.

In the 46th minute just after the start of the second half, Nishimoto, who received the ball in the opponent's central territory, swung his left foot with great determination and pierced a middle shot from about 30 meters into the right corner of the goal!
Again, in the 64th minute, Nishimoto steals the ball from a sharp forecheck and passes it to Katsuya Aihara. Aihara calmly scores a goal in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, making it 3-1.
In addition, Ryo SATO scored in the 77th minute and Yuki Jokataki scored in the 80th minute, leading to a final score of 5-1. They achieved their first victory in the Germany expedition.

Tomorrow will be the final match of the main expedition, a training match against Schalke 04. We will give our all and fight with the strength we currently have, hoping to gain another valuable experience and return to Japan.

FW Nishimoto's comment
"I'm glad we were able to grab our first victory as a team. We will play with all our might towards another victory tomorrow."
MF Shirogatari's comment
"I was surprised by the physicality and speed level. We also had things we could do, so we will play with confidence tomorrow."
DF Watanabe's comment
"There were plays that didn't go as planned against the physicality and height, but there were also parts where we were able to cover well with quick decision-making and technical skills, so we want to make use of that."