Today, I started with a slightly late wake-up, followed by a longer walk and breakfast before the night game.
In the morning, considering the fatigue from consecutive matches, each individual will make adjustments. From Coach Sato, we will learn to use our time to achieve the best performance, as this is also part of the experience.
Today's opponent is Bochum U-19, who is currently in 3rd place in the Bundesliga U19 West.
Facing an opponent who has established individual skills, speed, strength, and team organization since the start of the match, we are unable to play our own soccer and are falling behind.
And then, early on, they concede their first goal from a short counterattack on their current expedition.
Despite facing strong pressure from the opponent, they fought tenaciously and managed to hold on to a 0-1 scoreline in the first half, with Daimoto, Yumoto, and Takahashi leading the team with their physical play.
At halftime, Coach Sato said, "It's a great opportunity to feel the pressure that we can't usually feel. Let's take on a challenge and build something!"
As the second half begins, all players, including those who came on as substitutes, start to play aggressively together.
Pressing from the front line with the awareness of the risks behind, quickly switching and regaining the ball in the front line to create chances.
Then, in the 59th minute, Takahashi pushed in the loose ball from Yokota's free kick to equalize.
Furthermore, Haga steals the ball at the forefront on his own, and passes it from Terayama to Imamura, and Imamura's left-footed shot successfully turns the game around.
Despite continuing to show an aggressive attitude in challenging, Iizuka, who had come out to intercept the opponent's cross, fell down after a fierce collision with the opponent, and during that time, the opponent scored an equalizer.
However, without losing focus here, they showed a united attitude to go for the winning goal. In the 86th minute, Yokota calmly scored a goal from Kubo's cross, successfully taking the lead again and ultimately winning the game.
Although we were scored against for the first time in this expedition, we showed a fight that resulted in two comebacks without losing our spirit and connected our determination to win to victory. It was a game where we could feel the growth from various experiences since the start of this season.
After the match, dinner at the sports bar located at Signal Iduna Park, the home stadium of Dortmund.
It became a dinner while watching the friendly match between the Germany national team and the Brazil national team.
After that, we arrived at the hotel in Paderborn after 11 PM.
It was a day where we felt growth, with 3 consecutive victories in the away games and results, being able to control the flow of the game against a tough opponent and ourselves.
Tomorrow, we will have a match against Schalke 04 U19, which is considered to be the strongest team in the current expedition.
I think fatigue will start to show in the fourth consecutive game, but I want to continue challenging without fear.
