When midfielder SATO Ryunosuke (FC Tokyo U-18), who wears the number 10 shirt of the U-17 Japan National Team, took to the pitch for the U-17 World Cup, the clock was ticking 36 minutes into the second half. With a 1-0 lead against the U-17 Poland National Team, one of the top four teams in Europe, he said, “I felt that they trusted me,” and continued to play with a focus on offense and defense.
Sato’s name was missing from the starting lineup for the first match due to an accident. After moving to Bandung, Indonesia, I developed gastroenteritis and had a fever. They were forced to leave. The training session was also adjusted separately, but in the first match, the medical staff decided that he could play up to 15 minutes, so he came on as a substitute and took the pitch for the World Championship.
Reflecting on his own performance, he said, “I felt like the adrenaline was the medicine, and I think I was able to close out the match, and the best thing was that I was able to win the match.” After playing in the match and training for another two days, he said, “I feel like I’ve been able to get back to 100%, and I want to give my best to win the match.”
As for the U-17 Argentina National Team, who will face the U-17 Argentina National Team on 14 March, he said, “We have players with special characteristics on the flanks, so we want to work well with SB to respond well,” but he also imagined that he would be able to use his strengths to score goals, saying, “We have chances in attack, and we are good at finding out what the opponent doesn’t like while devising our positioning and combinations, so we want to use that to our advantage.”
“It’s fun and it’s awesome at the World Cup,” said Japan’s No. 10, who smiled as he finally showed off his true potential to the world.
(Reporting by Akihiko Kawabata)
●U-17 World Cup 2023 Special Feature
