I thought it could be interesting to have this thread to speak basically about U18 club football so that we can have the other threads focused on the NTs. these days, there is one of the two "big" HS tournaments in the countries. http://www.inter-high-school.tv/ A quick recap for those who are not familiar: High School teams and JLeague U18 teams play either in the Tamado Premier or Prince League* according to relegations and promotions. You can have a look here at the Premier league tables and so on. The Premier is divided into EAST and WEST blocks, the Prince League into regions such as Kansai, Kanto, Hokkaido, etc. *there are also probably other minor regional leagues Then, there are two big tournaments, that have pretty much the classic "cup" format (the leagues I just mentioned before are stopped in these weeks). These are the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (the most famous, played in january) and the Inter High School Championship which is happening these days. JLeague clubs these days instead play the Club Youth Football Championship
speaking of which, Takefusa Kubo scored a brace (Tokyo U18) coming from the bench. http://www.jfa.jp/match/club_youth_u18_2016/groupD/match_page/m24.html
All right, Inter high semifinals time! 昌平高等学校 vs 船橋市立船橋高等学校 Shohei vs Ichiritsu Funabashi and 青森山田高校 vs 流通経済大学付属柏高等学校 Aomori Yamada vs Ryukei Kashiwa
To think that Shohei will be that high... They were one of the best schools in terms of football in Saitama but that's... still surprising. Ryutsu and Funabashi always fight in the finals of the All-Japan winter competition on the Chiba's prefectural level and the team which wins is always one of the favorits to winning it in the winter. I thought that Higashi Fukuoka will show something better but it seems like it was a pretty big shock for them.
As for the Club Youth, it's Tokyo vs Frontale and Kobe vs Shimizu. Take Kubo scored his 3rd goal in the competition in the last minute against Yokohama FC.
Most videos have been classified it seems. http://www.inter-high-school.tv/sports/lists?sports=9 Just click on the "動画" on the right in blue. The matches available are available in full. Quarter finals yet to be added Speaking of which... anyone any clue about the Club Youth Football Championship videos? I can't find them anywhere :/. I guess it's because they were on SKY PerfecTV, but it's strange that nobody has uploaded anything anywhere.
Tokyo won. 2-0 vs Shimizu Yosuke Hanya MVP, Tatsuya Yugo (Shimizu) also got awarded as interesting player. The top scorers were: KUBO Takefusa (F.C. Tokyo U-18) 5 goals TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth) 5 goals OGASHIWA Tsuyoshi (Omiya Ardija Youth) 5 goals
Any interesting player in this year high school tourney? Three years ago there is Koyamatsu, but he currently stagnating at Grampus (who doesn't at this appaling team) Two years ago we have none, Watanabe Ryoma if you insist Last year Nagura Takumi from Kokugakuin Kugayama is the bright spark, quick feet, good spatial awareness, excellent technique, with some flair. Wonder if he's already attached to JLeague club this year?
Well Ryoya Ito went to Urawa, while the Higashi Fukuoka players mostly moved to University for now. In regards to this year, Yuto Iwasaki has already signed with Sanga for the next season. He's tearing his local Prince League apart and has been called up often with the Japan U19. The player you mentioned is a 1998 so he's still in HS, it does not appear to have signed any precontract.
Several guys signed: Albirex Niigata defender Teruki Hara Funabashi HS Shonan defender Daiki Sugioka from the same school Gamba defender Bae Soo-yong from Boin HS and MF Takahiro Ko from Funabashi Sanfrecce has made a Pro contract with one of their youth players, イヨハ 理 ヘンリー sorry, I'm not sure how to translate it properly. Tentative "Iyoha Osamu Henry". Defender Vissel got Daiki Miya from Biwako Sport College as Special Designated player. Defender
http://www.jfa.jp/eng/youth_development/honor_players/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.League_designated_special_players Nagatomo, Muto, etc. were some DSP. Generally speaking these players come (and remain) in University but do some training and play a couple of matches. Then they are signed later
Japanese-born Ghanaian-Filipino defender Jefferson Tabinas of Toko Gakuen High School is likely to join Kawasaki next season.
They have also pre-signed their U18 captain, Ryotaro Meshino. Interesting player which I've seen a bit, but we'll see how it turns out.
Indeed he has joined. Got the information from a popular blog on Filipino football that includes info on potential national players. http://www.jleague.jp/en/news/article/7006/
Sanfrecce has signed Taishi Matsumoto from Shohei High School. This guy scored the winner against Shizuoka in the Inter High. Cerezo has signed Musashi Oyama instead, from Sapporo Otani High School (!). Unusual scouting
Jubilo Iwata has pre-signed the midfielder Kotaro Fujikawa from Higashi Fukuoka High School. Potentially pretty big player...