The quarter finals of the J Youth Cup were held today, here are the results: Yokohama F. Marinos 1-3 FC Tokyo Cerezo Osaka 2-0 Kashiwa Reysol Gamba Osaka 6-1 Kashima Antlers Tokyo Verdy 3-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima For Gamba, Takashi Usami netted twice but was upstaged by Bruno Castanheira, who scored a hat-trick. I hope we can make the final, because Usami deserves to win this title at least once and this'll be his last chance, Semi Finals (Tuesday 23rd December): FC Tokyo vs Cerezo Osaka Tokyo Verdy vs Gamba Osaka Will it be a Tokyo derby, Osaka derby or a battle of the two cities? I'm hoping for an Osaka derby with Gamba taking the crown, naturally,
I will be pushing for a tokyo derby in the final with a victory for FC tokyo. Anyway, who said verdy's youth policy was bad ?
It's not easy finding info on youth players but I do know that he was born in Brazil. I'm not sure about his heritage though, he may just be half-Brazilian like Tulio.
http://www.jsgoal.jp/news/jsgoal/00075641.html Semi-finals results Cerezo Osaka 3-2 FC Tokyo Tokyo Verdy 1-4 Gamba Osaka
He's 18. I'm not sure about his citizenship. Great to see Gamba through to the final! The match was 0-0 at half time and then it seemingly exploded into life in the second half, haha. I hope we beat Cerezo in the final! Forza Gamba!
However it will end, a triumph for Kansai teams. Friends who followed Sanga U18 swore it was an exceptionally good team, best ever we had at Sanga, and was eliminated only because an unbelievably unlucky game in the quarterfinals.
Great win for the young lads today! They were 2-0 down after 49 minutes of play and then 2-2 after 52 minutes of play, Two more goals followed and Gamba Osaka are 2008 Youth champions! Congrats to Cerezo for making the final an all-Osaka affair; Osaka has a lot to be proud of today!
[youtube]DHJrprciwsY[/youtube] Highlights of the final. I can't wait to see how Usami does next season, hopefully he'll get a chance to show his ability early on so I don't have to wait too long,