THE MATCH... IS STARTING TO HAVE A STRANGE DEVELOPMENT! BOTH TEAMS MADE SUBSTITUTIONS AS THE END OF THE SECOND HALF IS DRAWING NEAR... AND WHILE TOHO SHOULD HAVE MORE STAMINA... SHUTETSU IS... SOMEHOW... KEEPING UP MORE AND MORE!
MAYBE TOHO IS TAKEN ABACK BY SHUTETSU'S RESISTANCE, MAYBE THEY'RE STARTING TO FEEL PRESSURED OR THEY'RE LOSING CONFIDENCE... BUT THEIR MOVEMENTS ARE DIFFERENT, RATHER THAN THEIR USUAL CLEAN, BY THE BOOK MOVES... THIS IS BECOMING TO BE A FREE FOR ALL FIGHT EVERYWHERE!
BOTH TEAMS ARE FIGHTING HARD FOR THE POSESSION OF THE BALL... AND IT'S LOOSE! TWO PLAYERS ARE RUSHING TOWARDS IT... SAWADA, WHO IS BETTER PLACED, PROBABLY BECAUSE HE ANTICIPATED THIS... AND NITTA, WHO IS LATE, WAS OBVIOUSLY TIRED ALL ALONG THIS MATCH... AND HARSHLY MARKED PHYSICALLY ALL ALONG THIS MATCH AS WELL, WHICH MAY HAD AN EFFECT ON HIS PHYSICAL CONDITION!
DESPITE HIS CONDITION, AND BEING FARTHER AWAY... NITTA IS THE ONE WHO TOOK THE BALL! HOWEVER, NITTA'S MARKERS ARE ALREADY CLOSING IN ON HIM... WE WILL PROBABLY HAVE EXTRA TIME!
AHH! NITTA ISN'T USING ANY FEINTS, HE'S GETTING PAST HIS TWO MARKERS FORCIBLY, THE SPEED OF HIS CHARGE IS TAKING HIS OPPONENTS ABACK!! HE'S GETTING IN SHOOTING RANGE!
THIS IS A MIDDLE SHOT FROM NITTA, IN THE LAST SECONDS OF THE MATCH! THIS IS...!!
... IN! SHUTETSU SCORED THE FIRST GOAL AT LAST! ... AND THIS IS THE WHISTLE FOR THE END OF THE MATCH!
THIS IS IT! 1-0 FOR SHUTETSU! WE WON'T HAVE EXTRA TIME AFTER ALL! TOHO'S INVINCIBILITY RECORD IS FINALLY... OVER! THE WHOLE SHUTETSU TEAM FOUGHT REALLY HARD TO DEFEND THEIR GOAL... AND IN THE END, THEIR ACE REWARDED THEIR EFFORTS WITH THE MATCH SETTLING GOAL!
SOON AFTER, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT NITTA JOINED THE KASHIWA REYSOL CLUB, AND THAT HE WOULD PLAY THE SECOND STAGE OF THE J-LEAGUE'S FIRST DIVISION.
BUT ANOTHER BIG CHALLENGE WAS WAITING FOR HIM THERE... WOULD HE BE STRONG ENOUGH TO FACE THE DIAMONDS WHEN OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE WERE ALREADY DEFEATED?
NEVERTHELESS, KATAGIRI SOON AFTER MADE AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE JAPANESE TEAM THAT WOULD TAKE PART IN THE AFC U19 CHAMPIONSHIP HELD IN JAPAN. THE COACH WAS RATHER UNKNOWN, BUT RATHER CLOSE TO KATAGIRI AND WOULD FOLLOW HIS DIRECTIVES WITHOUT QUESTIONS...
... WHILE THE PILLARS OF THE TEAM WOULD BE THE THREE PLAYERS THAT STOOD OUT THE MOST IN THE SUMMER INTERHIGH, AS THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE WERE ALREADY TOO OLD.
THE OTHER PLAYERS WERE COMING FROM THE J2 OR J1, WITH THE MOST NOTABLE MEMBERS BEING ENOMOTO TATSUYA, THE GOAL KEEPER OF THE YOKOHAMA F MARINOS, NAKATA KOJI, KNOWN AS THE "OTHER NAKATA" AND FOR HIS DEFENSIVE POWER AMONG THE KASHIMA ANTLERS, ABE YUKI OF JEF UNITED WHO GAVE TROUBLES TO FC TOKYO IN THE OPENING MATCH, AS WELL AS ENDO YASUHITO OF GAMBA OSAKA, WHO IS CONSIDERED AS A TALENTED MIDFIELDER...
FOR KATAGIRI, MISUGI'S GENERATION WAS ALREADY OVER, SINCE THEY HAD TOO MANY STRONG OPPONENTS OF THE SAME AGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES... BUT JAPAN WAS BLESSED WITH YOUNGER PLAYERS WHO COULD BE CONSIDERED GOLDEN AGE AS WELL, THEY COULD WIN NOT ONLY THE AFC U19 CHAMPIONSHIP... BUT ALSO THE WORLD YOUTH!
ASIDE FROM THE SUMMER INTER HIGH IN JAPAN, ANOTHER COMPETION WAS MOSTLY TAKING PLACE DURING SUMMER: THE PREMIER DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. IT'S RUNNING FROM MAY THROUGH JULY, WITH THE PLAYOFFS DECIDED THROUGH JULY AND AUGUST.
THANKS TO MATSUYAMA'S ACTIVITY, THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS U-23 TEAM BECAME CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTHWEST DIVISION, THEN WON THE DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS, AS WELL AS THE WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP...
HOWEVER, THEY LOST THEIR FIRST MATCH OF THE PDL CHAMPIONSHIP ON A HAIR'S BREADTH, AGAINST THE TEAM THAT WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME CHAMPIONS, FC LONDON, A TEAM THAT WAS USING 8 PLAYERS OVER 23 YEARS OLD, THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED BY THE RULES, ALL BEING FORMER PROFESSIONALS, SOME OF THEM EVEN HAVING PLAYED FOR NATIONAL TEAMS... WHAT WOULD BECOME OF HIM AFTER LOSING SO CLOSE TO THE GOAL?