[Day 2 of Korea Expedition]

Day 2 began with a morning walk at 7 a.m.
Although it was still dark outside, we did light exercise in a park near the lodging to wake up our bodies.

Since today's match was in the afternoon, we relaxed at the lodging in the morning and then had lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Then it was discovered that some players had forgotten items at the lodging, so they ran back to retrieve them. Growth in personal life is also one of the highlights of overseas expeditions.

Today's opponent is Seokgwan Middle School, and we will play a match starting at 2:00 p.m. consisting of three 30-minute periods. The opposing players are U-15 players.

The match was played in rainy, cold weather on a slippery pitch.

The opponents in the first half were U-15 players, many of whom had strong physical abilities such as size and speed.
Although we faced many dangerous situations, we defended tenaciously centered around goalkeeper Okada. Taking advantage of a rare chance, Nakajima scored from a sharp vertical pass to the front by Namai, but it was ruled offside. Both sides failed to score, and the first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, U-14 players came onto the field. At the 8th minute of the second half, while passing the ball in their own half, a fresh opposing player pressed from the front line, stole the ball, and they conceded a goal. After that, they couldn't find their rhythm and conceded another goal at the 11th minute from a cross.

The second half ended 0-2. The third match was against a mixed team of U-15 and U-14 players.
At the 18th minute, the opponent’s left side half dribbled into the penalty area and scored from a cross. Wanting to at least score once, at the 27th minute, from a midfield pass, Nakamine faced forward and passed to Yonemoto in front of the goal. With a brilliant touch, his left-footed shot hit the corner of the goal, leveling the score at 1-1.
The match ended as it was, resulting in an overall 1-3 defeat.

After the match, we returned to the lodging and headed to the dinner venue!

Today’s dinner was a luxurious meal of bibimbap and chijimi.
It was a day full of reflections on personal matters such as time management, forgetting things, and issues during the match.

・Ikuta Tsunashima
Today was the second day of the Korea expedition.
The match was played in the rain, but I felt that this is part of the experience you must go through to become a professional soccer player, so it was a valuable experience.
During this expedition, we aim to enhance our 'independence' and 'willingness to take on challenges,' cherishing each day so that we can grow as individuals.
Although the match will be away, we still need to improve our preparation, so we want to raise our level together as a team.

◇The situation on the first day of the Korea expedition is here