Copa Puma Toreros Primavera U12 2019

Go Zamurai Soccer Academy were invited playing Copa Puma Toreros Primavera U12/2019 (Copa Toreros) in March 2019. We selected quality U12 players from our U12 groups through 1-2 months selection training sessions and we visited in Japan for a week.

​Day1 and Day2, we had great preparation for own practice to know the rules in the tournament. And we played friendly tournament against elite J-League/Elite Academies (Urawa Reds, FC Toreros, Yokogawa Musashino FC) and Hsinchu Cosmons United (Taiwan), Olympic Marseille (France). We should have felt this must be a great international tournament... ! But it is still preparation training matches for official Copa Toreros dates.

​Day 3 (Copa-Day1), we moved to Tokino-Sumika-Football Camp area where locates near Mt.Fuji. This meant we finally started playing Copa Toreros U12/2020 official tournament. We were put in Group H and played 3 preliminary games against J-1 Cerezo Osaka (Japan), FC Toreros (Japan), and Yu Feng FC (China). We came 2nd in the competitive group games. This was our first priority in this year to finish top2 in the first group stage. And we got through to 1st/2nd teams round (2nd group stage). 

Day4 (Copa-Day2), we played 1st/2nd teams only group games. We played against J-1 Shonan Bellmare (Japan), J-1 Consadole Sapporo (Japan) and Gimpo (Korea). It was tough day playing versus full time professional academies. We came last in the group in Copa-Day2. But we saw many of positive challenge and massive learning from these games against top quality junior teams. In the evening, we had offical Copa Toreros party. Had lovely meals and a lot of international experiences for our boys. Boys seemed well bonded as a group.

Day5 (Copa-Day3), we were put in 17th-24th tournament out of 40 teams by day1, day2 results. We played against Zheijiang (China) in the morning and we lost by 1-2 which was very competitive game. In the afternoon, we played vs MIP (Japan) and lost by 2 penalty kicks in the last minutes. Last game of Copa Toreros was versing J-1 Yokohama FC (Japan). Our boys were very tired since last night as they playing 13 games last 3-4days. However everyone was so keen to win last game. We lost 2-0 down to Yokohama FC though it was most enjoyable game to watch as everyone had best communication and responsibility to compose every moments. Anyway, this result meant we were placed as 24th ranking out of 40 international clubs. 30 clubs are full time professional academies and the rest of participants are international rep teams from Nepal, Singapore. So our boys did really good job and made fantastic outcomes.

Day6, we were heading off to Tokyo from Mt.Fuji area to move back to Australia. We have taken some memorial pictures at Gotenba where we played Copa Toreros U12. Also had some sightseeing in Asakusa (traditional downtown in Tokyo). Looking back on last 7days, we have shared a lot of memories and great experiences since leaving Australia. As coach and manager, it is not too easy to express our gratitude to gain this experience and time to complete this international football tour. Thank you very much for all parents to support boys in this tour. You are boys were fantastic during tour and a few months preparation time in Australia. And massive thanks too for Copa Toreros officials. The tournament is always professional and educatable for young footballers even coaches too. We look forward to coming back next year!!