Baby Squirrels Flying High

Here at GGOA Towers we have definitely been Bad Bloggers for not having given any attention to the achievements over the last six weeks or so of the Ardija Youth team, so please join us while we try to right that particular wrong. The Baby Squirrels have been participating in the group stage of the 2010 J Youth Cup and a second-place finish in Group B (which also included Yokohama FC, Tokyo Verdy, Urawa Reds and Thespa Kusatsu) means that Omiya are now through to the knock-out phase. Ardija Youth kept a notably tight defence throughout the eight games, conceding only to a particularly impressive Verdy side who went on to win the group. It should perhaps be noted that Omiya beat Urawa at home and away, midfielder Daiki Koyama finding the net in both matches.

The knock-out part of the tournament begins this Sunday with a preliminary First Round involving clubs such as Wiese FC Youth from Miyagi prefecture and Amigos Kagoshima U18s. Omiya, however, are straight through to the Second Round - i.e. the last sixteen - where they will play an away tie against near-neighbours Kashiwa Reysol on Sunday 12 December. Reysol dropped only a couple of points on their way to winning Group A and along the way managed to beat Vegalta Sendai 7-0, so it looks like being a tough challenge for the Ardija kids. Anyway, we're very very sorry for not writing about this before and we promise to pay more attention in future.

Group B Results & Final Standings

10 Oct A v Yokohama FC 0-0
17 Oct H v Verdy 3-2
31 Oct A v Urawa 1-0
03 Nov H v Yokohama FC 0-0
07 Nov A v Kusatsu 2-0
14 Nov H v Urawa 2-0
21 Nov H v Kusatsu 3-0
23 Nov A v Verdy 0-1

1. Verdy 21 (+18)
2. Omiya 17 (+8)
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3. Yokohama FC 11 (-1)
4. Urawa 7 (-6)
5. Kusatsu 1 (-19)

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