Tour awards

So the tour has come to an end... We arrived back safely on Tuesday 26 August, weary but on a high. The football was exciting, demanding and very much challenged us. There were no easy games - just right for a pre-season tour. The cultural experiences were hugely memorable and everyone will have taken a little piece of Japan home with them. 

Winner of the Golden Boot for top scorer on tour was Alex Gibson with 4 goals, closely followed by Matt Everton-Wallach and Josh Nieboer with 3 each. Votes for Player of the Tour were spread quite widely. In joint third place were Joe Gray and Alex Troughton, second was Ivo Hobson but the winner was Gus Shaw Stewart with 7 votes. Well done skipper! Others to receive votes were Archie Keeling, George Hill, James Eager, Josh Nieboer, Alex Gibson and Matt Everton-Wallach. The overall record for all matches played on tour (As and Bs) was P14, W5, D4, L5. Domo arigato gazimas!

Final match and last day

After transferring to Tokyo, we played our final match against Musashi High School, one of the best known schools in Japan and where a number of masters have come from to spend time teaching Japanese at Eton. It was just one match this time and I'm glad to say we ran out 5-2 winners with a hat-trick from Alex Gibson and goals from George Hill and Alex Troughton. After a reception buffet we checked in to our final hotel before departing Tokyo in the morning.

Sightseeing

Yesterday we spent the day sightseeing around Sendai. In the morning we took a cruise around Matsushima Bay (voted the 3rd most beautiful spot in Japan by a government panel). The weather was atrocious though so our views weren't as good as they might have been! In the afternoon, boys spent time with their homestays, taking in various experiences such as visiting the public baths or going shopping.

Playing at a World Cup venue!

Today was arguably the highlight of the tour. We played our A and B matches against Sendai Daini at the Miyagi Stadium, a 50,000 all-seater venue which was used in the 2002 World Cup for 3 matches. It was an extraordinary day and one we will never forget! The boys responded fantastically well to the opportunity and went out and enjoyed themselves without being too over-awed by the occasion. The A squad won 2-1 with goals from Archie Keeling and Matt Everton-Wallach, with a man-of-the-match performance from captain Gus Shaw Stewart. The B squad fought back well from a 1-0 deficit to draw their game, courtesy of a well taken goal by Max Marcq. As we near the end of the tour, the experience of this day at the stadium has been the icing on the cake for many as we lived the dream - we all feel extremely fortunate to have been given this chance.

Sendai

Last night we spent our first night in Sendai (Japan's 6th largest city) at the Koyo Grand Hotel. An evening reception with old boys of the Sendai Daini proved to be an entertaining end to a day travelling north on the bullet train. For the next two nights the boys will be in homestays in this most charming of Japan's cities.

Matches at Toko Gakuen

Thursday brought with it two very different games. The B squad were up first against Kuri Noki (a club side affiliated to Toko Gakuen). After going 1-0 down early, the boys rallied on the difficult grit-clay surface and replied with 3 good goals. A revival by the Japanese brought the scores level to 3-3 with twenty minutes remaining but it was Eton's character and will to win that shone through as Josh Nieboer bagged the match ball with his hat-trick securing a 4-3 win for Eton. The A squad match was a different matter. Up against the full Toko Gakuen side who regularly feature in the top few schoolboy teams in the country and boasting a Japan U19 centre-forward, their work was most definitely cut out! In what was a lesson in passing, moving, control and technical excellence on an unforgiving surface this was a mismatch that was hard to stomach. Nevertheless the boys stuck together really well and refused to lie down. They will have learnt a great deal from the encounter. The score? Not sure I can bring myself to type it right now!

Yokohama

Today we left Nagoya and travelled to Yokohama on the iconic bullet train. The phenomenal power and precision of this example of Japanese engineering was an experience in itself, enhanced en route by our view of Mount Fuji poking up above the clouds! We trained in the afternoon at Toko Gakuen, a school famous for producing Shunsuke Nakamura of Celtic. They play on 'grit', a hard, dusty gravel/clay mixture, which will really test our ability to adapt in tomorrow's matches! In the evening we were treated to a fantastic 6 course dinner in the luxurious Molino hotel where we are staying the night.