URAWA RED DIAMONDS

Reds Ladies Winning Press Conference   

Reds Ladies have won the Nadeshiko league for the first time. Manager Hiroshi Muramatsu, Captain Miyuki Yanagita, Kyoko Yano, Kozue Ando and Nozomi Yamago participated in a press conference after their return from Kyoto.

The press conference was held at the official shop “Red Voltage”. “We have picked up a number of wins and finally won our long awaited first championship”, said Manager Muramatsu. He continued, “The players have been putting in a lot of efforts since last year and now we are the champions. I am very proud of them”.

Captain Miyuki Yanagita followed and commented with smile on her face, “I am very happy that we were able to win in the league before playing the last 3 games”. The atmosphere at the press conference was very jovial.

Manager Hiroshi Muramatsu
“Reds Ladies was founded in 2005 and since then we have been receiving tremendous support from the supporters. We are really thankful to them. We will also like to thank our partners and our employers for their warm support. I think that winning the championship means that we were able to show our appreciation to everyone who had supported us. This season, our team has set the goal to consistently get 3 points to reach a position where no other teams can catch up with us. This has been achieved and I am happy that we won the championship. However, there are 3 more games to play before the league ends. We should play like champion and show that no other teams can defeat Reds Ladies. We will focus and concentrate on the last 3 games.”

Miyuki Yanagita
“I am very happy that we were able to win in the league with 3 games left. This year, we were really aiming to win and I am very happy to be able to do so. I believe this was possible because of not only us, the players, but also the team staff and our supporters who are the best in Japan. Although we won the championship, we still have a game against INAC. Our league games still continue and I hope we can play well as champions. We will play full heartily and win the game.”

Kozue Ando
“We have taken and played every game seriously this season and I am very happy that we finally achieve the desired result. However, we still have 3 games left and 2 of them are home games. The team is still growing and I hope to show our good points in the games. Please come and watch us play. We want to win the games and share the joy together with the supporters.”

Kyoko Yano
“Honestly, I am very happy. This season, I felt that we would not lose if we did not allow our opponents to score. Up till now, we have conceded only a few goals and want to keep the number conceded as it is till the end of the season. We could not have achieved this without the support from the supporters. Please continue to give us your warm support.”

Nozomi Yamago
“I feel that we have finally achieved it. It has been 5 years since Reds Ladies were founded. For the past 4 years, we had been telling our concerned personnel and supporters that we would win, which unfortunately we were unable to do.
I am more relieved that finally we could repay their kindness for the first time in 5 years.
However, we had fewer chances to share the joy of winning the championship so we will strive to win the home game on 18th October and share the joy together. We have still 3 games left and want to finish nicely as some of the things we have yet to do. We want to make this season wonderful.”

【Question and Answer】

(Looking at the results, you have lost only 1 game. Did you have any difficult time in the season?)

Manager Muramatsu
“To be honest, it was tough throughout. We faced different opponents every game and there were a lot of time we were forced to adjust ourselves to the team in this season. I always felt anxious thinking of what would happen if we were unable to score and draw a game or we allow our opponents to score and lose the game. However, we trained hard to relieve such anxiety and it paid off. Let me repeat again, we had many difficult games.”

Yanagita
“All the games were tough.”

Ando
“Now that I think about it, it was difficult to win and all the games were very tough.”

Yano
“We had games where we scored own goals and drew. Difficult time would have continued if we could not get results in the early stage of game. Every game was difficult.”

Yamago
“Although we had difficult games, I think the turning point for us was the game against Niigata when the league was resumed. We drew the game and were in a very tough situation. However, as a team, it was a wake up call, which allowed us to refocus.”

(How did you know that you won the championship? How did you celebrate the victory?)

Manager Muramatsu
“We got to know of our victory just before we were leaving for Kyoto station after the game. It was about 2:50 pm. I was told the result of Beleza vs Mareeze game and informed all the players on the bus showing a small victory pose. I am more relieved than happy. We still have to continue our training from tomorrow before the game so nothing special for me.”

Yanagita
“We still have the next game ahead so we will have a small celebration by having dinner together from now. I think we can celebrate fully after the league ends.”

Ando
“We want to have fun when we go for dinner from now. Then, I want to share the joy together with the team and supporters when we win the game this weekend.”

Yano
“I want to share the joy with the players first. We still have some league games and a game at Saitama Stadium as well. Therefore, I hope to celebrate together with the supporters there.”

Yamago
“I want to celebrate with the players after this. To be honest, there is still an unreal feeling so I want to concentrate on the rest of games and celebrate when the league ends.”

(What are you going to have for dinner?)

Yamago
“Yakiniku – BBQ.”

(Are there any winning factors this season compared with previous seasons?)

Yanagita
“We start every season with strong motivation to win the title, but this season, we really concentrated on every game and worked hard. It may sound that we were not working hard in previous seasons, but we really put efforts in every single game. What is different is that everyone in the team was united and worked whole heartily together to achieve the goal of winning the championship. This led to the desired result in the end.”

Yamago
“I have spent 5 seasons as a Reds player. This year, I felt the seriousness and tension in the daily training from every player. The biggest difference in this season is that we were able to cope with most of the time and continue playing even when the game was not going well for us. This was something which we could not do last year.”

Manager Muramatsu
“This is my 2nd year as team manager. I feel the biggest difference among the players was their mentality. They became very tough. When it was very difficult, each player continued to play patiently and created opportunities to score goals. The biggest factor for the win was the players’ ability to face every opponent seriously and strive to obtain maximum points from time. That is what I think.”