Awaji Soccer

Every autumn there is an annual ALT soccer tournament for Eastern and Western Japan. The top four teams from the east and west will meet in a national tournament to be played in Saitama stadium, one of the host stadiums during the 2002 World Cup.

The western tournament was held in Sano Park, Awajishima, Hyogo prefecture. It was also the camp site for the 2002 England national squad. The England team was isolated on an island in fear of the hooligans.

The pitch was perfect and was raised about 30 cm above ground level similar to the Premier League pitches one UK fellow told me.

We had a really strong squad and won all our group stage games. Despite outplaying the other team, having many scoring opportunities, luck was not on our side and lost our first game in the knockout stage. I blame it on the beer.

A disappointing result but lots of fun, soccer talk and great banter.