Tokyo's fierce counterattack!

As soon as the second half began, as expected, Omiya's movements dropped sharply. It's no wonder, considering how intense their pressing was in the first half. On the other hand, Tokyo's energy increased. With Omiya's pressing weakening, Kabuki and Yukihiko were able to keep the ball up front, and a good rhythm of passing centered around Almir was revived. From the left side, Fujiyama confidently dribbled into the center, creating chances. Additionally, substitute Koike, who came on in the 15th minute of the second half, showed accurate distribution in the defensive midfield position, covering for Almir's forward movements and improving the overall rhythm. In defense, midfielder Shinjo aggressively marked Jorn, who had been tightly marked by Sandro since the first half, and prevented him from doing his job. With a rhythm established in both attack and defense, Tokyo repeatedly attacked Omiya's goal and created scoring opportunities.

Yoshihiko Mise and Furubei! Beautiful goal 2 times!!

In the 20th minute of the second half, the deadlock was finally broken. Yuki Hiko received the ball from Almir in front of the goal, turned forward with one touch, slipped the ball through the legs of the approaching opponent defender with two touches, and scored by slipping it past the goalkeeper who came out with three touches. It was a beautiful goal unique to Yuki Hiko, born from a series of very high-level techniques. The match continued with Tokyo maintaining their pace. Omiya, who had been playing compact soccer with a shallow defensive line since the first half, became anxious after this goal and recklessly launched attacks, losing their balance and falling victim to Tokyo's counterattacks. In the 24th minute of the second half, Yuki Hiko sent a cross from the right, and substitute Kobayashi scored a powerful header that changed the course in front of the goalkeeper, sealing the match. This season, Kobayashi had only experienced about 10 minutes of official matches in the last two games, and there were moments of confusion after he was substituted in this match, but as expected from a man who has played 80 official matches in the J-League, he came through in the clutch. Later, in the 40th minute of the second half, Kaburaki broke free from a vertical pass from Almir, creating a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Although it did not result in a goal, Tokyo pushed through to finish the match. They celebrated their first three consecutive wins of the season.

Struggling with thorough pressing

On this day, Omiya had studied Tokyo well. They kept their defensive line shallow and applied thorough pressure from the front line to the midfield, completely shutting down Almir's ball, who is the starting point of Tokyo's attack, preventing them from finding their rhythm. They placed Ukita, who played for Tokyo Gas FC until last year, in the final line, and positioned Edwin, who also played until two years ago, in the midfield, likely preparing thoroughly for Tokyo's tactics. Tokyo struggled to connect the ball in the midfield, repeatedly resorting to monotonous attacks by kicking the ball long to the front line. On the other hand, Omiya's quick counterattacks were sharp due to maintaining a shallow defensive line, delivering early crosses to the 190cm tall forward Jörn from both sides. Sandro, who is 184cm tall, was closely marking Jörn, but there were dangerous moments when the ball dropped after losing the aerial duel, leading to shots from Omiya's forwards. However, this was something that Coach Okuma had anticipated before the match, and he had instructed the players to focus on dealing with the dropped balls, so they remained calm in their responses. In the first half, Omiya completely dominated with a shot count of 4 to 8, creating a difficult situation, but Omiya's intense pressure could not last long, and the players remained composed and endured.