Nabisco Cup preliminary league opens

　The Nabisco Cup starts today. Tokyo will compete in Group D with Kashima, Kashiwa, and Kobe in home and away matches. The top two teams will advance to the final tournament held from September. It will be a long battle with league matches in between, but first, we need to focus on the opening match and build momentum for the following league matches. In addition, U-23 Japan national team members Mogi, Konno, Ishikawa, and JFA/J.League designated player Tokunaga will return to the team from this battle, where they secured their spot in the Athens Olympics. Due to injuries, the national team members Doi and Kaji, as well as Kelly and Jean, will be absent. However, this can be considered as the team's official start of the season.

　Tokyo, GK rookie Shioda started as a starter, DF Tokunaga, Fujiyama, Shigeniwa, Kanazawa from the right. Double volante with Konno and Miyazawa, right MF Ishikawa, left MF Toda. Lucas and Abe as the top two. The subs include Endo, Wu, Miura, Kobayashi, Baba, and the lineup has completely changed from the league matches. Kashima also does not have the national team GK Sogahata and MF Motoyama, but they have not lost in the league matches so far with 1 win and 1 draw. New addition left fullback Aibara is also in good shape, and the battle between Tokyo's right side and Kashima is one of the highlights. The match started at 3:00 pm at Ajinomoto Stadium, enveloped in the spring sunshine, with Kashima's kickoff.

Lacking focus, trailing by 2 points

　But the whistle blew, and it was still less than a minute and 20 seconds. Kashima cleared the long ball on the left side. As they tried to counterattack, the loose ball was picked up by MF Nozawa, who made an exquisite cross to FW Hirase running behind Tokyo's right side. Tokyo's DF had pushed up the line, and Tokunaga chased after him, but Hirase entered the area with his body leaning and made a beautiful shot into the right corner of the goal with a one-touch. As Tokunaga later reflected, "It was my mistake. The timing was off, and he smoothly got past me." It was a self-destructive act at a point where they couldn't grasp the pace at the beginning, and it became a setback for the start.

　There was still plenty of time left in the game. Tokyo, who immediately attempted a counterattack, saw Lucas heading the loose ball from Toda's shot in the 6th minute. In the 9th minute, Abe broke through the left side from Nishino's long feed, and Ishikawa jumped in to meet the ground cross. In the 15th minute, Lucas competed for Ishikawa's soft pass in front of the goal, and Toda slid in to meet the ball, but both were unable to shoot due to collisions with the defenders. In the 16th minute, Miyazawa aimed for a direct goal from a free kick.

　Tokyo actively tries to attack, but often loses the second ball to Kashima, leading to scenes where they can launch a quick counterattack. And in the 17th minute, when Tokyo tried to attack again from an interception, it was intercepted by Kashima MF Ogasawara on the right side, who passed it to Hirase on the outside. Hirase sent a lofted pass into the space behind Tokyo's defense with a direct pass, and FW Fukai, who had run up from the midfield, swung his left foot with a half-volley and scored. There was nothing Shioda could do against the chance created with two passes, and Tokyo quickly found themselves two goals behind.

Regaining composure, but unable to score against Kashima

　Tokyo gradually regained its composure and started to pick up second balls to find its rhythm, but couldn't break through Kashima's goal, which had stopped forcing the issue with a two-goal lead. In the 25th minute, Lucas fiercely checked Kashima's final line of defense. He stole the loose ball and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his shot narrowly missed to the right of the goal. In the 29th minute, Kashima goalkeeper Ozawa cleared Shioda's long feed, which Lucas picked up and unleashed a looping shot, but it also went wide. In the 34th minute, two consecutive corner kicks were awarded. In the 36th minute, Kanazawa crossed from Miyazawa's side change. Abe headed the ball, but it narrowly missed to the left.

　In the 39th minute, Toda, who broke through behind the DF, created a great chance, but the shot was saved by the opponent's GK. Kanazawa picked up the loose ball and took a shot. It was blocked by the DF, but Kanazawa connected again and took a free shot in front of the goal from Ishikawa's cross. They dominated the ball and completely won the battle on the side, launching a fierce attack. However, Lucas's header in the 40th minute went over the goal. Towards the end of the game, Ishikawa dug deep into the side, and Abe almost scored with a heel kick in front of the goal. However, in the end, despite taking 14 shots, they couldn't hit the target with 9 of them and went into the second half trailing by 2 points.

Lucas scores his first goal! Threatening Kashima's goal until the end with a passionate play.

　In the second half, Tokyo continued to dominate the ball and attack, while Kashima continued to exploit the space behind the defensive line with long balls on the counter. In the 49th minute, Ishikawa passed to Lucas, who then passed to Abe, and he took a shot from the center of the goal, but it was saved. However, chances became scarce against Kashima, who were defending deep and compact. Therefore, in the 60th minute, Bamba was substituted for Toda. Bamba became the catalyst for creating a more attacking rhythm with his ball retention and aggressive attitude towards goal. In the 67th minute, he dribbled from the right side and took a shot. In the 68th minute, Bamba broke free in front of the goal from Lucas' through pass, but his trap was slightly off and he couldn't take a direct shot.

　In the 71st minute, Kure was replaced by Miyazawa, and in the 75th minute, Kobayashi was replaced by Abe. In the 74th minute, Kashima received a long ball from the right side and Hirase broke free in the left area and took a shot, but Shioda made a nice save. The defense also united as one, and Tokyo launched a counterattack with all their might. Kure and Kobayashi also boldly attacked the goal. And in the 85th minute, Tokunaga dribbled from the right side towards the center and his last pass hit the Kashima DF and spilled in front of the goal. Lucas, who quickly reacted to this, calmly kicked it with his right foot and scored!! Although he hadn't scored until now, the stadium heated up with joy for Lucas' first goal, as he had been playing with great determination.

　Tokyo, which approached the Kashima goal with all its might, including 3 minutes of stoppage time. They put their bodies on the line for each play and had a lot of passion. However, they couldn't break through the goal no matter what and the final whistle blew. Although they were defeated, it can be said that it was a game where they tried to rebuild within the 90 minutes and each player gained significant lessons and achievements.

【Player Comments】《Player Imano》"I wanted to play my own game and earn trust, but it didn't go well. The press didn't work well and I felt like I would get kicked if I went forward. When we conceded the first goal, I wanted to quickly recover without looking down, but it became a tough situation. There are many challenges such as combination play rather than a sense of accomplishment. I want to clear them one by one."《Player Baba》"I tried to hold the ball and create opportunities with Lucas. Lucas and the people around me understood that well and collected the ball, so it was easy to play. (I regret making a mistake in a decisive chance). However, I think my field of vision has expanded compared to last season. I want to make use of it in the future."

[Summary of Coach Hara's Press Conference] "For the first 20 minutes, we were asleep, or rather, our start to the match was poor. I expected Kashima to come at us aggressively from the beginning, and they easily threw the ball in. That led to a goal by Hirase, and we became unsettled. It wasn't so much that we were broken down, but rather that we lost our footing and conceded a goal from a loose ball after a challenge, which caused us to panic. The Olympic players have returned, but Jean injured his foot, and with the absence of Japan national team players, half of the squad has changed. We won't know if we can perform well from the start until we try. I thought it might be difficult to create a rhythm easily, and indeed, there were subtle misalignments in our passing and tempo. However, after conceding two goals, we woke up. Lucas was filled with determination to score, and Baba returned from surgery; he may not be in top form yet, but he showed his characteristic play. Kobayashi also played with great spirit in his first official match in two years, and there were many positives. If we could have scored a goal a bit earlier, I think we could have caught up. There are still five matches left in the qualifying league, so we can make a comeback. Today, we ended up with a lineup that was almost entirely new to each other, but I want to build solid combinations and enhance our team play. We need to switch our mindset and focus on the league matches."

[Summary of Coach Cerezo's Press Conference] "We wanted to secure a solid win in the opening match, and it was a significant victory away against an attacking team like FC Tokyo. Although Tokyo was missing Kelly and Jean, I believe they have become a very good team. We started well, but after scoring two goals, we became a bit defensive. Our defense began to show mistakes, which made us nervous, and we started playing direct balls from the goalkeeper. We tried to pick up the second balls, but we kicked the ball away before we could push forward, which allowed the opponent to recover it. It would have been better if we could have stayed calm in that situation. Tokyo's Ishikawa has speed and skill in dribbling, and he effectively exploited the left side of Kashima. As a result, Arai was too conscious of not leaving too much space between the center and the side backs, which caused him to drop back. Also, in the first half, the ball was unsettled in the front line, so I instructed on that point at halftime, and in the second half, Kashima's mentality was better. Certainly, Tokyo probably had a higher ball possession rate, but whether we could capitalize on our chances or not made the difference in the result. (We had never won at Ajinomoto Stadium before) I believe that the word impossible does not exist, and with effort and luck, we were able to overcome that wall. I think the unpredictability of what can happen is what makes soccer interesting."