A crucial match to make a comeback in the 2nd stage

　League match since August 29th. In the 4th round of the 2nd stage, we will face Vissel Kobe at home. Tokyo achieved a convincing victory in the quarterfinals of the Nabisco Cup last week and advanced to the best 4, but they are currently in 11th place in the league. The match record against Kobe this season, including the Nabisco Cup, is 3 wins, indicating a good compatibility, but Kobe is currently in 9th place. In the 2nd stage, FW Emboma, MF Holvi, and FW Hiraishi have joined, taking on a new challenge. Emboma, of course, has a fear factor in the secondary attack launched by FW Hato and MF Kojima, even with the attention focused on him, and there is no room for complacency. Today's match, where both teams face each other with 1 win in this stage, will be an important battle for the future fights.

　This week, Doi and Kaji, who played in the World Cup qualifying match against India for the Japanese national team on the 9th, started in the lineup. Kajiyama, who temporarily left the U-19 Japanese national team activities and joined the team, was unable to make the squad due to injury. Kondo Yusuke, who will start for the first time since the final match of the 2nd stage last year, will play as the top striker, with Kelly behind him. The match started with a kickoff in Tokyo.

Despite taking the lead with an early penalty kick, they were caught up and the score became level.

　The game started early. In the 1st minute, a quick attack was launched from our own half, and a pass was made to Yusuke Kondo who broke through the left space. Although initially cut off by the Kobe DF, we regained possession again in the opponent's half, and Imano, who ran up the left side, crossed the ball. Kelly neatly headed the ball down in the center, and Yusuke Kondo entered a shooting position from the penalty area. In response to this, the opponent's DF Kitamoto showed the sole of his foot and made a tackle. This play resulted in a foul inside the area, and Tokyo was awarded a penalty kick. Kelly calmly scored, taking an early lead.

　Kobe has a lineup of 3 defenders on the member table, but MF Hojel enters as a left back in a 4-back formation. Tokyo, on the other hand, aggressively attacks with Kaji and Kanazawa taking the lead on the sides. In the 4th minute, Kobayashi broke through to the right area and took a shot. However, they were unable to convert any decisive chances after that.

And it was the 13th minute. In the midfield, Kobe MF Horvi connected a pass to Emboma, and then Horvi again floated a pass to the front line. Hodo dropped it with a header and connected it to MF Park, who went up the right side. Park cut in to the end line and crossed to the center. Tokyo DF had overlapping marks on Park and couldn't catch Hodo in front of the goal, allowing an easy header shot and conceding a goal. They were quickly caught up to a tie score.

Yusuke Kondo gets his second penalty kick today! Kelly scores and takes the lead.

　However, Tokyo, without getting flustered, tried to maintain their rhythm. In the 21st minute, they stole the opponent's goal kick in their own half, and Baba played a through pass from near the halfway line to the front line. Yusuke Kondo caught up with it and headed straight towards the goal. In response to Yusuke Kondo's powerful sprint, Kobe DF Kitamoto had no choice but to stop him with a foul, and Yusuke Kondo, who was brought down in the penalty area, got his second penalty kick of the day. Kelly also decisively scored the go-ahead goal. Kitamoto received his second warning and was sent off in this play, and in the 24th minute, Tsubouchi was substituted for Park. Tsubouchi played as a right full-back, Hato as a right midfielder, and Kojima as a left midfielder, with Emboma as the lone striker.

　However, Tokyo was unable to create any decisive scenes despite comfortably controlling the ball against the 10-man Kobe. On the contrary, in the 40th minute, Hojel's headed shot from Kobe Holvi's accurate free kick narrowly missed the right side of the goal. In the 44th minute, Holvi was persistently marked near the left end line and passed into the penalty area, but Shigetaka skillfully intercepted it. Although they ended the first half with a score of 2-1 without conceding any additional goals, they have struggled in the past against 10-man opponents and have some concerns about a similar situation this time.

Abes's two consecutive goals push Kobe away!

　In the second half, we confirmed the need to be proactive in both offense and defense during halftime, and to try to score the next goal early to decide the game. Fujiyama replaced Kaji, considering the matchup with opponent MF Kojima. However, we did not immediately dominate Kobe. There were also scenes where Kobe's attacking lineup, centered around Emboma, attacked us, and in the 54th minute, Emboma scored a header from a deep position on the left side cross. In the 55th minute, Tokyo won three consecutive corner kicks, but failed to score a goal. In the 57th minute, Abe was substituted for Kobayashi and we made a decisive move. However, Tokyo's play remained sloppy against the one-man disadvantage of Kobe. Even if we won the ball, we couldn't create a build-up that led to a finish. In the 68th minute, Abe's volley with his left foot, which was connected to Baba's right cross, was the first shot of the second half.

　Finally starting to gain momentum with this shot, in the 69th minute, Fujiyama boldly advanced and earned a free kick after being fouled. From a distance of about 22-23 meters, Yusuke KONDO aimed directly, but his powerful shot went over the goal. In the 72nd minute, from a long feed by Fujiyama, Yusuke KONDO broke through and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, leaving the pursuing defender behind. However, the ball he sidestepped to the left just slipped past, and the shot went to the left of the goal. They missed a big chance for an additional goal. The 10-man Kobe also tried to capitalize on their one chance, gathering the ball to the forward, Mboma. Meanwhile, there were scenes where Horvi and Bando became free, leading to a back-and-forth battle where it was anyone's game. Amidst this, Abe finally scored a goal. In the 80th minute, they seized a loose ball from the opponent's corner kick and launched a quick counterattack, with Kelly sprinting down the field with the ball. He passed to Baba, who opened up on the right side. Baba challenged the opposing Kobe defender, faked him out, and delivered a ground cross from near the end line. As Kelly let the ball pass in front of the goal, Abe, waiting on the left side of the area, took one touch and struck with his right foot! The ball pierced the upper left corner of the goal and went in!! Showcasing a typical Tokyo attacking pattern and Abe's strong competitive spirit, they secured the third goal, pulling away from Kobe.

　Tokyo, who regained their rhythm, deployed an aggressive attacking soccer. In the 83rd minute, Miura was replaced by Miyazawa. In the 86th minute, Abe received a last pass from Kanazawa and Miyazawa after a pass exchange on the left side, and shot from inside the area. In injury time, Miyazawa advanced up the center and connected with Kelly on the right, and Baba picked up the ball on the left side and shot from near the goal. The opponent's goalkeeper saved both shots. Although they couldn't score a fourth goal, they launched a fast-paced attack in the final stages and won 3-1. They obtained valuable 3 points that will lead to the future.

【Player Comments】《Kondo》"When I faced forward, I aimed for the goal myself, and when a pass came to my feet, I thought about playing simply and using those around me. As a team, we may have been too aware that the opponent had 10 players in the first half. In the second half, I regret not being able to hold the ball when I should have. (There was a big chance one-on-one with the GK?) I managed to break free in front of the goal, but if it’s a weak shot, there’s a possibility it could be saved, so I was only focused on getting past the GK. If I don’t score there…" 《Abe》"I entered the pitch with the mindset of scoring and actively taking on one-on-ones. I don’t feel like I’ve changed anything (compared to the 1st stage), but I feel good about entering the match even as a substitute. I believe that if we fight hard in each match, the results will follow, and I’m happy that it has led to goals. The next match is more important than what’s ahead."

　[Summary of Coach Hara's Press Conference] "Doi and Kaji have returned from the national team, but we only had one day of practice yesterday, and there wasn't enough time for them to get used to the team. I thought Doi might be out of match rhythm, but his focus in yesterday's practice was the best I've seen so far, so I decided to rely on his experience. Kaji is fatigued, so I planned to use him as much as he can go and substitute him depending on the situation. Kajiyama was finally starting to find a good combination with Kelly, but he injured his knee during the U-19 national team's training camp and couldn't play today. Recently, we have been relying on Abe and Yusuke KONDO as our two key players in the second half, but today it was important to see how much we could do with Yusuke KONDO from the start. Kobe has changed their lineup from previous matches, with players like Mboma, Horvi, and Hirase, who all have individual strength. If we let them get into the game, it could become quite a troublesome match. They are particularly strong in set plays, and we were on alert for that. We scored the opening goal early on, but in soccer, when you score at such times, it often leads to a drop in our usual performance afterward. I had a bad feeling about that. After we were equalized, I thought the opponent might become a bit more energized, but the moment their player was sent off, our rhythm worsened again. So even with the opponent down to 10 men, we talked about going to win the ball back and using Abe to go for a third goal. There were continued developments where the ball didn't reach Abe, but his goal sealed the game. It wasn't a great performance, but we managed to turn a start of two consecutive losses into a tie of two wins and two losses, so we will work to repay our debts from here. I want to fight carefully for each match and accumulate victories."

　[Kobe Hasek's press conference summary] "We have been preparing for this game for two weeks. There was absolutely no fault or mistake on Kobe's part. However, we conceded a goal easily right after the start. In a blink of an eye, the flow of the entire game changed. After that, we were targeted in the spaces, countered, and the opponents broke through our front line, resulting in (Kitamoto) receiving a second yellow card to stop it. We conceded a goal from a mistake in the second half, but the players fought well until the end. There is nothing to say to the players."