Overcoming Unwinnable Battles

　2nd stage is also 2/3 complete, and in the 10th round, we will face Yokohama F.Marinos away. Tokyo has not been able to gain momentum in the league matches and cannot win. However, Yokohama F.Marinos, the champion of the 1st stage, is the same. They are currently in 5th place, but they have been struggling with injuries, and in the last 5 matches, they have only won 1 out of 4. In order to remain in the top fight in the final stage, both teams will aim for 3 points today.

　In this match, GK Dohi achieved a Japanese-Tie record by reaching 145 consecutive appearances in the J1 League, tying with Shimizu S-Pulse's player Masanori Sanada. Interestingly, we would like to adorn this great record that has continued since the Yokohama F.Marinos match in the 1st stage of the 2000 season with a victory.

Conceding the first goal from a dominated and difficult situation

　The game that started with the kickoff of Yokohama F.Marinos began with both teams concentrating. Amidst the continued battle for the ball, in the 4th minute, F.Marinos MF Oku took a middle shot. In order to break the tense situation, in the 14th minute, FW Sakata aimed for a ground shot from a distant position. However, gradually F.Marinos started to dominate by picking up loose balls and launching aggressive attacks from MF Tanaka as the starting point on the right side. In the 19th minute, Tanaka picked up the cleared ball from Tokyo DF and took a shot with speed, but Doi caught it firmly.

　In the 20th minute, Tokyo showed an attack from the side as Kelly headed a shot from a right cross by Kaji->Ishikawa, but it went over the goal. However, they were often pushed into the side of F.Marinos, who deployed a 3-5-2 formation, and couldn't gain an advantage. In the 21st minute, F.Marinos Tanaka's breakthrough was escaped by Baba to a corner kick. Then, in the 25th minute, F.Marinos left MF Dutra picked up Tokyo's clearance ball and exchanged a vertical pass with Oku. He hit MF Yanagi who had moved forward and immediately passed it back, and Oku took a shot. This resulted in conceding the first goal. It was a situation where they couldn't catch Oku and conceded a goal due to a marking error, but afterwards, they continued to struggle with Dutra, Oku, and Yanagi's positioning. They lost the second ball and couldn't create attacking opportunities for Tokyo.

　Finally, in the 36th minute, Kelly launched a quick attack, and Lucas in the front line evaded the defender and got into a shooting position, but was stopped by the opposing defender. Then, Ishikawa bypassed two opposing defenders from the right side and passed to Lucas in the center. Miura got involved, and the final cross was lifted by Kaji from the right, but it was also cleared by the defender. Just as the counterattack was starting to take shape, Suzuki was substituted for Baba in the 40th minute. On the other hand, in the 42nd minute, F.Marinos substituted MF Sato for the injured Dutra. In stoppage time of the first half, Jean attacked the goal from a free kick, but failed to finish. Tokyo trailed by one goal as they entered the second half.

Suzuki and Ishikawa create rhythm, and Jean scores the equalizing goal!

　The halftime instructions from Coach Hara were "Do not lose in the 1-on-1 battles for the ball and the loose balls. Let's move forward without fear when attacking." As instructed, Tokyo showed a completely different movement from the start of the second half. Immediately after the start, the pass from Kaji on the right side did not reach Ishikawa, but they regained possession of the ball and earned a free kick by sticking with it. And in the 46th minute, Jean, who evaded the marking of the opponent's defender with a curved kick from Ishikawa, perfectly headed the ball into the goal! They caught up early in the second half and gave hope for the subsequent development.

　In the 49th minute, Suzuki, who broke through the front line by intercepting the ball with Kaji and Ishikawa's combination, was fouled after Ishikawa's cross. From just in front of the area, Suzuki took a powerful bullet liner with Lucas as bait, but the opponent's goalkeeper made a nice save. Miura, who reacted to the loose ball, couldn't push it in with a header. Tokyo, centered around Imakano and Miura, continues to create chances by regaining possession in the midfield.

　In the 58th minute, Suzuki dribbled after connecting a clear ball from the defender. The cross was caught by the opponent's goalkeeper. In the 59th minute, Suzuki's through pass to Lucas was offside. In the 61st minute, Imakawa aggressively tried to steal the opponent's ball and was fouled, resulting in a free kick. Suzuki aimed directly from a distance of about 30 meters, but this shot floated. In the 66th minute, Kelly received a lofted pass from Ishikawa in front of the goal, but the trap was too big and he couldn't take a shot. In the fast-paced game, F.Marinos also launched a counter-attack, and in the 68th minute, Sakata headed a cross from Sato on the right. However, it missed to the upper left corner of the goal.

Taken a PK in the final stage, it was already too late for a comeback...

　In the 70th minute, Miyazawa replaced Miura in Tokyo. F.Marinos also made a substitution, replacing Yanagi with forward Shimizu and moving Oku to defensive midfield, disrupting Tokyo's rhythm with player changes. In the 77th minute, a shot was taken by Tanaka->Sakata combination play from a keep by forward Yasu, but it narrowly missed to the left of the goal. In the 78th minute, a shot by Yasu from a quick attack was caught by Doi. In the 79th minute, Sakata picked up a loose ball from Tokyo's defense that stopped the counter and took a middle shot. It missed above the bar, and Tokyo escaped the danger. In the 79th minute, Abe was substituted for Kanazawa, who was injured. Suzuki was placed as left full-back and Tokyo went for the win.

　Amidst the intense attack and defense, in the 83rd minute, Miyazawa expanded to the right and attacked the goal with Ishikawa's cross. In the 84th minute, from F.Marinos' quick restart, Tanaka's shot from the left bottom of the goal was nicely saved by Doi. In the 87th minute, F.Marinos' defender Nakazawa advanced and Shimizu broke through with a through pass, but the shot missed to the right. Tokyo tried to break through the defense line with Abe's run behind the defense line from Nishiba's long feed, but it was ruled offside.

　It was right after that. From an indirect free kick, Sakata passed to Yasu who entered the area. In an attempt to feint the defender, Jean committed a foul, resulting in a penalty kick for F.Marinos. They scored from it, and Tokyo conceded the lead in the 88th minute. There was not enough time to score another goal. In injury time, Suzuki made a bold move and took a shot from the left area, but the goalkeeper saved it. One more goal, one more step... but it was not enough, and the game ended in disappointment. They were defeated 2-1 at the away Yokohama International Stadium.

　[Player Comments] {Doi} "Tokyo needed to play the first half like F. Marinos. The rhythm improved in the second half, but the result left a bad taste due to the goal conceded from a penalty. I am happy to tie the record for consecutive league appearances, but I believe it wouldn't be possible without the support of my teammates and staff. (Since I started playing in 2000) the team has changed from a defense-focused style to an attacking one, and players from below have been developing, making us truly 'one team.' While it's important for me to be on the field, I wanted to win first. Today leaves a sense of regret, but I want to switch gears and aim for consecutive wins from here." {Ishikawa} "I think F. Marinos had more chances, but it was good that we endured and connected to our attacks. The next step is to finish and score when we have our rhythm... In defense, I focused on coordinating with Kaji to defend as a unit and tried to avoid creating one-on-one situations. In attack, the opponent's defensive line was shallow, so I put in crosses early, but we couldn't penetrate deep enough. To do that, we need to win the ball a bit higher up the pitch. I feel good physically, so I want to get more involved in creating chances."

　【Summary of Coach Hara's Press Conference】 "In the first half, F. Marinos set the pace from the start. They threw in more balls than we expected, and we struggled to connect our plays. Even when we sent long balls, they were cleared, and we lost the second balls. In the situation where we conceded a goal, we lost the clearance ball, which was played forward, and they scored from the rebound. In this development, Baba's strengths were not really shown. There was fatigue, and Hayato TANAKA got the upper hand. He is a player who can usually hold the ball, but he was chasing back to defend. So, I brought in the powerful and energetic Norio SUZUKI, who attempted to break through from the left side and added some accent to our play. A long pass from Ishikawa to SUZUKI also started to connect, and we began to find our rhythm. However, we created several dangerous situations while we couldn't fully attack, so I decided to keep SUZUKI in and brought Abe forward to take a chance. But we conceded a penalty at that time, and although we tried to recover, there wasn't enough time. (In the first half, we couldn't pick up the second balls in the midfield) I believe that the F. Marinos defense, along with Yanagisawa and Nasu, has the strongest heading ability in the J-League. We should have connected our plays with a better tempo, but we lost most of the long ball duels. Also, we were hesitant to push up due to the fear of F. Marinos' two forwards and Okubo's attack. We made adjustments during the match, and we were able to create shapes from the sides with Ishikawa or SUZUKI, but... The content was by no means bad. We created chances against a strong F. Marinos, and we didn't concede from being broken down. Losing in this way makes it difficult to switch gears, but I want to keep my head up, stay positive, and push through to earn points."

　[Summary of F.Marinos Okada's press conference] "The performance has not been bad recently, but we have been unable to win consecutive matches. Today, we played excellent soccer in the first half. However, we only managed to score one goal and conceded due to a slight lapse in concentration in the second half. I thought we might not be able to win again. However, the players never gave up and fought for the ball until the end, finally achieving victory. Once again, I realized how difficult it is to earn three points. The reason we couldn't replicate the first-half performance in the second half was mainly because Dudu was not on the field. There is no replacement player like him, and the team's balance inevitably gets disrupted when he is absent. In the next match, Dudu will be injured and Oku will be suspended, but we will all come together and do our best."