Aiming for victory with an aggressive fight even as the away team!

　In the second round of the league, we will play against Albirex Niigata away. In the opening match, we created chances with dynamic soccer but ended in a draw. In this round, we want to achieve a "result" no matter what. During this one-week interval, we have been training repeatedly to improve our coordination and accuracy at an even higher level. Even though it is an away game, we want to aim for victory with an aggressive fight.

　Niigata, led by coach Jun Suzuki, is entering its third season aiming for a style of soccer where the ball and players move. Coach Jofuku says, "I think Tokyo and Niigata have similar soccer styles," but he continues, "Niigata has another strength." Niigata's attack, which utilizes long balls, the height of FW Yano, and the movement of new signing FW Alessandro, is a major characteristic of Niigata. However, Jofuku emphasizes the need to be cautious, saying, "If Niigata can effectively utilize their two characteristics of connecting passes and long balls, they will control the pace of the game." Therefore, it is necessary to press from the front to prevent Niigata from easily kicking long balls and to connect good attacks from strong defense.

　Tokyo, here Sato and Kondo have been injured, but on the other hand, as coach Jofuku says, "Getting results in practice leads to results in the game," Kawaguchi, Akamine, and Yoshimoto, who are in good shape, have made it into the lineup. In particular, Yoshimoto started the game due to the countermeasure against Niigata FW Yano's height. He himself said, "I want to fearlessly make mistakes and aggressively collide. I want to stop all the balls that Niigata kicks to the front without letting them go behind me. I want to focus on the results." Also, Cabore's condition has improved and he has made it into the starting lineup. Although there are still concerns about coordination as it has only been about three weeks since he joined, his individual ability has already been proven in the opening game. We hope for his first goal.

　Niigata, who lost the opening match against Omiya without scoring, will aim to be more aggressive in scoring at home this round. Coach Jofuku said, "Both teams will surely have a strong desire not to concede first. We need to see how the opponent plays." Niigata is expected to attack with both fullbacks in high positions. On the other hand, Tokyo wants to launch attacks by exploiting spaces. They want to suppress the opponent's strengths while utilizing their own strong points to seize the opportunity to win. The match started at 16:03 with Niigata's kickoff at the cloudy and chilly Tohoku Denka Big Swan Stadium.

Start off well and score three points to end the first half

　Immediately after the start of the match, Niigata created chances by shooting, but they quickly switched from defense to offense and scored three goals in the early stages. In the 6th minute, Kajiyama sent a ground pass to the right front line, which Ishikawa reacted to and passed directly to the center. Emerson, who ran into the goal area, easily scored the opening goal. In the following 8 minutes, Ishikawa and Habu connected with a short pass from the left corner kick, and Ishikawa received the return and took a powerful shot. Cabore followed up on the save by the opponent's goalkeeper and scored a goal! From Ishikawa's assist, Emerson and Cabore each scored their first league goals and quickly took a 2-0 lead.

　At the 11th minute, Inamoto cleverly kicked the ball to the front line, where the opposing defender failed to clear it, and Niigata's goalkeeper also came out, leaving the goal unguarded. He kicked it in, extending the lead to a 3-point difference. Tokyo's offensive continued after that. At the 21st minute, the ball was passed from Emerson to Cabore on the right front line. He induced a handball from the opponent, earning a free kick. Kajiyama aimed directly for the goal with the shot, but it hit the opposing defender and went out for a right corner kick. At the 22nd minute, Tokyo stole the ball in the midfield, and Inamoto -> Hayashi -> Cabore took a free shot from the left side of the opponent's field, but it was saved by the goalkeeper.

　Gradually, Niigata regains momentum, but Tokyo calmly circulates the ball and uses time. Also, they aggressively steal the ball at a high position against the opponent's ball, not allowing them to create scoring opportunities. In the 34th minute, Ishikawa received a through pass in the opponent's territory from a counterattack, quickly turned around and dribbled forward. He passed to Emerson, who was free in the right area, but couldn't shoot as he was closed down by the defender. In the 36th minute, Yoshimoto headed Ishikawa's right corner kick, but it floated high above the crossbar.

　By the time 40 minutes had passed, Niigata had dominated the ball and launched counterattacks. However, they were able to respond firmly, especially with Shigeki Morinaka, and did not allow any decisive chances. As a result, they went into the second half with a 3-point lead.

Overcoming Niigata's fierce attack, they achieve their first victory of the season

　Niigata took the initiative to attack from the start of the second half. They approached Tokyo's goal with speedy attacks. In the 52nd minute, DF Uchida crossed the ball and MF Homma perfectly connected with it in front of the goal, unleashing a header shot. However, it slightly veered to the right and the danger was avoided. Then, in the 57th minute, DF Uchida advanced on the right side, dribbled inside, and took a shot. The ball pierced the net on the right side, scoring a goal. Immediately in the 58th minute, FW Yano ran up the left side from MF Terakawa. Then, he forcefully cut inside the left area, easily evading Tokunaga's press and taking a shot. They conceded two goals in quick succession.

　Tokyo, who wants to stop Niigata's momentum, substituted Asari for Emerson in the 62nd minute and placed him in the central midfield. Hayu changed his position to left MF and first focused on defending to calm the game. Then, in the 71st minute, Kawaguchi replaced Ishikawa, and in the 82nd minute, Akamine replaced Cabore. They responded aggressively both in attack and defense. After that, Niigata, who continued to launch sharp counters with their momentum, pushed Tokyo back, but Tokyo tried to regain their rhythm by calmly connecting passes.

　In stoppage time, Hayu picked up a defensive mistake and entered the area. He faced a one-on-one chance against the opponent's goalkeeper, but missed the timing of the shot and couldn't finish it. Niigata continued their fierce attack until the end, but the whole team defended with their bodies and held on until the final whistle. They successfully protected their lead and secured 3 points away at Niigata, achieving their first victory of the season since 2004.

　[Player Comments]《Yoshimoto》"It was my first start in the league in a year, and I felt pressure at first. I haven't won any matches I've played in, including the Nabisco Cup, so I wanted to focus on getting a result today. I approached the game with the mindset that if we lost, there would be no more chances to play, so I'm really happy we won. I was wary of Niigata FW Yano, as he moves well and is strong in heading, so I focused on shutting down his movements to target the second ball and also paid attention to covering for the second ball. I was aware that not only would I head the ball, but if Moni went for it, I would cover for him. There were parts I did well and parts I didn't, but I'm frustrated that we conceded two goals in that time during the second half. (Points for reflection?) Everyone panicked when we conceded. The opponent's movements were quick, and we dropped our line, which is a point for reflection. If we had kept it to one goal, I think the game would have changed more. Even so, Moni helped a lot by controlling the line. It's good that the team was able to win, but for me, there's still a long way to go. I want to practice more and become a player who can control the defensive line. I want to get better." 《Cabore》"In the first half, we scored and ended with a great 3-0. In the second half, we made some mistakes and conceded a goal. However, we corrected that afterward, and I think our ability to endure until the end led to our victory. (Scoring?) Ishikawa took a good shot, and when the GK fumbled, I was there to capitalize on the rebound. I think my condition has improved, and I had the desire to start. Both center-backs from Niigata are good players, tall, and they attempted interceptions several times. However, I was also conscious of not getting caught there."

　[Summary of Coach Jofuku's Press Conference] "The opening match was not good, and in this week's practice match, the way we entered the game was also not good, so I placed great importance on how we start the match. Fortunately, we were able to start very well, and scoring with that momentum was lucky for us. The content was good, but I think being able to score at the right times worked in our favor. After that, we fell back into defense and had moments where we were at the mercy of the opponent's possession. When it comes to whether we can hold on for the remaining 60 or 70 minutes, we cannot withstand a wonderful team like Niigata. After conceding two goals, we tightened our focus again, and when we regained possession, we started to connect the play properly again. In that sense, the period from when we scored three goals to when we conceded two is a significant challenge for us. In the end, I think it was wonderful that we held on well and took three points from Niigata. (What are your thoughts on the first victory?) I am purely happy about the victory. I was really pleased to be able to present the victory to the many fans who came to support us. (What is the current level of completion?) It is difficult to say what percentage of the soccer we aim for we have achieved, but we want to play for a longer time around the period when we scored in the first half. Also, when we score first, we inevitably become more defensive. When we regain the ball, we need to revisit how we transition from a quick attack to a slow attack, and in that way, we need to learn to draw the game into our time, which is part of gaining experience and becoming more adept in matches. In terms of our soccer, we still have a long way to go. I think we are still in the process of gaining experience in shifting the flow of the game."

　[Summary of Niigata Suzuki's press conference] "First of all, I think we played a very bad game for the fans. I'm sorry. Mentally, we lacked concentration after conceding a goal, and I'm very disappointed that we had many plays like that. We were able to recover in the second half and play forward despite being 0-3 behind, but it's a shame that we couldn't do that from the first half. I put Davi on the right because Tokyo's Tokunaga player overlaps a lot and comes up aggressively, so I thought Teragawa would be better in taking care of that. Alessandro couldn't do much today. He contributed a lot defensively with his movement, but he couldn't become the starting point in the front line and couldn't take shots."