Tokyo Slip To Defeat In Hiroshima Despite Morishige's First Goal For The Club
03/05/2010
Tokyo Slip To Defeat In Hiroshima Despite Morishige's First Goal For The Club
J.League Division 1 9th.Game
Saturday May 1st. 2010
Hiroshima Big Arch ( Away )
Attendance 19,549
F.C.Tokyo 1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2
24 Yamagishi ( Hiroshima ), 56 Morishige ( Tokyo ), 68 Yamazaki ( Hiroshima ).
F.C.Tokyo:
Gonda, Mukuhara, Morishige, Konno, Nagatomo, Tokunaga, Kajiyama ( Kim 70 ), Ishikawa, Hanyu, Hirayama ( Akamine 28 ), Ricardinho ( Shigematsu 62 ).
Subs not used: Shiota, Matsushita, Nakamura, Suzuki.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima:
Nishikawa, Yokotake, Nakajima, Makino, Yamagishi, Marutani, Morisaki ( Kuwada 77 ), Hattori, Takayanagi ( Lee 62 ), Yamazaki, Sato ( Osaki 86 ).
Subs not used: Nakabayashi, Okamoto, Ishikawa, Shimizu.
Tokyo Aim To Strike Gold In Golden Week
F.C.Tokyo made the long journey south to take on Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the 9th.game of the season. The 2-0 loss to Gamba Osaka in the previous outing meant the side was winless in April and clearly enduring a difficult patch. The players remained positive though, commenting, "There's no point in feeling bitter," while manager Hiroshi Jofuku was equally forward-looking, "The performances give us no reason to think the future is bleak. Even so, we aren't shedding any light on what is missing at the moment. We have to consider our current quality, what we can do, what is missing and find a way to get back on track".
Opponents Hiroshima lay in 6th.place with 12 points at kick off and were unbeaten in three games. They had failed to overcome Kashima Antlers and Albirex Niigata in league play but had posted a morale-boosting win over Pohang Steelers in the ACL on Tuesday evening with a considerably altered lineup. Manager Mihailo Petrovic was in his 5th. season at the club and his brand of possession football was fully inculcated into the team. Tokyo had failed to beat Hiroshima in 2009, registering a draw and a loss.
Hiramatsu was out with an injury while Kajiyama made his first start of the season. Tokunaga appeared in defensive midfield with Hanyu on the left and Nagatomo and Mukuhara as full backs. The key areas of the games would be how well Tokyo could unlock the tight Hiroshima defence and, as Hiroshi Jofuku pointed out, "How we win the ball". If Tokyo allowed Hiroshima the freedom to play they would be threatened on various fronts: from the speed of forward Sato, the dribbling of midfielder Yamagishi and the accurate crossing of midfielder Hattori. Tokyo would need to press hard from the front to win the ball and then switch quickly into high-paced attack.
If Tokyo were unable to create a scoring attempt they would need to be persistant in their passing while using Hanyu's movement in midfield and Kajiyama's ability to build play to breach the Sanfrecce defence. The recently leaky Tokyo defence would require increased communication and a thoroughness in covering and challenging for the ball. With Hiroshima boasting a slogan of "Running Attack" for 2010, Tokyo would need to overcome their hosts in terms of workrate as well.
Tokyo kicked off shortly after 7pm on a cool, windless evening.
Profligate Tokyo Fall Behind
Tokyo began brightly with Kajiyama enjoying time on the ball while Hanyu and Ricardinho sought to exploit space along the flanks. Tokyo created the best of the early chances; in the 5th.minute Mukuhara, Ishikawa and Kajiyama combined down the right and Ricardinho crossed to the far side where Hanyu played the ball back into the penalty area but Hirayama headed over the bar. In the 14th.minute Mukuhara launched a long crossfield ball to the left side of the penalty area where Ricardinho attempted a spectacular overhead kick; Ricardinho succeeded in redirecting the ball into the centre but Nishikawa, in the Hiroshima goal, beat Hirayama to the bouncing ball.
Tokyo launched a counter attack down the right in the 17th.minute through Hirayama and Ishikawa; the latter cut inside and hammered a shot that crashed against the crossbar and cannoned away to safety. In the 24th.minute Hiroshima attacked down the right through forward Sato, before moving the ball out to the left via Yamagishi and Yamazaki. Midfielder Hattori darted through the Tokyo defence into the area on the left and cut the ball back to Sato who held it up before rolling it into Yamagishi's path at the far post for a simple finish. Sanfrecce's fluid passing and full use of the pitch had torn the Tokyo defence apart.
Akamine replaced Hirayama in the 28th.minute. In the 31st.minute Ricardinho pounced on a poor clearance and drove deep into the Hiroshima penalty area on the right before cutting the ball back to Akamine who struck first time but failed to hit the target. In the 35th.minute Kajiyama turned a defender on the edge of the Hiroshima area and slid the ball to the advancing Hanyu on his right; Hanyu struck firmly but again Nishikawa was equal to the challenge. Tokyo continued to control the ball yet ended the first period a goal behind, scored on Hiroshima's only serious attack of the half.
Morishige Equaliser Raises Hopes But Hiroshima Regain Lead
Tokyo seized the initiative as the second half unfolded, winning a succession of corners from the 54th.minute. In the 56th.minute Ishikawa played a short corner to Ricardinho, who moved the ball on to Hanyu. Hanyu curled a cross into the danger area and Morishige headed the ball firmly past Nishikawa to tie the score with his first goal since his transfer. The goal lifted Tokyo and they controlled the pace of the game, which was now being played largely in the Hiroshima half of the pitch. Shigematsu replaced Ricardinho in the 62nd. minute and his first action in the game was to whip a 25 metre free kick over the Hiroshima wall that drew a save from Nishikawa.
In the 67th.minute Akamine knocked down a ball from Shigematsu, Kajiyama ran on to it and shot, earning a corner. The initial ball in was cleared but Nagatomo picked it up on the left, burst into the area and crossed again. Tokyo attacked in waves but were unable to make the breakthrough. Hiroshima were defending with five backs when Tokyo had the ball and looking to counter attack when they regained possession. On one such break in the 68th.minute some fast interplay moved the ball forward to Yamagishi who broke into the Tokyo area on the right and cut the ball back for forward Yamazaki to slide in and bundle it over the line. For the second time in the match Tokyo had been caught out by Hiroshima's slick passing movement.
Tokyo responded to the need for a counter offensive by withdrawing Kajiyama, replacing him with centre back Kim Young-Gwon and moving Konno forward into midfield. In the 80th.minute Shigematsu seized on the loose ball following a free kick and drove at the Sanfrecce defence before shooting narrowly wide. Hanyu played a more cautious role in midfield, allowing Konno to push forward as Tokyo penned Hiroshima inside their own half for the remainder of the game. Tokyo outshot Hiroshima 23-8 over the course of the 90 minutes but their failure to find the net from open play resulted in a 2-1 defeat.
< Players' comments >
Morishige
"I was pleased to score the equaliser but.... Of course I want to get forward if I have the chance but that depends on the state of the game at the time. Conceding the second goal made things very difficult for us especially as we were chasing a goal to give us the lead when they scored. We have to look at the way we conceded and put things right. Maybe we passed the ball around too much in attack and weren't sufficiently aware of the dangers. We need more imagination and to create openings in front of goal using fluid movement. These are things that we as players want to get together and talk through".
Nagatomo
"There's nothing I want to say about the game except that we didn't play badly at all and are bitterly disappointed. It's hard playing well but not winning. It's no use talking about the difference in finishing, either. Since our performances aren't bad is it difficult to fix the problems? Well, there must be some cause for us conceding goals. We have to identify it and then work to fix it. There's no time for us to feel sorry for ourselves; we have to accept the result, pick ourselves up and get ready for the Sendai game".
F.C.Tokyo manager Hiroshi Jofuku
"The players are giving it all they can and playing to the best of their ability, I think. I have to apologise to our fans who came all this way to support us. Why did I substitute Hirayama? He wasn't injured, for one thing. In recent games we've been in control and have created chances. That's happened while he's been on the field. I'm sure you can understand what I mean. It's not only happened in this game. Kajiyama played to the extent of his power today and worked hard for the team in defence and attack. However, neither he nor I can be satisfied. That's a mark of the high level of demand we want to place on each other."
Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Petrovic
"I thought we played good football at a high tempo today. F.C.Tokyo can be counted amongst the best teams in Japan. I thought the game was 50-50 but we won and can count ourselves a little lucky as Tokyo created a lot of good chances in the first half. We will have played 7 games in 22 days and today the players reached the peak of their tiredness, I felt. We knew Tokyo would come out strongly in the second half and take the initiative but we snuffed out the danger and prevented them creating any real chances. It may have looked as if we were being pushed back but they didn't really threaten us at all. Even after they scored it may have looked as though we were under pressure but we defended well and scored the decisive goal on a counter attack. Our players all gave over 100% today and their great determination brought us the luck we enjoyed. They are producing magnificent performances in the league and the ACL and I can't believe how well this team is developing. The fans know this as well and that's why so many came to support the team today. When the fans and the team are united it leads to great results. This really is a wonderful time for Hiroshima".
< Other results >
F Marinos 1 Jubilo 0
Vissel 1 Albirex 2
Grampus 2 Montedio 1
Vegalta 1 Cerezo 1
Antlers 2 Gamba 1
Frontale 4 Bellmare 2
S-Pulse 2 Reds 1
Ardija 2 Kyoto Sanga 1
< Standings >
S-Pulse 21, Grampus 19, Frontale 19, Antlers 18, Reds 16, Sanfrecce 15, F Marinos 14, Vegalta 11, Gamba 10, Cerezo 10, F.C.Tokyo 9, Jubilo 9, Ardija 8, Albirex 8, Kyoto Sanga 8, Bellmare 8, Vissel 7.
|
go error report form