Dramatic Late Fightback Earns Tokyo Draw With Shimizu
17/05/2010
Dramatic Late Fightback Earns Tokyo Draw With Shimizu
J.League Division 1 12th.Game
Saturday May 15th. 2010
Ajinomoto Stadium ( Home )
Attendance 28,114
F.C.Tokyo 2 Shimizu S-Pulse 2
26 Hiraoka ( Shimizu ), 68 Fujimoto ( Shimizu ), 85 Nagatomo ( Tokyo ), 87 Matsushita ( Tokyo ).
F.C.Tokyo:
Gonda, Nagatomo, Morishige, Konno, Kim, Tokunaga, Kajiyama, Ishikawa ( Matsushita 72 ), Hanyu ( Akamine 59 ), Hirayama, Shigematsu ( Ricardinho 52 ).
Subs not used: Shiota, Mukuhara, Nakamura, Suzuki.
Shimizu S-Pulse:
Nishibe, Tsujio, Hiraoka, Bosnar, Kodama, Hyodo, Honda, Ono ( Yamamoto 57 ), Okazaki, Johnsen ( Nagai 90+1 ), Fujimoto ( Ota 84 ).
Subs not used: Takeda, Iwashita, Ito, Hara.
Tokyo Take On Leaders In Final League Game Before The World Cup Break
Shimizu S-Pulse were the visitors to Ajinomoto Stadium for a game that not only marked the completion of a third of the 2010 programme but was also the final league fixture before the World Cup break. Tokyo were looking to post consecutive wins, to celebrate a victory with the home fans and gain momentum going into the Nabisco Cup games. The Tokyo defence, faced with the speed and height of the Shimizu attack, was unchanged from the previous week with Nagatomo on the right and Kim on the left. Kajiyama returned to the starting eleven alongside Tokunaga in central midfield while Hanyu played on the left.
Opponents Shimizu were top of the table going into the game with a W7 D3 L1 record. The side had been without suspended regulars Ota, Bosnar and Ono in the previous game and had suffered their first loss of the season, a 2-0 home defeat by Albirex Niigata. Manager Kenta Hasegawa was in his 6th.season in charge and, as Tokyo boss Hiroshi Jofuku noted, "Not only have they matured but they've added the vastly experienced midfielder Ono and the defender Bosnar; they're a team playing at the peak right now". Playing in a 4-3-3 formation Shimizu were joint top scorers with 21 goals and a tight defence had conceded only ten times in the league. Towering striker Johnsen was the target man while Tokyo would need to pay special attention to the elusive running of forward Okazaki. Shimizu also attacked powerfully along the flanks and scored frequently from quick restarts. In the face of the visitors' wide variety of attacking options Tokyo would need to be tenacious and patient, to win the ball and quickly switch from defence to attack. The home side would need a steady start and to turn solid defence into decisive attack depending on the situation.
The visitors kicked off shortly after 2pm on a sunny, fresh afternoon.
Aggressive Tokyo Find Rhythm But...
Shimizu attacked with vigour from the kick off but Tokyo defended calmly and looked to push forward themselves. In the 3rd.minute Kajiyama collected a Shimizu clearance and moved the ball down the left to Shigematsu who burst into the visitors' area and cut inside a defender. The defender nicked the ball away as Shigematsu attempted to go round him again but from then on Tokyo threatened the Shimizu goal with Kajiyama directing play and Hanyu and Ishikawa heavily involved. In the 13th.minute Hirayama received the ball from Hanyu, turned and lashed a powerful shot from the edge of the area that whistled narrowly past the post with Nishibe, the Shimizu keeper, at full stretch. In the 14th.minute Ishikawa crossed from the right, Hanyu pounced on the loose ball and neatly laid it back to Kajiyama, but the midfielder dragged his low effort wide of the post.
Shimizu threatened on the counter attack as the open, entertaining play continued although Tokyo's aggressive ball-winning and lively movement soon helped them to find a rhythm. In the 24th.minute Kajiyama and Ishikawa combined to dispossess a Shimizu player in a fierce battle on the right before the latter raced down the flank and crossed into the danger area. Nishibe held the cross cleanly, however. In the 25th.minute Okazaki was fouled out near the right touchline and Shimizu midfielder Ono whipped a fierce free kick into the Tokyo area that defender Hiraoka, suddenly unmarked, met with a bullet header that flashed past Gonda and into the net.
In the 32nd.minute Shimizu forward Fujimoto burst down the left and centred to Johnsen but Konno put in a superb block to deny the giant Norwegian; the loose ball fell to Johnsen again but his attempted lob sailed over the bar. Tokyo were down but far from out of the contest and continued to try to penetrate the Shimizu defence with wide, expansive moves and neat short-passing interplay. In the 36th.minute Nishibe beat away a fierce drive from Hirayama at his near post following a cross from Shigematsu on the right while Ishikawa and Nagatomo combined to fashion another opening in added time. The first period finished 0-1.
Nagatomo, Matsushita On Target In Thrilling Comeback
Tokyo made an early change in the second half, replacing Shigematsu with Ricardinho in the 52nd.minute. In the 55th.minute Tokunaga pushed forward and played the ball up to Hirayama inside the Shimizu area on the left. Hirayama used his strength and skill to shield the ball before slipping it across the box but the Shimizu defence cleared the danger. In the 58th.minute Nagatomo overlapped, received the ball back from Ricardinho on the corner of the Shimizu penalty area on the right and turned two defenders before shooting. Akamine replaced Hanyu in the 59th.minute and played as lead forward in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Kajiyama as single defensive midfielder.
In the 66th.minute Ricardinho raced down the left, threw off his marker and curled a tempting cross towards the penalty spot. Akamine, unmarked, met the ball flush but somehow directed his header the wrong side of the post. It was a golden opportunity to tie the score and the miss became more glaring moments later as Kajiyama fouled Okazaki some 26 metres from the Tokyo goal. Shimizu forward Fujimoto stepped up and stroked the ball over the Tokyo wall and into the top left of the goal. Despite the warnings Tokyo had conceded twice from set plays.
Tokyo shuffled their system again in the 72nd.minute as Matsushita entered the game as left back with Kim at centre back and Tokunaga on the right, while Konno and Nagatomo both pushed forward. In the 82nd.minute Ricardinho again escaped his marker down the left before picking out Hirayama unmarked in front of goal. Hirayama stabbed a low shot goalward but too close to Nishibe who gratefully fell on the ball. Tokyo continued to press as the clocked ticked down and earned a corner in the 83rd.minute minute as Kim unleashed a dipping, swirling long-range drive that Nishibe tipped over the bar. Matsushita took the corner and Nishibe punched clear; Nagatomo met the ball on the run well outside the penalty area and crashed a volley that flew like an arrow inside the near post.
Nagatomo's first goal of the season had reduced the deficit to a single goal and he was in the thick of the action again in the 87th.minute, winning the ball in midfield and launching a counter attack. Akamine crossed, the Shimizu defence cleared the ball but not far enough and Matsushita raced onto it and drove a low bouncing shot past Nishibe to tie the score. Both sides pressed for a winner in a tense four minutes of added time. Tokyo won a corner deep into stoppage time and Akamine met Matsushita's ball with a header that flashed narrowly past the post. That was the final action in a game that saw Tokyo make a spirited fightback from 2-0 down to earn a draw.
Players' comments
Nagatomo
"We played aggressively from the first half. Even when we were behind we never gave up and that united spirit earned us the draw. It's disappointing to concede two goals like that and we have plenty to reflect on but we should be able to carry over the way we fought back from two down into the next match. I really wanted to score in this blue and red shirt before I leave to join up with the National Team squad, to win the game with these players at home here. Regarding Japan, I'm carrying the hopes of the players who weren't selected and I hope I can answer the fans' expectations by giving positive, dynamic performances. Today's goal will give me a real boost to do my best for the National Team".
Matsushita
"We have to reflect on the goals we conceded but I was absolutely determined to win the game when I stepped onto the field. We haven't been able to get the results recently so my feeling today was one of 'let's get on and do it'. It was a case of if only we could have taken one of our chances in the first half. We were behind though and I just wanted to contribute to changing the flow of the game. We equalised and got the draw which was the minimum acceptable result. For my goal I got a good connection on the ball and I was just concentrating on keeping it down so I tried to hit it into the ground. We couldn't take the three points today but I want to work hard from now on as well to get the results".
F.C.Tokyo manager Hiroshi Jofuku
"Considering we haven't won at home for some time and our ambitions for autumn we didn't want to fall any further behind Shimizu. We have no need to be thinking about the league table at the moment; looking at our points tally though we really wanted the three points today. If a neutral watched the game they would probably think we did well to take a point but I can't help but feel disappointed. Shimizu are playing at the peak of their ability at the moment but we ran them to a standstill in the last 20 minutes of the second half and were able to attack freely, all because we moved the ball around in the first half. That was our aim: to be patient in the first half, to seize the initiative while moving the ball around and decide the game. Conceding from a free kick in the first half and then again in the second against the run of play meant that the circulation had changed for the worse. Equalising was in part a result of correcting aspects of our game and the players' confidence. Even so, it's still frustrating that we couldn't win.
Why did we replace Ishikawa with Matsushita? That's because we wanted to push Nagatomo further forward in an attacking role. It was a substitution to help us win the ball even a few seconds faster than otherwise. Ishikawa and Nagatomo are probably in the same category for pace but we chose the substitution to help us win the ball and launch attacks. We have many issues to deal with during the break and will be working to resolve them, possibly during the Nabisco Cup games".
Shimizu S-Pulse manager Kenta Hasegawa
"I'm very grateful to our fans for their tremendous support. By all rights we should have made them a present of the three points today so to settle for only one is disappointing. In the first half we had trouble matching Tokyo's tempo and the game was played entirely at their pace; we made the best of our set plays and scored twice but were unable to hang on and in the end were lucky we didn't lose. However, it can be said that Tokyo are a team aiming to win the league. Last year they beat us home and away so to take a point today isn't a bad result at all, I feel. When the league restarts we'll be doing our best to finish off games and take the three points".
< Other results >
Albirex 3 Montedio 1
F Marinos 2 Kyoto Sanga 2
Vegalta 1 Reds 1
Cerezo 2 Vissel 1
Jubilo 3 Frontale 1
Ardija 0 Sanfrecce 0
Grampus 1 Antlers 4
Bellmare 1 Gamba 3
< Standings >
S-Pulse 25, Grampus 22, Antlers 21, Reds 20, Frontale 20, F Marinos 18, Albirex 17, Cerezo 16, Sanfrecce 16, Jubilo 15, Gamba 14, F.C.Tokyo 14, Montedio 14, Vegalta 13, Vissel 15, Ardija 9, Kyoto Sanga 9, Bellmare 9.
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