Late Goals Deny Tokyo Win Over Kobe
20/07/2010
Late Goals Deny Tokyo Win Over Kobe
J.League Division 1 13th.Game
Saturday July 17th. 2010
Ajinomoto Stadium ( Home )
Attendance 25,781
F.C.Tokyo 2 Vissel Kobe 2
10 Kajiyama ( Tokyo ), 18 Otake ( Tokyo ), 84 Botti ( Kobe ), 90+6 Okubo ( Kobe )
F.C.Tokyo:
Shiota, Nakamura, Morishige, Konno, Matsushita, Tokunaga, Kajiyama, Otake ( Hirayama 76 ), Hanyu ( Suzuki 63 ), Ricardinho ( Ishikawa 69 ), Oguro.
Subs not used: Abe, Kim, Mukuhara, Akamine.
Vissel Kobe:
Enomoto, Kitamoto, Miyamoto ( Ishibitsu 46 ), Komoto, Mogi, Matsuoka, Edmilson ( Kondo 46 ), Park ( Ganaha 75 ), Botti, Tokura, Okubo.
Subs not used: Kishi, Tomita, Yoshida, Mihara.
Tokyo Aim To Rally As League Restarts
Following a two-month break the J.League recommenced with the visit of Vissel Kobe to Ajinomoto Stadium. During the break Tokyo had signed Masashi Oguro and Seo Yong Duk while losing Takumi Abe to Yokohama FC and Yuto Nagatomo to Italy's Cesena on loan. Goalkeeper Gonda was injured and although the team's condition was far from perfect it was working hard to play attacking football while maintaining the tightest defence in the league and grappling with the familiar problem of who would score the goals. A win in the opening game of the league restart was seen as vital to gain momentum for the challenge ahead.
Opponents Kobe lay in 15th. place with 11 points at kick off. Despite struggling with their consistency the side boasted a dynamic strike force of Tokura and Okubo in front of skillful midfield ball-players particularly dangerous from set plays. To combat this threat Tokyo would need to defend well, retain possession from front to back and win the battle on the flanks.
The game could be significant for the remainder of the campaign. Ricardinho and Oguro were paired in attack with Hanyu and Otake on the flanks and Matsushita and Nakamura filling the fullback positions. Shiota was in goal. Manager Hiroshi Jofuku commented, "I selected the team best able to deal with the various challenges facing us at the moment. No-one can replicate exactly what Nagatomo brought to the side but the same goes for the other players as well. This is a great opportunity for the team to produce something new".
The blistering heat and humidity of Tokyo in July had abated somewhat by the time the visitors kicked off shortly after 6:30 pm.
Tokyo Sweep Into Early Lead
In the 10th.minute Oguro and Kajiyama combined to regain possession on the right inside the Tokyo half and Kajiyama moved the ball on to Oguro infield. Oguro turned neatly and immediately played an inch-perfect pass to Ricardinho as the young forward broke into space on the left. Ricardinho raced into the area and cracked a low drive across Enomoto that the Kobe goalkeeper could only parry at full stretch. Kajiyama, following up alertly, was perfectly placed to deftly clip the loose ball beyond Enomoto's despairing dive and put Tokyo ahead. Tokyo had shown a real cutting edge as they took the lead with a sharp counter attack.
In the 18th.minute Kajiyama and Matsushita combined to move the ball down the left flank to Ricardinho near the Kobe byline. Ricardinho slipped between two defenders and feinted past a third before cutting the ball back to Otake on the penalty spot. Otake coolly dispatched a side-footed volley high past Enomoto to double the Tokyo lead. A smooth transition from defence to attack had brought the second goal.
With a two-goal lead Tokyo played a patient game, denying Kobe any freedom with the ball. Enomoto nearly gifted Tokyo a third goal in the 23rd.minute as Ricardinho intercepted a loose pass out from the penalty area but his snap-shot flew narrowly wide. In the 30th.minute Kobe midfielder Edmilson played the ball through the Tokyo backline and Tokura ran onto it but sharp covering by Konno prevented the forward's shot hitting the target. In the 35th.minute Okubo created an opening for Edmilson to cross from the right; the deep cross found left back Mogi overlapping at the far post but Hanyu was on hand to block his effort.
Tokyo counter-attacked using Ricardinho's pace in the 40th.minute and the same player earned a corner following another burst forward and shot in the 43rd.minute. Enomoto punched Matsushita's corner to safety. At the other end Shiota collided with a Kobe player as he cleared a corner in added time, suffering a blow to the head in the process. The game was stopped for several minutes while the keeper received treatment but he was able to continue and Tokyo successfully maintained their lead until half time.
Nightmare Finish Denies Tokyo Win
Kobe switched to a 4-1-4-1 formation for the second half. They sent on defenders Kondo and Ishibitsu at fullback, moved defender Kitamoto into the centre, pushed Mogi further forward and used Matsuoka as a single defensive midfielder. The change in formation came with a more aggressive approach as they pressed Tokyo further up the field. The move nearly paid dividends immediately as Tokyo lost possession at the back and Okubo played in Park on the right of the penalty area. Shiota raced off his line and produced a fine save to block Park's shot with his body.
Kobe began to shoot from medium range; first Botti in the 55th.minute and then Ishibitsu three minutes later, Shiota producing another good save to tip the latter effort around the post. Kobe enjoyed more possession but Tokyo kept them out of the danger areas, restricting the visitors to long range efforts. In the 62nd.minute Hanyu curled a sumptuous cross from wide on the left to the far post where Oguro met the ball on the volley; he struck his shot down into the ground and Enomoto, well-beaten, could only watch as the ball bounded narrowly over the bar. Hanyu provided another fine cross to Oguro in the 63rd.minute; this time Oguro knocked the ball down and Otake, following up at speed, controlled it deftly before floating a half-volley goalward. Enomoto, diving backwards, produced a fine save to claw the ball out from under the crossbar.
After failing to take their chances to kill the game off Tokyo made a series of attacking substitutions, replacing Hanyu with Suzuki, Ricardinho with Ishikawa and Otake with Hirayama, in an attempt to find a third goal. Tokyo found themselves being pushed back though, as Kobe discovered a reserve of energy late in the game. In the 84th.minute the visitors counter-attacked, Botti taking the ball unchallenged diagonally through the penalty area to the right before chipping it back and over Shiota's head via a deflection.
Suddenly presented with the possibility of an unlikely draw Kobe continued to press forward and threaten the Tokyo goal, mainly through set plays. In the 94th.minute Botti struck a well-flighted free kick into the mixer that the Tokyo defence headed out for a corner. The initial corner was cleared but when the ball was knocked back into the penalty area Morishige was penalised for handball and a penalty awarded to Kobe. Okubo stepped up and slotted the ball into the corner, condemning Tokyo to a draw with the last kick of the match.
Players' comments
Otake
"I was thinking about getting on the scoresheet before the game had even started. Ricardinho gave me a good ball and it was great that I could put it away. We practice together in training so I knew the timing of the pass he would deliver. It was a good move. After we scored that second goal we stopped picking up the loose balls and the 50-50 balls and that allowed the opposition to have more time in possession. It's a very big point for us to reflect on".
Oguro
"We were unlucky with the way we conceded at the end but not scoring the third goal had the biggest influence on the result, I think. I had a very good chance and you have to put those away. In the second half when they had us under pressure we should have been hitting them on the counter attack. For our first goal I received the ball from Kajiyama, turned and was going to push forward when I saw Ricardinho making a run so I passed it to him. Kajiyama did very well to make up the ground and finish it off, I thought. The linking between the forwards and the midfielders isn't bad at all and will get better. We didn't lose today and have to put right what went wrong and bounce back in the next game".
F.C.Tokyo manager Hiroshi Jofuku
"I'd like to thank all our fans who waited for the league restart and came along today. It's very disappointing that we couldn't share the joy of winning the game with them. We just have to take the point as it was that kind of game today. What about Oguro? We want to play football where the performance is greater than the individual strong points of each player, and win games. I want him to contribute more and more".
Vissel Kobe manager Toshiya Miura
"I'd like to thank our fans who made the long trip to support us today. It really was the proverbial game of two halves. Tokyo have one of the top three defences in the league and are a strong team so to fight back from two down to earn a draw shows our players fought to the very end. On the other hand we allowed Tokyo to play to their strengths in the first half and the mistakes we made and the way they outnumbered us at times was disappointing. We showed both sides of our game today.
Why did we change to 4-1-4-1? In the first half we had Tokura playing as lone striker with Okubo tucked in and Botti on the flank. Their defensive midfielders and wide players were shutting us down so we changed to a more attacking formation. That altered the flow of the game in our favour, I think.
Did we misread the game? For us the biggest point was how to disrupt Tokyo's build up. Our plan was to put pressure on Morishige, Konno and Kajiyama and force them into passing the ball sideways or back. We failed to do that and they were able to play almost at will. With the 4-4-2 formation we were just chasing the ball and it was very hard work. I don't know if that's a misreading or just a sign of Tokyo's quality".
< Other results >
Ardija 0 Grampus 1
S-Pulse 0 Jubilo 0
Montedio 3 Vegalta 1
Antlers 2 Frontale 1
Albirex 1 Cerezo 1
Kyoto Sanga 0 Bellmare 1
Gamba 3 Reds 2
Sanfrecce 3 F Marinos 0
< Standings >
Antlers 27, S-Pulse 26, Grampus 25, Frontale 21, Cerezo 20, Reds 20, Sanfrecce 19, Gamba 18, F Marinos 18, Albirex 18, Montedio 17, Jubilo 16, F.C.Tokyo 15, Vegalta 13, Vissel 12, Bellmare 12, Ardija 10, Kyoto Sanga 10.
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