Nabisco Cup resumes, with a fresh mindset

　The league was temporarily suspended and the Nabisco Cup will resume after about 2 months. FC Tokyo, who belongs to Group C in the qualifiers, has already played 2 matches and is in 3rd place with 1 draw and 1 loss. They are tied with Oita in 4th place in terms of points. Despite the absence of Doi and Kaji due to national team duties, as the defending champions from last season, they cannot afford to be eliminated easily in the qualifiers. Group C is currently led by Kashiwa with 6 points, but a comeback is still possible. They will try to turn things around and make a push in the remaining 4 matches. Above all, Chiba was the opponent who tasted defeat in last week's league match. Today, they will receive support from their home fans and aim for revenge.

　Lucas, who re-injured himself, is absent, but Fujita, Miura, and Kanazawa have returned. The starting lineup consists of GK Shioda, DF Fujita, Jean, Mobara, and Kanazawa from the right side of the defensive line. Konno returns to the defensive midfield and forms a partnership with Kurisawa, with Ishikawa on the right MF and Kobayashi on the left MF. The formation consists of Danilo and Yusuke Kondo as the two forwards. Manager Hara said, "In last week's league match, we conceded the first goal and immediately conceded the second goal in a counterattack due to rushing to equalize. We are too anxious in our attacks. When we can't make a quick attack, we want to keep the ball and break down the opponent by using the width of the field." He expects a strong presence from Danilo, who is strong in aerial duels and attacking, and Kobayashi, who has good ball retention, in the starting lineup.

　Chiba, on the other hand, is currently in second place in Group 2 with 3 points. Today, FW Lin is starting in place of the injured FW Haas and DF Saito, while MF Pospek makes his first appearance of the season. The lineup shows 3 DFs, but in reality, DFs Stoyanov and Abe are playing center back, with Mizumoto on the right and MF Sakamoto on the left, forming a 4-back formation. The match started at 3:03 PM at Ajinomoto Stadium, with Chiba kicking off in the early summer weather.

First goal conceded, but a patient first half

　After analyzing last week's league match, today's first half was a cautious start as we chose to play with a compact formation, not chasing the ball from the front and pulling back the defensive line. In the midst of this, in the 7th minute, Danilo cut into the area from the right and Ishikawa received the return pass in the center. Kurihara followed up with a shot from the back, but it went over the bar. In the 17th minute, Kanazawa picked up a loose ball from Fujita's cross and connected with Konno in the center, then Kobayashi on the left. The final pass was a left cross from Kanazawa, but Danilo in the front line was offside.

　Tokyo had many chances, but they allowed ball possession and did not create any decisive chances for Chiba. However, in the 20th minute, Chiba tried to attack from a pass from the DF line, and MF Popescu received the ball near the center circle and made a wedge pass to the front line. FW Hayashi swept it and Popescu, who had advanced, received the return pass and entered the area for a shot. Taking advantage of Tokyo's weak marking, Popescu, who was making his debut, scored the opening goal.

　After that, Chiba completely dominated the game. Without taking any risks, they patiently passed the ball around the defense line and waited for opportunities. On the other hand, Tokyo was unable to take the ball at all. Manager Hara also said after the game, "I feel like it was a disappointing performance," but if you think calmly, they didn't lose the second goal and it could be said that it went as planned. In the first half, they let the opponent attack and in the second half, they put in Toda and Miura to go for the win and aim for a comeback.

Made a fierce attack and created multiple chances, but...

　As planned, the rhythm changed dramatically with Toda's entry in the second half. Tokyo aggressively attacked by chasing from the front and aggressively attacking after taking the ball. In the 46th minute, Yusuke Kondo boldly made a move from the left side and took a shot. The rebound went to Ishikawa who was free in the right area, trapping and taking a volley shot, but unfortunately it hit the top of the bar.

　At 49 minutes, Chiba MF Popescu picked up the ball near the end line after bypassing the offside line and crossed it to the left. FW Maki from the far side → MF Sato headed the shot from the center, but it went over the bar. At 53 minutes, Sato jumped into the area and turned around to take a shot, but it narrowly missed to the right. The game was in motion and Chiba also created chances, but they did not allow any additional points.

　In the 55th minute, there was a decisive scene in Tokyo. Kanazawa made a big side change that perfectly reached Ishikawa on the right. Ishikawa initiated the attack, and Kurizawa picked up the loose ball in the center and crossed it with a floating ball. Toda headed the ball, but it narrowly went over the bar. Immediately after that, Miura was substituted for Kobayashi and placed in the defensive midfield position, with Kurizawa moving to the left. With Miura's entry, Imakano also showed a bold attacking move and threatened Chiba's goal.

　In the 65th minute, Ishikawa passes the ball to Fujita on the right space. Fujita catches up near the end line and sends a short cross to the right area. Just as the goalkeeper comes out, Toda connects and Kondo Yusuke takes a shot, but it hits the crossbar. Once again, they are unable to capitalize on a big chance.

　In the 70th minute, Toda → Fujita, who went up the right side, took a shot. There was momentum, but it went over the goal. In the 76th minute, Kanazawa & Imano teamed up to steal the ball, and Imano dashed into the left area. Kondo Yusuke received the last pass, but couldn't take a shot. Tokyo picked up the loose ball completely and connected it to the attack. However, they couldn't bring it to a finish. In the 81st minute, tired Kondo Yusuke was replaced by Baba as a forward. In the 84th minute, Ishikawa, who had drifted to the left, won a corner kick, and Baba kicked it, but the goalkeeper caught it. In the 87th minute, a corner kick from the right. Imano hit a header shot in response to Ishikawa's kick, but it bounced over the goal. They continued to launch a fierce attack with a sprint, but once again, a goal was far away. Clearly taking control of the pace and launching a counterattack, but the issue of lack of finishing power could not be resolved, and they ended up losing with no goals scored.

　[Player Comments] {Toda} "We endured so much in the first half, so in the second half, we aimed to press from the front and close down spaces to attack. It’s not just because I wasn’t on the field; the match is a contest over 90 minutes. I thought I should work hard for Danilo, who was substituted. We conceded first, but I was thinking we could turn it around. We lost, but we were able to share the common awareness of 'let's go with this game plan today.' If we had scored in the second half, it would have been completely as planned..." {Miura} "What the team needs right now is to produce results. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t achieve that. My role is to change the flow. If I can’t be useful in tough times, it’s meaningless. I feel a sense of responsibility. But the goal is definitely getting closer. We had chances to score two goals. There’s no point in looking down, so we have to keep fighting." {Kanazawa} "In the first half, the problem was conceding a goal. If that goal hadn’t happened, it would have gone as planned. I want to continue the style of play from the second half and win by scoring. For that, sometimes we don’t have enough players during quick counterattacks. I want to grasp our rhythm during slow attacks. I want to resolve those issues."

　[Summary of Coach Hara's Press Conference] "We lost to Jeff in the league match a week ago, but they threw the ball in quite early against our defense and picked up the loose balls. Therefore, today we aimed to let the opponent circulate the ball without rushing and target from the halfway line. We brought in Danilo as a forward, hoping for his ball retention ability, but the approach to defense was unclear, and as a team, we didn't know where to press... which made for a difficult first half. I could see the players were frustrated, and there was a sense of regret, but if we forced the issue from the front while the back line was pulled back, it would create the easiest situation for Jeff to play. I wanted to avoid changing our style of play and having the team become disjointed. In the second half, we pressed from the front with Toda and Yusuke KONDO, aiming to change the rhythm quickly and utilize the flanks. There was probably a reason that Jeff was leading and not pushing too hard, but in the second half, we had good patterns with Konno and Ishikawa breaking through, and Fujita delivering crosses... However, the challenge was not being able to score goals. The first half was disappointing, but if we don't control the source of the ball, we can't execute our organized defense. We didn't change our approach drastically; it was just that Toda seriously went to win the ball back, and that made a difference. Our foundation is indeed in these areas. I want to pursue scoring goals with the players in the style of play we had in the second half."

　[Summary of Chiba Osim's press conference] "It was completely different halves. I think today's game was a good opportunity for both the coach and the audience because it gave a chance to players who don't usually play in matches to see what they can do. It's unfortunate, but today's game turned out to be like that. What we were trying to do was working well until the players' stamina lasted. However, Tokyo, who is technically inferior to us and targeted players who couldn't keep up their stamina, came to take the ball. That was the content of the second half. We were put under pressure in that situation. Rather than being broken down, we gave the opponent a chance with our own mistakes, and they could have scored. In the end, we won, but it's really difficult to beat the same team twice in a week. One achievement is that we played without a libero for the first time today, and Abe and Stoyanov played really well. I can't say anything about the midfield because there were problems on the sides."