The true identity of excitement and him of interior
When I finished watching the debut of "Albert Tokyo", who overwhelmed the J1 champion Kawasaki Frontale, I suddenly felt a nostalgic sensation.
Huh? I remember feeling this excited during the new coach's first game before.
I remembered, it was an event that happened exactly 20 years ago. In the opening match of the 2002 season against Kashima Antlers, "Hara Tokyo" led by new coach Hiromi HARA, surprisingly defeated the championship contender with a score of 4-2.
However, to be precise, the contents of excitement are different.
The excitement of "Harato Tokyo" was a mysterious thrill of wondering, "What will become of this team?" However, in the case of "Albert Tokyo", it is a sense of exhilaration from being able to envision the future of the team and how it will develop.
With a clear design plan, the team is designed so that the finished product can be imagined. That design plan is none other than the positional play promoted by Albert Puig Ortoneda, the coach.
Take the appropriate position while watching the opponent, and dominate the ball and the game with an advantage on both offense and defense.
If center back Henrique TREVISAN repeatedly takes advantage of gaps in the opponent's defensive block to carry the ball, both Ryoma WATANABE and Ryoya OGAWA, the side backs, will infiltrate the spaces that open up inside the opponent's defensive block and become the focal points of the attack. In the second half, it was the impression that Tokyo had been dominating the game.
Love the ball——.
The slogan that Coach Albert PUIG ORTONEDA holds up is this: "Treat the ball gently like a lover."
If you love someone, you must treat them with care. That means trapping carefully and delivering accurately to your teammate's feet.
Of course, loving the ball is not only during attacks, but also in situations where the ball is not held. Is there a man who has had his beloved taken away and is just watching with his fingers in his mouth? If you love it, take it back right away!
The mechanism for efficient ball recovery has already been implemented. The standing position during ball possession leads directly to the standing position during immediate recovery - that is also the advantage of positional play. The awareness of quick recovery was already instilled in the previous system. The reason why Tokyo pushed Kawasaki back, despite some mistakes in "stopping and kicking", lies here.
If Leandro had scored, there could have been a big win. If I had to pick one player who felt the potential, it would be him from Interiol.
18-year-old rookie, Kuryu MATSUKI? No no, it's Shuto ABE.
Always be where you should be, and show your face where you want to be. Although there is a tendency to move too much due to past habits, you have just started to learn positional play. It seems that you are already able to play soccer while observing the opponent and grasping the key points of your position.
The scene at 40 minutes was impressive, taking advantage of the opponent's defensive line and drawing out Diego OLIVEIRA's through pass, but even more spectacular was the attack at 72 minutes.
This scene started with goalkeeper Jakub SLOWIK's goal kick. Ogawa -> Henrique TREVISAN -> SLOWIK -> Leandro -> Hirotaka MITA -> Abe -> Takuya AOKI -> Ogawa -> Kensuke NAGAI -> Diego OLIVEIRA -> Abe, and they skillfully connected to conquer the opponent's penalty area pocket.
During the sequence, Abe secured his position with a backstep and called for a pass while maintaining his field of vision. This time, he ran up to the half-space and darted into the area.
Of course, the positioning and judgment of players like Ogawa and Nagai cannot be overlooked. In the scene where Abe was brought down, it appears that the opponent's defender, Shogo Taniguchi, had a hand in it, but there is no point in complaining about what has already happened.
Scene where the opponent's penalty area was conquered in the 77th minute
Pocket strategy from the half space is a specialty of Kawasaki, Yokohama F.Marinos, and even Manchester City. It can be said that this is the ideal attack that Albert Tokyo aims for.
Imagining the near future and getting excited is not just about the team.
Did you imagine it while watching the Kawasaki game? There may be fans and supporters who did. As Abe, who learned to play soccer by watching the opponent, enters the scene with Terry and Tanaka, who serve as interior players for the Japan national team.
The unfortunate thing is that despite playing such a good game, the result did not come with it. For example, looking back on the record collection 10 years later, this match is nothing but a 0-1 loss. That's why I want to keep the excitement I felt that night at Todoroki firmly in my heart.
It was a night where it was conveyed that the players were playing energetically and having fun above all else.
Text by Atsushi Iio (Sports Writer)
