Let's finish the last game of 2000 J1 with a victory!

The final match of the J1 League 2nd stage is an away game against Cerezo Osaka. Cerezo Osaka, who finished in 2nd place in the 1st stage after competing for the championship until the end. They are currently in 7th place in this stage, but their explosive attacking power is the team's charm. In addition, this match is also the last game for Japan national team forward Nishizawa, who will transfer to Spain. It is expected that they will come to win desperately more than usual, but we cannot afford to lose here. We want to confidently take victory with Tokyo-style soccer and make it a perfect ending to this year.

Aggressively and focused mindset

Cerezo, who firmly defends with the double volante of MF Tasaka and Hara as the center. Despite the offensive image, they were cautious from the start. Tokyo, who can hold the ball in the midfield, develops from Yoshikazu on the right side and Masuda on the left, starting to show proactive movements.

However, Cerezo took advantage of the opportunity and MF Yoon, with his sharp movements, started to create attacking opportunities. In the 6th minute, Yoon broke through Tokyo's right side. Although the ball he crossed inside did not reach MF Mamanaka, immediately after, Yoon dropped the ball with a header in front of the goal from a ball from the midfield, and DF Saito pushed it in with his body. GK Doi made a sharp save on this close-range shot, not allowing an easy goal.

In the 9th minute, Cerezo Tanaka aimed for a middle shot, and in the 12th minute, Asari responded with a similar mid-range shot. In the 26th minute, Yukihiko broke through the right side and headed towards the goal, but was blocked by the opponent's defender. Tokyo also attacked with defender Fujiyama if there was space in the midfield, but Cerezo remained focused. In the 30th minute, Cerezo's Nishizawa took a shot from a post-play by FW Nishitani. It narrowly missed the goal, and the intense back-and-forth battle continued.

First goal by Masuda gives the lead!

However, finally in the 31st minute. The opening goal was scored by Masuda. He dribbled from the left side into the penalty area, and after a fine pass exchange with TUTO, a scramble occurred in front of the goal, and Masuda quickly shot the ball that fell in front of him again! The opening goal was born from Masuda's left foot, which was his first goal after transferring.

With this, Tokyo has become even faster in movement. In the 38th minute, they stole the ball and launched a counterattack, from Kina to Yukihiko SATO. The cross from the right side, with speed, was almost met by Amaral's run, but we could see a glimpse of Tokyo's characteristic soccer.

In the 42nd minute, Amaral, who had escaped behind the defense after a quick pass exchange between TUTO and Kina in front of the left penalty area, made a looping shot after carefully observing the goalkeeper's position! Unfortunately, it was cleared by the opposing defender just before the goal, but it raised expectations for the second half and welcomed halftime.

Exploiting a momentary gap, allowing an equalizing goal

In the second half, Tokyo, who continued to gain momentum, had their first shot of the day from a last pass by Kina to TUTO, who received it on the left side of the penalty area. The shot was saved by the goalkeeper by a hair's breadth, and immediately after that, Kina took a shot that hit the crossbar, but no additional points were scored.

On the other hand, Cerezo Osaka seems to have an atmosphere of trying to score a goal for Nishizawa, who will play his last game in this match. Nishizawa not only aims for the goal himself, but also passes to Yin and Nishitani with a through ball. In addition, Tanaka moves to support from a deep position in the midfield, gradually adopting a counterattacking posture.

However, today Tokyo was not passive even when pushed back, but instead had a thorough awareness of quickly launching a counterattack after stealing the ball. In the 61st minute, TUTO dribbled in from a counterattack and Amaral finished with a header shot. In the 67th minute, TUTO quickly restarted and cut inside with a feint in the penalty area, evading the chasing defender and taking a shot. Although the goalkeeper initially saved it, Amaral connected the rebound and Kinjo took a shot. The goal was ultimately blocked and could not be scored, but they showed a wave-like attack with direct play.

However, Cerezo is not silent either. In the immediate 68th minute. Connecting the FK, Yoon, who became free on the left outside of the penalty area, sent a sharp cross, and Nishitani reacted with a diving header. Tokyo allowed an equalizing goal in a form of being taken advantage of...

Amaral's goal puts them in the lead. This is Tokyo football at its finest!

However, Tokyo showed perseverance here without getting discouraged. In the 70th minute, a fast pass from TUTO on the left in front of the goal to Amaral in the middle. And then Naito, who was advancing, made an exquisite floating pass to the right with precise control. Yukihiro, who was free, aimed and took a shot! Even though the score was tied, just 2 minutes later, he calmly scored the go-ahead goal. In place of Yukihiro, who was injured when he was tackled by the opponent's defender at that time, Kamiya was substituted in the 74th minute. It was an accident, but the flow did not change, and in the 77th minute, they quickly counterattacked Cerezo's free kick, showing a flowing counter! The ball that Doi escaped with a punch was connected by Fujiyama and Masuda, and TUTO shook off the defenders and caught up with the ball near the goal line, crossing it back. And here, Amaral, who was in the middle, easily scored a goal!! They quickly took one point and left Cerezo, who was chasing, behind.

Cerezo, who never gave up and continued to counterattack in order to score a goal, managed to create wide attacks as Nishizawa moved to the outside. Despite being troubled by the speed of substitute FW Sugimoto, the defense protected the goal with their bodies. Even the consecutive set plays near the end of the game were saved by goalkeeper Doi's concentration. They achieved a solid victory with Tokyo-style soccer.

With this result, we finished 8th in the 2nd stage and achieved the highest overall ranking in our first year of J1 promotion, combining our 6th place finish in the 1st stage. We had a record of 15 wins, 14 losses, and 1 draw, surpassing the winning record! We were able to escape from the maze of 7 consecutive losses that we fell into towards the end of the league and ultimately achieved two consecutive victories under the bright sunshine. We will maintain this momentum and give our all to achieve the best result in the last Emperor's Cup of the 20th century!

"Coach Fukushima's comment"

"The first goal was a judgment mistake, but regarding the second and third goals, they were conceded in a way that we had been cautious about before the match, and I felt that it was due to a lack of strength and my own instructions not being thorough enough. In the final game, it was also Nishizawa's last game, so I think there were various expectations, but we tried to play our soccer as one game. We are accepting that it was not possible in reality as a future challenge."

"Coach Okuma's comment"

"We had few consecutive losses but we did our best in the 1st stage, and we also had consecutive wins. In the 2nd stage, we had consecutive losses and it was truly a season with many ups and downs. I realized that this league is tough in every aspect and I think I learned a lot. In this situation, I am glad that we were able to play Tokyo-style soccer both mentally and physically. I think if we don't continue this kind of fight, the team won't make a leap. I didn't think that finishing the league with just results and not with a strong performance would lead to the team's leap, so I wanted to have a good game today. In the Emperor's Cup as well, I want to fight with the feeling of 'somehow reaching higher' like today."