Key Game to be Involved in the Championship Race

　The current ranking of FC Tokyo is 4th (at the end of the 6th round). For FC Tokyo, who has set the goal of "winning at least one title" this season, the current situation in this 2nd stage is a great opportunity to achieve that goal. Before the match, news of Nagoya Grampus Eight's defeat, who is in 3rd place, came in. If Tokyo wins this match against Reds, they will secure a position of 3rd place or higher, so it became a crucial match that Tokyo definitely wants to win in order to stay in the championship race.

　On the other hand, Reds are currently in a slump, with three consecutive losses and ranked 15th. However, in the previous match, they played a close game that went into extra time against the top-ranked Antlers, showing that the team is on an upward trend. This is a crucial match that they cannot afford to lose, both to stop the losing streak and to seek revenge against FC Tokyo in the 1st stage.

　The Tokyo Stadium, the venue, was filled with red from the away supporters, and a fierce battle of support between Tokyo supporters took place even before kick-off. The unusual and intense atmosphere can be imagined as a "real soccer stadium," filled with an exciting scent, and it is expected that the game will be a heated and exciting match, just like the energy in the stands.

"Impressive" goal leads to a difficult early game conceding the first goal

　The match was intense as expected, fueled by the excitement of the stands. Shortly after the start, Miura was fouled, leading to a scuffle when a Reds player hit the ball. The game quickly became heated. Both teams continued to play fiercely, resulting in an intense and thrilling game.

　In the early stages, it was Reds who took the lead. Reds utilized the astonishing speed of their top player, Emerson, to break through the Tokyo DF line either by running behind or by drifting to the sides and creating space in the center. There, TUTO and Nagai created chances by using wall passes and dribbles. Last year, TUTO, who was also with Tokyo, was undoubtedly "fast," but Emerson, the secret weapon acquired by Reds after releasing their former ace, Ono (Netherlands/Feyenoord), had such a powerful and astonishing speed that it made TUTO's speed pale in comparison. Tokyo, overly cautious of Emerson's speed, dropped their DF line and their MFs on both sides became more defensive, resulting in them being unable to win the ball in a high position and being pushed back for a longer period of time.

　In the 13th minute, Emerson broke free from a vertical pass and took a looping shot, but it went over the bar. In the following 15th minute, a vertical pass entered the space created by Emerson drifting to the side and the central area, and Tokyo's defender Yamada ran into it and became completely free, but Fukuda from Tokyo returned to the goal just in time to clear it. In a dangerous situation, in the 17th minute, Amalao cleared the ball from a left corner kick and Suzuki, a Reds midfielder, scored a powerful long-range shot from about 30 meters, and Tokyo finally conceded the opening goal.

Yukihiko, Kelly's goal leads to a successful comeback...

　Tokyo at the moment was able to withstand this bad flow without collapsing. Tokyo's counterattack started immediately. Just after 21 minutes, Amaral in the midfield won the header and the ball went through the melee to Yukihiko in the center of the front line. Without trapping the ball that bounced and rolled, Yukihiko sharply shot with his right foot, and the ball drew a beautiful arc and was sucked into the goal about 30 meters away, just like when Reds took the lead. Tokyo, which quickly returned the game to a tie with Yukihiko's powerful equalizing goal, created another chance in the following 24 minutes from DF Komine's interception, and a perfect through pass from Yukihiko on the right reached Amaral in the center, but it was cleared by the Reds' defense a moment too soon.

　Tokyo managed to catch up with the tie, but the line still dropped overall due to the Reds' speedy attack, making it difficult to deal with. In the 29th minute, Amalao aggressively chased Tut and successfully took the ball from him on the right side. He quickly passed it to Kelly, who came to support. Kelly accelerated with the dribble and quickly cut into the goal area, drawing enough attention from the Reds' defense. He then made an exquisite pass to Fukuda, who was free on the left side. Fukuda took advantage of this and shot with his signature cutback. Although the Reds' goalkeeper initially blocked it, Kelly, who had been following up, pushed it in and successfully turned the game around. Despite being pushed back, Tokyo outplayed Urawa by efficiently scoring from counterattacks.

　On the other hand, the Reds were not silent. The Reds, with Abe as the starting point in the midfield with his ball retention skills, and Tuto and Nagai getting involved with the ball with their abundant physicality in the front line, and Emerson, who was playing as a lone striker, constantly threatened the backline of Tokyo with his astonishing speed. It became increasingly difficult to stop Emerson's charges, and there were more instances of giving away free kicks near the penalty area. In the 40th minute, Abe took a precise left-footed shot from a free kick created by Emerson, but GK Doi made a superb save to the bottom left corner! The pressure continued, and in the 43rd minute, Tuto broke free from a sharp wall pass with Emerson and took a curved shot with his right foot from the front of the goal, but the ball went just right of the goal post... As the end of the first half approached and they thought they could go into halftime with a one-goal lead, Tuto dribbled in front of the goal and passed to Emerson, who momentarily became free on the right side. Emerson powerfully swung his right foot and the shot mockingly sucked into the bottom left corner of the goal, eluding Doi's desperate save. In the end, the first half returned to square one in the last minute, and the game was carried over to the second half.

Amaral's valuable goal secures victory over Reds in the final!

　Tokyo, who was caught up to the same score just before the end of the first half, corrected the fact that both sides' midfielders had pulled back due to fear of Emerson TUTO's rush, and instructed them to support Kelly and Amaral at a higher position without fear, and approached the second half with more attacking moves than the first half.

　In the 4th minute of the second half, the ball was intricately connected to the Reds in front of the goal, and in the end, a superb shot with a curve was taken from Emerson, who opened up at the corner of the left side penalty area. However, the ball hit the bar and did not go into the goal... For a moment, I felt a chill, but after that, Tokyo regained its composure and began to create chances with effective movements on both offense and defense by Miura.

　The match showed a fierce back-and-forth battle, but neither side was able to make a decisive move as time passed. In the midst of that, Tokyo took the initiative. It already feels like Tokyo has a "signature move", but in the 13th minute of the second half, they substituted Kina for Asari. And then, 10 minutes later, they substituted Kagami, who has been in good form, for Fukuda. Especially Kagami, who kept the ball freely on the left side and immediately showed promising moves by delivering a exquisite cross from the left side as soon as he entered the pitch.

　The climax came in the 27th minute of the second half. Fujiyama dribbled from the left side to the center and passed to Kagami, who was positioned in front of the goal. Kagami dribbled sideways for a moment and then delivered a perfect through pass to Yukihiko, who had been aiming for the space behind the opponent's defense. Yukihiko, who had just made it past the offside line, sharply reacted to the ball and evaded the opponent's goalkeeper who had come forward, crossing it back to the center from the right goal line. Red's defender Ihara desperately cleared the ball, but the clearance was small. Kelly, who was closing in, took a shot and the ball flew in front of Amaral in front of the goal. Amaral calmly volleyed the ball into the net. Tokyo, who had changed the rhythm with the addition of Kina and Kagami, once again saw Amaral score a crucial goal, making it three consecutive goals in three games, and finally succeeded in taking the lead.

　The Reds seemed to be depressed by this decisive goal, but the players continued to show fierce determination until the end, with the support of passionate fans behind them. However, Tokyo also countered with a strong defense, with all players giving their all, backed by the loud cheers of their passionate supporters. In the 30th minute, TUTO forcefully broke through the left side and sent a fast ground cross, which was faintly touched by Doi and cleared by Kagami and Fujiyama just before the Reds player who was closing in on the ball could shoot. Both teams continued to show intense offense and defense until the end, but ultimately the game ended like this. FC Tokyo beautifully won this crucial match that they had to win in order to stay in the championship race, rising to third place alone. After a brief rest to refresh, the team will restart for the next match, which can be called a decisive battle, against Nagoya, and the following match against Júbilo.

[Manager Okuma's Comment] The motivation of the Reds, who gained confidence in the previous Kashima game, was high, and I expected today's match to be a tough one, including the content. Soccer is not something that can be won by just 11 people, and substitute players are important. In that sense, recently our substitute players have been producing results, so I think we are winning. I want to continue playing with the feeling of fighting with all 29 players in the future. After this, there will be a little break, so I want to do my best to be able to face the next match in a good condition again.