Defeat Nagoya in good form, win the final match

　This round, which is the final match of the 1st stage, will be played at home against Nagoya Grampus Eight.

　In the previous match, Tokyo, who seemed to be lacking energy, sank with a V goal in the away match against Kobe and suffered two consecutive defeats. On the other hand, Nagoya is currently on a winning streak of five matches, showing a contrasting appearance. However, it is the final match that will be held at home. We must avoid a third consecutive defeat and want to decorate it with a victory. The starting members are the same as the previous match, and the summer heat has eased considerably. The kickoff was at 7:00 pm.

Aiming For Victory In First Stage Finale 

Nagoya Grampus Eight visited Tokyo Stadium for the final game of the first stage. Grampus, in form and riding a five game winning streak, would surely prove tough opposition for the slumping hosts as they sought to end the stage on a high note. With TOKYO unchanged from the previous week, the game kicked off on a balmy summer's evening.

Opening goal with Ishikawa's powerful shot

　Connect the ball from the kickoff and Amaral shoots a header from Ishikawa's cross. Tokyo shows an aggressive attitude from the start and dominates the ball. In the 7th minute, Ishikawa dribbles to the right side and crosses to the goal line, but the opposing goalkeeper Naraizaki catches it. However, Nagoya also quickly passes vertically from this play to the left side space. There, the current top scorer, FW Weslley, catches up and shoots with exquisite accuracy, but this ball is saved by Toi.

　Tokyo, in the 10th minute, Amaral → Kelly connected in front of the goal, and Toda, who ran behind the center DF from the left side, took a shot but narrowly missed to the right. In the 14th minute, Ishikawa broke through the DF line and took a shot from a long ball from Kaji, but it went over the goal. In the 18th minute, Amaral on the right side connected with Kelly, and Toda tried to meet the ground cross in the center, but the opponent's DF cleared it one step faster. In the 22nd minute, Kelly sent a sharp cross from the right side, but it was cleared by the DF.

　Tokyo, which struggled against Nagoya's well-balanced defense, approached the goal from the right side. Nagoya did not create any chances, but in the 24th minute, Nagoya FW Vastic took a shot from outside the penalty area after a quick restart. The ball hit the bottom right post, momentarily causing a tense moment with his skillful individual play.

　In the 26th minute, Miyazawa aimed for a goal from a free kick, and in the 30th minute, Jean intercepted and Kelly passed the ball forward despite being surrounded by three defenders in front of the goal, but Ishikawa was offside by a slight timing. The game continues in the Nagoya half, but Nagoya seizes the opportunity and launches a sharp counterattack.

　But in the 38th minute, Ishikawa picked up a loose ball that hit the opponent's DF in front of the goal and advanced to the front line. He took a powerful shot as soon as he entered the right penalty area, grazing GK Narasaki's hand and pushing it into the goal! With Ishikawa's eye-opening and powerful shot, Tokyo took the lead.

　After that, in the 40th minute, Nagoya Vastitch's shot from the FK in front of the goal was also powerful, but this was saved by Toi. In the 44th minute, Weslley bewildered the Tokyo defender on the left side and Vastitch jumped in with his body to meet the cross raised parallel to the goal, but the shot hit the crossbar directly. Tokyo did not concede a goal and turned to the second half.

Ishikawa Cracker Gives TOKYO The Lead 

Straight from the kick off Ishikawa found space and curled in a cross to Amaral who headed narrowly wide. TOKYO began in aggressive and confident manner, controlling possession and probing for an opening; Ishikawa sped to the byline in the 7th minute but Narazaki in the Grampus goal held his cross. A long ball from his throw out saw Golden Boot leader Ueslei streak into space and lash a shot goalward. TOKYO keeper Doi saved well.
Shortly after some neat interplay between Kelly and Amaral let in Toda whose shot under pressure trickled agonisingly wide. A long ball from Kaji then found Ishikawa sneaking behind the defence but he blazed his shot over the bar. TOKYO strung together some fluent moves with Kelly much involved but the Grampus defence dealt with the final ball on every occasion. The visitors nearly took the lead in the 24th minute as a quickly taken free kick found Vastic in an unpromising position outside the area. He let fly though and Doi could only watch as the ball cannoned back off a post.
The game settled into a pattern of TOKYO taking the initiative whilst the visitors bided their time and looked to counter attack. Half time was beckoning when a great piece of opportunism gave TOKYO the lead. Ishikawa chased down a deflected attempt on the right, burst into the area and although pushed wide by a defender unleashed a ferocious drive that Narazaki, clearly surprised by the pace and power of the shot, could only help inside the post.
Grampus, stunned by the goal, burst into life and Doi made a flying save from a Vastic free kick two minutes later. The TOKYO keeper was helpless in injury time though as Ueslei produced some sleight of foot on the right to shake off a defender and curl a long cross to the far post where Vastic met the ball at shoulder height with an acrobatic jumping volley. The ball careened off the bar and somehow TOKYO had held on to the lead.

Conceding a goal at the start of the second half, leaving behind a challenge

　Tokyo, which has been conceding goals in the second half recently and leaving behind the challenge of a comeback defeat. At halftime, Coach Hara said, "Let's concentrate again in the second half!" and it was expected that sufficient attention would be paid today. In the 48th minute, Ishikawa intercepted the ball in the midfield and Toda connected it, and Miyazawa, who ran in from behind, took a shot. Unfortunately, it hit the goalkeeper's face, but it showed a good attacking form.

　However, it was right after that. Nagoya Grampus' MF Takizawa passed the ball from the GK to the left side front line. Nakamura, who received the ball, dribbled into the center, then cut outside after entering the penalty area, evading the marking of Shimodaira and taking a shot. Although Doi touched it, the momentum was strong and it was sucked into the goal, equalizing the score.

　Tokyo conceded a goal again early in the second half. However, they did not collapse here. In the 49th and 53rd minutes, Miyazawa picked up a cleared ball and took a daring shot. In the 58th minute, Amaral headed Kaji's cross, but it went just wide of the goal.

　However, Nagoya's 3-back check was strict, and the game gradually became a stalemate. In the 69th minute, Amaral tried to connect with a cross from Kaji in the center, but was surrounded by the defenders and cleared. Miyazawa picked up the ball and attempted a shot from the middle three times, but it went to the left. In the 71st minute, Ishikawa's shot from a dribble went well wide of the goal. In the 76th minute, Kelly also dribbled up and took a shot, but it was saved by the goalkeeper in front.

　Tokyo, who was abandoned by their scoring ability, couldn't manage to score a second goal. In the 76th minute, Fukuda was substituted for Toda. They hoped that this substitution would be a chance to break the monotonous rhythm.

The Old Story 

TOKYO were desperate to avoid a repetition of recent games where a lack of concentration had seen them concede early second half goals on the way to disappointing losses. Manager Hara exhorted the players to maintain their focus and indeed they began the second period brightly with Ishikawa intercepting a loose ball in midfield and finding Toda. Toda found Miyazawa in turn but his shot was straight at Narazaki. Still, it was a promising start.
Disaster struck, however, just two minutes later. Grampus midfielder Takizawa controlled a goal kick and rolled a pass into space on the left where Nakamura raced onto the ball, faked inside Shimotaira and fired in a shot. Doi got a hand to the ball but was unable to prevent it crossing the line for the equaliser.
TOKYO didn't crumple and Miyazawa went close with good efforts in the 49th. and 53rd. minutes, while Amaral powered a trademark header fractionally wide five minutes later. Grampus stiffened their back line and the game became something of a stalemate with TOKYO reduced to shooting from distance.
Fukuda replaced Toda after 78 minutes in an attempt to inject some fresh spark into the attack.

Sinking in the difference in finishing power in the nightmare stoppage time

　Kelly placed on the left side, Fukuda and Amaral as the top two, aiming for a goal, but the game was a fierce exchange of interceptions, with intense changes between offense and defense. In the 78th minute, Nagoya took a shot from a free kick from the left in front of the goal, and Vastic saved it and escaped to a corner. In the 85th minute, Amaral jumped in on Kaji's cross, and in the 89th minute, Fukuda took a middle shot. However, both shots were above the goal. After that, Tokyo continued to threaten Nagoya's goal, but struggled to attack and couldn't create any decisive scenes, and it seemed that the game would go into extra time.

　But it was after entering injury time. Wesley, who received a clear ball from Tokyo in the midfield, passed it directly to Vastic on the right side. Vastic dribbled up and passed it back to Wesley, who had temporarily drifted to the left side. Wesley then sent a cross in front of the goal. It was a soft and gentle ball, but this cross was pinpoint. Vastic jumped and headed it perfectly, scoring the go-ahead goal while competing with the defender. With the combination play of Nagoya's two forwards, Tokyo's goal was opened.

　After that, Tokyo, who never gave up the remaining time, also showed a fierce attack, but it was already too late and the time was up. In the final match, they suffered a frustrating comeback loss. They finished the 1st stage in 10th place with 17 points.

　The former coach looked back on the first stage and talked about the attacking soccer they aim for, saying, "There were times when we were able to play a game aggressively, aggressively going after the ball without adjusting to the opponent's feelings and using the field widely. However, after the restart of the first stage, there were times when we couldn't go to apply pressure in the heat, and the opponent also pulled back, so we couldn't make use of our speed. As we were done today, there are remaining issues with countering after attacking. The direction is not wrong, but we need to increase the precision of each and every aspect and make it stronger." He promised to approach the second stage with a new mindset.

[Summary of the press conference by Coach Hara] "In the previous match against Kobe, we had an unpleasant loss and our confidence was a bit shaken, so we tried to be more proactive. We knew that Nagoya had excellent players like Weslley and Vastic who could create scoring opportunities, so we didn't hesitate and tried to spread the ball using our fullbacks. We talked about taking shots with determination. In the first half, especially on the right side, Kaji, Ishikawa, and Kelly were able to create good opportunities, and we actually scored a nice goal from there."

　But in the last few games, even though we were paying enough attention, we ended up conceding goals in the second half. Today, I think Tokyo had more chances, but in the end, they were able to score in that way. It was just a small difference, but I still think there are areas where we are lacking.

　The ball can be kept quite well, but we need to improve our accuracy. We want to regain this frustrating feeling together with the players as we head into the 2nd stage.

[Nagoya Verdenik Coach Press Conference Summary] "I would like to dedicate today's victory to the nutritionist who has been in charge of our meals for the past six years. There are very few teams in the J-League that have dedicated nutritionists, and no club is as conscious about meals as Nagoya. I believe today's victory was also due to the energy that remained in our bodies to defeat the opponent until the very end."

　The game became a different game in the first half and the second half, but I think that in the last two games, even if the performance was not good, we were able to win, which means that our strength has improved. In the first half, the opposing team was very aggressive and played in front of our goal. At halftime, we motivated ourselves even more and tried to turn the game around. To do that, we talked about increasing our physical effort by about 30% and improving our concentration. We said that if possible, we should aim for counterattacks, and if not, we should keep possession and attack. There are times when individual strength decides the game, and today, it was Weslley again who made the difference. I think Vastic's individual strength was evident.

　The result of finishing 3rd in the 1st stage is proof that our concept was correct and that we have trained diligently. It also proves that we have good foreign players. This will be a great encouragement for the 2nd stage, and we want to strive for even higher goals.

Nightmare In Injury Time 

Kelly moved to the left and Fukuda lined up alongside Amaral as TOKYO went in search of a winner. Some loose midfield play by both teams saw the game open up and frantic end-to-end action ensued. Doi saved another Vastic freekick in the 78th. minute, Amaral got his head to a Kaji cross in the 85th. and Fukuda fired over soon after. TOKYO seemed predestined not to score and extra time seemed a certainty when, against the run of play again, the nightmare recurred.
A TOKYO attack broke down and the ball was cleared to Ueslei. He found Vastic on the right and set off upfield, received the ball back and floated a delicate, hanging cross into the area for Vastic to head firmly past Doi.
TOKYO had been undone by superb combination play from the Grampus strike force.
In the time remaining TOKYO threw themselves forward but to no avail and the game ended in defeat. The first stage finished with TOKYO in 10th. position on 17 points.

Manager Hara:
" I felt that during the early part of the season we were able to achieve our intended style of play: force opponents to adapt to our style, use the whole pitch and win the ball aggressively. However, after the restart, in the summer heat we failed to pressure opponents, impose ourselves and use our speed. Today was a perfect example of that, the way we are vulnerable to counter attacks. We are going in the right direction but need to be stronger in all areas.
Following the way we lost to Kobe last week we knew we had to be more aggressive today. Ueslei and Vastic are great players and we were prepared for them; we felt that if we could bring our sidebacks into play we had a chance. In the first half we did with Kaji, Ishikawa and Kelly combining well. Our goal was a result of that work. But again we gave away a goal early in the second half and although we created more chances came up short once more. We are better able to maintain possession than before but need to raise our game in all areas. Hopefully this bitter experience will spur us on in the second stage ".

Grampus manager Verdenik:
"I want to dedicate today's victory to our nutritionist. No J-League team takes more care of the players' diet than Nagoya and that was the main reason the team had enough energy left to find a winning goal in injury time. The game today was a classic match of two halves. TOKYO were very aggressive in the first half and forced us to play in our own penalty area; in the second half we increased our running by 30% and aimed to hit them on the counter. The game was finally decided by individual skill, that of Ueslei and Vastic. Our third place finish proves we have the right approach and we're looking to improve even further in the second stage."