Who will win the top battle in the final round of the 1st stage?

　The 1st stage, which is the final stage, is approaching. Tokyo, who is currently in 4th place with 6 wins, 5 draws, and 3 losses, with 23 points, will face Urawa Reds at the away Saitama Stadium 2002. On the other hand, Urawa Reds are in 5th place with 22 points. In the intense battle for the top positions, a win would elevate Tokyo to 3rd place, while a loss could drop them to 7th place. However, Tokyo achieved a dramatic victory in the previous stage. On the other hand, Urawa suffered a comeback defeat against Gamba Osaka, so the momentum should be on Tokyo's side. Moreover, since the 8th section, Tokyo has been undefeated with 4 wins and 3 draws, so they want to end this final match with a victory to showcase their culmination in this stage.

　Kanazawa, Asari injured, and the key defender, Jaan, suspended due to accumulated warnings. The defense is missing several players, but for the 100th J1 League match, Fujiyama starts as the left full-back and Mashima starts as the center-back for the first time in the league. Additionally, Kaji starts as the right full-back for the first time since the 9th round. On the other hand, Urawa is without their ace, Emerson, who is suspended, and MF Suzuki is absent due to injury. Tokyo is missing their defensive key player, while Urawa is missing their attacking key player, but the match starts at the Saitama Stadium 2002, which is almost full, with a temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius before the match, in the humid heat, with Urawa's kickoff.

Endured a tough situation and created a chance from a set piece, but...

　The first shot was taken by Urawa. In the 1st minute, MF Sasa SALCEDO aimed for the goal from the middle range. Tokyo also had a heading shot from MASHIMA from a right FK in the 3rd minute. In the 4th minute, a cross from SUZUKI, who received MASHIMA's long feed, resulted in a CK. In the 8th minute, SUZUKI took a CK and IMANO jumped in with his head. In the 13th minute, Toda, who received Baba's pass in the center, connected to the left side while falling down, and Baba headed the cross from IMANO who advanced, but it resulted in a CK due to the opponent GK's save. In the 20th minute, SUZUKI kept the ball on the left side, and KAJI overlapped on the outside, but unfortunately it was offside.

　However, Urawa FW Tanaka and Nagai's bold invasion into the area, as well as Mitomo's attacks coming out to the front line, gradually pushed Tokyo back. In the 15th minute, Mitomo dropped Nagai's early cross with his chest in the area, and FW Tanaka took a shot. In the 25th minute, Tanaka went around from the right side to the center and sent a last pass to the left side, and Mitomo took a shot. Doi escaped with a punch. Among them, Tokyo created chances from set plays. In the 22nd minute, Suzuki aimed directly at the goal from the right side, 27-8m free kick. In the 24th minute, two consecutive corner kicks. Imakano headed the ball in front, but it went over the bar.

　At 30 minutes, MF HASEBE received a pass from DF YAMADA and advanced forward, shooting freely from near the penalty arc. At 33 minutes, consecutive right crosses were made, but MASUSHIMA, KAJI, and FUJIYAMA cleared them in the center. At 34 minutes, MOBATA escaped a dribble breakthrough by TANAKA into the area and resulted in a corner kick. Although they were pushed back for a long time until this point, at 40 minutes, LUCAS was fouled on the right side and SUZUKI took a powerful shot that skimmed the ground from the resulting free kick. Immediately after, there were two corner kicks. At 43 minutes, BABA sent the ball into the goal area from a right free kick, but none of them were able to score.

Allowing an own goal, the beginning of the counterattack is disrupted

　Tokyo showed great defensive effort and withstood Urawa's attacks well. However, in the 44th minute, Urawa's Tanaka exchanged passes with Mitsushima and took a decisive shot from inside the area. Doi made the save, but Urawa continued to press. In the 45th minute, Tokyo's defender Tochio headed the ball from a right corner kick. Miura blocked it in the bottom left corner of the goal, seemingly avoiding a dangerous situation. However, Tokyo quickly lost possession and from a right throw-in, midfielder Yamase crossed the ball. Mochizuki attempted to clear the ball with a header, but ended up scoring an own goal. Tokyo conceded the opening goal just before the end of the first half.

　In the second half, Tokyo boldly attacked the goal in an attempt to make a comeback. They created another chance from a set piece. In the 46th minute, Baba and Lucas combined to win a corner kick. In the 47th minute, Baba took a free kick. In the 48th minute, Suzuki evaded the opposing defender and made a powerful shot towards the center. However, it was saved by the goalkeeper. On the other hand, it was Urawa who created the first decisive scene in the second half. In the 53rd minute, midfielder Yamase dribbled through the gap between Shigetaka and Kaji and entered the right area. He took a shot while being unmarked, but it hit the post. Tanaka then shot the rebound, but it went over the crossbar.

　Tokyo, who continued to persistently try to steal the ball and turn it into a counterattack, was intercepted by Urawa's Hasebe from a pass by Imakano in the 60th minute. Hasebe dribbled towards the goal, attracting Tokyo's defenders, and passed to Mitsushima who had advanced on the left side of the area. Mitsushima sent a ground pass in front of the goal. Although Mazushima cleared the ball by blocking the path, it fell again at Mitsushima's feet. He scored it perfectly, resulting in a goal. Tokyo's counterattack was broken at the beginning, and they fell behind by two points.

Imano strikes back, but finishes this stage in 6th place

　Tokyo, who had substituted Baba for "running into space and creating chances," brought in Abe in the 54th minute. In the 63rd minute, Kajiyama was substituted for Toda, and in the 66th minute, Miyaura was substituted for Miura. They played their last card and aimed for victory with an all-out effort. Then, in the 70th minute, Urawa's Tanaka received his second warning of the day and was sent off. Tokyo, with one more player, approached Urawa's goal with Lucas and Abe in the front line, Suzuki on the left side, and Kaji in the right midfield.

　In the 75th minute, Urawa DF Tsuboi cleared Miyazawa's sharp side change pass. Suzuki picked up the loose ball and crossed it, but it went over the line. In the 79th minute, Miyazawa picked up Abe's cleared cross and took a shot from just outside the right area, but it missed the target. Creating a chance from a wide development, in the 80th minute, Suzuki received Miyazawa's side change pass from right to left and was fouled in the left area, earning a free kick. Then, Inomoto calmly kicked Miyazawa's kick into the goal from the center of the goal! They closed the gap to one point!

　However, it was just after the goal. Immediately, Shigeki took the ball to restart and collided with Urawa players. Shigeki, who was judged to have committed a violent act, was sent off with a red card. He himself became an accident that disrupted the start of the counterattack again. With a total of 10 yellow cards and 2 players sent off, the 10 vs 10 battle became a rough development. In the midst of the ball going back and forth in front of both goals, Urawa's fast attack was cut off by Doi and Fujiyama and turned into an attack. However, despite repeatedly threatening the Urawa goal from a right throw-in in injury time, the goal was not scored in the end, and the game ended 1-2. With this defeat, they dropped in the rankings and finished this stage in 6th place.

【Player Comments】《Miura》"We allowed the first goal and let Urawa control the game well. The second goal was a result of my intercepted pass. The way we conceded the goal was bad. It was important for us to regain control and score, but it's difficult when we are constantly in a disadvantageous position. However, it's crucial to switch gears here and stay positive for the next match."《Mashima》"Losing is just frustrating. We couldn't control the game well as a team. There were chances for us to make good passes, but we could have timed them better. I wasn't worried about the opponent's dribbles as I could predict them to some extent, but our defense when they cut inside might have been weak. Not everything went wrong, so we want to learn from what we couldn't do today and use it for the next match."

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "In the hot weather, we were heavily burdened by conceding a goal just before the end of the first half. In the second half, we tried to counterattack by sending Abe into space, but unfortunately, we conceded the second goal in an unlucky manner. Mashihiro had closed off the path in a decisive moment, but the ball ended up in front of Santoshu again. We managed to score a goal and the players showed an attacking attitude, but it became difficult after Moino's expulsion. Despite the absence of Jean and Kanazawa, the final line was unstable, but Mashihiro showed his potential and Kaji and Fujiyama also played well, showing their respective qualities. However, we lacked strength until the end. We want to aim for a more effective way of scoring. If we had won today, we would have been in third place, but even in defeat, the difference was only slight. Even if we finish in third place, unfortunately, there is a gap between us and the first and second places. We need to change that. However, in the first stage, with the absence of Kelly and Ishikawa, Baba, Kajiyama, and Suzuki have shown promise. It is an asset that young players have gained experience despite the many injuries. Moiwa also has strengths and weaknesses, including today's expulsion, but we can appreciate that he has supported the team without any injuries until now. Konno is also getting used to it, and the real competition starts from now on. We want to make the team even stronger so that we can compete for titles in the Levain Cup and the second stage."

[Summary of Urawa Buchwald's press conference] "We were able to enter the game in a good shape, but FC Tokyo also came aggressively and I think they had more chances first. As the game progressed, we gradually gained control and ended the first half with a 1-0 lead. The goal may have seemed lucky, but we had several chances before that, so I think it was a fair result. In the second half, we were able to continue our attacks in a good shape. We also scored the second goal in a good way. Ideally, we should have scored the third and fourth goals as well, as we had chances. In that situation, Tanaka received his second yellow card, but even after being one player short with 10 men, we concentrated and attacked firmly instead of just defending, which was fantastic. We were able to end the stage in a good shape by winning in this way in the final match."