A match that tests overall strength. Overcoming adversity with the performance of fresh players.

　In the previous match, we suffered our first loss in the league against Nagoya, and on top of that, Mobata and Fujiyama got injured. In addition to Kaji, who was injured in the Iwata match, three defenders are now out of action, creating an emergency situation. However, Mashima is starting as center back and Maeda as right fullback for the first time this season. Also, with the change in the backline and Miyazawa also feeling fatigued, Asari is being used as a defensive midfielder. Coach Hara said, "We need a player with experience and a strong voice in front of the backline when we need to pick up the pieces in the midfield. I hope they can hold their ground and provide a cushion in the midfield with a combination with Konno." He expects the fresh and energetic players to perform well. The team wants to overcome the final stretch of the three consecutive matches played in the past week together as one unit.

　Urawa, on the other hand, is currently in 17th place with 3 draws and 2 losses in the league. They have been unable to secure a win, but coach Hara said before the match, "We have individual strength. It will be a battle to prevent them from utilizing that strength as much as possible." DF Tatsuki Iwao is injured and DF Alpay is not playing, but they have adopted a 4-4-2 formation with MF Yamada in the defensive line to match Tokyo. The match started at 15:35 at the Ajinomoto Stadium under cloudy weather.

In At The Deep End

F.C.TOKYO found themselves in a state of defensive emergency following the loss to Grampus Eight as Moniwa and Fujiyama both picked up injuries during the match. Coupled with the injury Kaji sustained against Jubilo it meant that TOKYO would be forced to field an unfamiliar back line with Masushima at centre back and Maeda at right side back. Further up field Asari replaced the rested Miyazawa as defensive midfielder. TOKYO manager Hara commented, "We need an experienced player in front of the defence line to boss the midfield. I want him to do his best as a midfield cushion in tandem with Konno". Expectations ran high as TOKYO prepared for their third game in six days.
Urawa Reds lay 17th. in the league, winless in five games. "The Reds have great individual ability", commented Hiromi Hara, " We have to stop them from expressing that". Regular defenders Tulio and Alpay were absent and midfielder Yamada dropped back into defence as the Reds lined up in a 4-4-2 formation. The visitors kicked off on a hazy spring afternoon in West Tokyo.

In a tightly contested match, opportunities are created but...

　From the beginning, both teams launched fast attacks after solid defense, resulting in a tight match. It was difficult to create opportunities on the sides against Urawa's 4-4-2 formation, but in the 4th minute, Lucas cut inside from the left area and took a shot. In the 12th minute, Ishikawa sent a lofted pass to the front line from a set piece, and Imakano, who had slipped behind the opponent's defense, controlled the ball with his chest and took a shot. Although the ball hit the left post and was momentarily blocked by Urawa's defense, Ishikawa picked up the loose ball and took a shot, narrowly missing the goal, missing a golden opportunity.

　In the 24th minute, Lucas on the left passed to Toda in the middle, who then passed to Maeda on the right side. They combined to bring the ball into the box, but the Urawa defenders intercepted it. Amidst the back-and-forth interceptions, Toda had opportunities in the 38th and 43rd minutes to break through in front of the goal, but he couldn't finish due to offside and tight marking by the opposing defenders.

　The ball fell in front of Urawa FW Emerson, who had entered the area early in the game, but Muroshima calmly dealt with it. In the 18th minute, Emerson attempted to dribble into the area, but Jean stopped him with a foul just before the area and gave a free kick. However, the free kick was blocked by the Tokyo DF wall. In the 38th minute, Nagai attacked from a right throw-in and took a shot from the right corner of the area, but Doi made a solid catch. Muroshima, Asari, and Maeda, who made their first starts of the season, showed play that was no different from the team's previous performances in individual situations and combination plays. In the first half, both teams showed strong defense, competing evenly with intense pressure and filling the spaces. The score remained 0-0 as they entered the second half.

Tight Game Yields Chances But... 

The game began at a tense and frantic pace as both sides sought an early advantage. TOKYO struggled to make headway down the flanks in the face of the Reds four man backline and it took Lucas until the fourth minute to register the first shot. In the 12th minute, Ishikawa floated a pass over the Reds defense, Konno trapped the ball neatly on his chest and volleyed goalwards. The shot beat Tsuzuki in the Reds goal but came back off the post and struck a defender but somehow failed to cross the line. Following up, Ishikawa smashed the ball over the bar.
An excellent chance went begging.
A fine passing move broke down in the 24th minute and Toda was caught offside twice as TOKYO attempted to squeeze a chance from the miserly Reds defense.
At the other end, Masushima coolly coped with Emerson as the Reds dangerman latched onto a loose ball just outside the area. Jean fouled Emerson just outside the TOKYO penalty area in the 18th minute but the free kick hit the wall. In the 38th minute, Reds forward Nagai collected the ball from a throw in, cut inside the area on the right and shot but Doi held the strike cleanly. Masushima, Asari and Maeda were making their first starts of the season but all three were playing well and had integrated comfortably into the team. Defense dominated the first half and the teams left the field with the game finely balanced at 0-0.

守備の隙を突かれ2失点。浦和の今季リーグ初勝利を許す

　At halftime, Manager Hara instructed, "Let's create opportunities from the sides and launch attacks. Set plays are chances." In the second half, they tried to aim for a goal with renewed determination. Following those instructions, they earned a free kick from the left side of Urawa's territory at the start of the 0th minute. Ishikawa's kick was received by Lucas, who was in front of Muroshima in the far area. However, the shot was blocked by Urawa's defenders. In the 47th minute, Lucas evaded the opposing defender after an interception and took a sharp shot, but narrowly missed the goal.

　However, in the 48th minute, the Tokyo defense, which had been fighting well up to this point, was caught off guard for a moment. A pass was connected from the Urawa DF line, and FW Nagai sent a high vertical pass to the right side. MF Hasebe caught up with the ball that rolled to the end line and made a negative cross in front of the goal. FW Emerson came from the left and perfectly connected the ball to score a goal. The Tokyo DF stopped their feet when they saw the ball and lost their mark on Emerson, allowing the opening goal.

　FC Tokyo, which launched a counterattack, substituted Kajiyama for Asari in the 63rd minute and substituted Norio Suzuki for Ishikawa, who was unable to create a good starting point on the side in the 71st minute. In the 72nd minute, they obtained a free kick about 30 meters to the left of the goal, slightly in front, and immediately after the substitution, Norio Suzuki took a powerful kick, but it went over the goal. In the 73rd minute, Jean dropped Masushima's free kick, and Kurizawa shot the loose ball, but the defense cut it off again. However, to counter the counterattack, in the 74th minute, Urawa's left corner kick was headed by defender Horinochi, and they conceded the second goal.

　In the 77th minute, Kondo was replaced by Kondo Yu, and they switched to a two-top formation to go for a goal. However, in the 82nd minute, Masushima perfectly timed his header from Suzuki Nori's kick from the left corner kick that Kurizawa earned, but unfortunately it hit the goalkeeper's face. In the 89th minute, Kajiyama dribbled past the defenders in the center and took a shot. Maeda picked up the rebound and Kajiyama jumped into the air for a right cross, but the ball went over the goal. Then, Lucas took a shot at the Urawa goal where goalkeeper Tsuzuki had come out, but it was blocked by the Urawa defenders and did not go in. They played with great determination and launched a fierce attack, but it did not bear fruit. In the end, they lost due to the difference in finishing ability, with 17 shots in total in the first and second halves, compared to Urawa's 13 shots on goal. It was a disappointing result.

[Player Comments] "Asari": "(Regarding the combination with Konno) Kon-chan thoroughly fulfilled the role of breaking up the play in the front, which was good, but there were many scenes where the ball was delivered to Urawa's forwards, so I should have kept a closer distance with the players behind me and connected the ball that the defenders stopped..." "Maeda": "Once we concede a goal, all the organization we had defensively goes to waste. Even though we were tired, I think we should have increased our concentration and communicated more. In the attack, we tried to keep Nao-san in a high position as much as possible, but the passes after winning the ball were off. There were also several instances where we could have crossed the ball, but it was half-hearted." "Mashima": "It's disappointing to lose. Emerson was fast, but we managed to keep a clean sheet in the first half and were cautious in the second half. However, at the moment of conceding the goal, my feet stopped. (In the shooting scene from the late set piece) I think I could have aimed for a better target. If we can't demonstrate our finishing ability in those situations..."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "In the Nagoya match, Shigeyuki Morinaga and Fujiyama got injured, so we played with Tatsuya Masushima and Maeda. Miyazawa was fatigued, and the defensive line changed, so we decided to use Asari, who has experience. We told the players to prevent Urawa from utilizing their individual strengths. In the first half, we instructed them to initiate attacks from the sides because we were losing the ball when attacking from the center. However, despite creating good opportunities, players like Toda couldn't score. The early goal in the second half was a result of players breaking the defensive line. It gave Urawa momentum. So we brought in Kajiyama to move the ball. Towards the end, he showed his true abilities, but we wanted to create more chances through Kajiyama's playmaking. It's not like we didn't have any chances, but we conceded the second goal from a corner kick. From that point on, we had to take risks and go for goals, so we brought in Norio Suzuki and Yusuke Kondo. In those moments, Masushima had a header, Kajiyama had a chance from Maeda's cross, and even Lucas, but we couldn't convert in decisive situations, resulting in zero points. We faced a similar situation in the Nagoya match, and that is our current challenge. Regarding defense, I think Masushima and the others did well. We can't continue like this. We need to prepare well for the next match."

　[Summary of Urawa Buchwald's press conference] "Today's match was very important. We didn't lose in the previous two matches against Tokyo, but we didn't win either. It was a difficult match against Tokyo, who had a good start to the season and we had to play well. Today, we approached the match with a 4-4-2 formation, considering Tokyo's system. It didn't go well in the first half once or twice, but after that, we functioned well not only in defense but also in attack, and ended the first half with a 0-0 score. In the second half, we were able to play our attacking football. At halftime, I instructed the players to not only press forward but also maintain a good balance. Another point was that although the condition of the turf at Ajinomoto Stadium was good, the ball tended to stop, so I told them to kick the ball strongly in the vertical direction. In that context, there was a great combination of Nagai, Hasebe, and Emerson, and Emerson scored his first goal of the season. After Tokyo conceded a goal, they put a lot of pressure on us to counterattack. However, as a result, we had space for counterattacks. I think our defense had good positioning against Tokyo's fierce attacks. Of course, there were one or two dangerous situations, but that's unavoidable. We also had opportunities for counterattacks, and we could have scored more goals... Today, we scored two goals and achieved our first victory in the league, so I'm satisfied."

Reds Exploit Defensive Chinks 

At half time manager Hara urged his team to increase their efforts along the flanks and make full use of set plays. In the first minute of the second period TOKYO won a free kick which Ishikawa lofted into the box. Lucas headed the ball down into the path of Masushima but an alert defender whipped the ball off his boot and away. In the 47th minute Lucas harried a defender into losing the ball, raced to the edge of the area and shot fiercely but the wrong side of the post.
A moment's loss of concentration cost TOKYO dearly in the 48th minute. Reds striker Nagai lofted a ball over the TOKYO defence and midfielder Hasebe chased a seeming lost cause to the byline, then cut a low cross back into the penalty area for the onrushing Emerson to clip the ball neatly past Doi for the opening goal. The TOKYO defence went to sleep, watching the ball and failing to pick up Emerson's run.
Needing to fight back TOKYO replaced Asari with Kajiyama in the 63rd minute and the ineffective Ishikawa with Norio Suzuki in the 71st minute. Suzuki marked his introduction by hammering a trademark 30 yard free kick just over the bar. In the 73rd minute Jean headed a Masushima free kick down and Kurisawa fired in a snap shot that a Reds defender blocked in front of goal. Disaster struck in the 74th minute as Horinouchi outjumped the home defence and headed the Reds' second goal from a corner.
Yusuke Kondo replaced Toda in the 77th minute as TOKYO went in search of a vital goal. In the 82nd minute Masushima headed Suzuki's pinpoint cross straight at the Reds keeper. In the 89th minute Kajiyama won the ball in midfield and fired in a shot on the run. Tsuzuki blocked the ball away and Maeda picked up the rebound, crossing from the left. Kajiyama was unable to keep the ball down and his effort sailed over the bar. The home side battled on to the bitter end but failed to beat Tsuzuki and the final whistle blew on a 0-2 defeat. TOKYO had outshot the visitors 17-13 over the 90 minutes but the difference in quality of finishing cost them the game.


Players' comments
Asari:
"Konno played slightly in front of me with the role of breaking up the Reds midfield flow and he did very well. The Reds played a lot of balls into the strikers and if I could have played a little nearer to the back line to pick up the ball after they had stopped attacks it would have been better".

Maeda:
"We defended systematically but after we conceded a goal that counted for nothing. We were tired but kept our concentration and should have been more vocal on the pitch. We were aiming to win the ball and get it up to Ishikawa but the passing and crossing was poor today".

Masushima:
"It's very disappointing to lose. Emerson is very fast but we managed to deal with him in the first half. We froze for a split second and that allowed him to score. We had some chances from set plays towards the end of the game but need to improve our accuracy".


F.C. TOKYO manager Hara:
" Moniwa and Fujiyama were injured in the Nagoya game and Miyazawa was exhausted so we went with Masushima and Maeda and selected Asari for his experience. We couldn't keep the ball when we tried to go through the middle so I instructed the team to use the flanks. We created some good moves but couldn't get the ball in the net. For the first goal the players were waiting for each other to make a move and break the defensive line. The goal sparked the Reds into life. We sent on Kajiyama to move the ball around and had hoped for more chances as the game neared the end. It wasn't that we didn't have any chances but then the second goal made things very difficult. We had no choice but to attack and sent Suzuki and Kondo on. Masushima, Kajiyama and Lucas all had chances but didn't take them and we failed to score. The same thing happened in the Nagoya game and it's our biggest problem right now. The defence played well and kept their shape nicely. We'll prepare thoroughly for the next game".

Reds' manager Buchwald:
" Today's game was very important for us. We had drawn our last two games and knew we had to play a very solid match today as TOKYO had had a good start to the season. We went for a 4-4-2 system considering the way TOKYO play. There were a couple of dicey moments in the first half but we defended well, managed to attack and kept the score to 0-0 at half time. We were able to play our style of attacking football in the second half. I told the team to concentrate on keeping the balance and hit passes hard, as the pitch was in good condition but the ball tended to stick. Nagai, Hasebe and Emerson combined very well together and Emerson scored his first goal of the season. After the goal TOKYO pressed very hard but that actually helped us as it created space for us to counter attack into. Our defensive positioning was very good and that prevented them from scoring. Of course there were some difficult moments but that's only to be expected. I would have liked more goals but we scored twice and have our first win of the season so I'm satisfied".