Restarting the Nabisco Cup with a fresh mindset

　The league match is temporarily suspended, and the Nabisco Cup will resume after about 2 months. FC Tokyo, which belongs to Group C in the qualifiers, has already played 2 matches and is in 3rd place with 1 draw and 1 loss. They are tied with Oita in 4th place in terms of points. Despite the absence of Doi and Kaji due to the national team match, as the defending champions from last season, they cannot afford to be easily eliminated in the qualifiers. Kashiwa, who is in 1st place with 6 points, is currently leading Group C, but a comeback is still possible. They will strive to create a favorable momentum and stake their claim in the upcoming 4 matches. Above all, Chiba was the opponent who tasted bitter defeat in last week's league match. Today, they want to seek revenge with the support of their home crowd.

　Lucas, who re-injured himself, is absent, but Fujita, Miura, and Kanazawa have returned. The starting lineup consists of GK Shioda, DF Fujita, Jean, Mobara, and Kanazawa from the right side of the defensive line. Konno returns to the defensive midfield and forms a partnership with Kurisawa, with Ishikawa on the right MF and Kobayashi on the left MF. The formation consists of Danilo and Yusuke Kondo as the two forwards. Manager Hara said, "In last week's league match, we conceded the first goal and immediately conceded the second goal in a counterattack due to rushing to equalize. We are too anxious in our attacks. When we can't make a quick attack, we want to keep the ball and break down the opponent by using the width of the field." He expects a strong presence from Danilo, who is strong in aerial duels and attacking, and Kobayashi, who has good ball retention, in the starting lineup.

　Chiba, on the other hand, is currently in 2nd place in Group with 3 points. Today, FW Haas and DF Saito are absent, and FW Hayashi starts, and MF Pospek makes his first appearance this season. In the lineup, there are 3 DFs, but in reality, DF Stoyanov and Abe form the center-back, with Mizumoto on the right and MF Sakamoto on the left, forming a 4-back formation. The match started at 15:03 at the Ajinomoto Stadium in early summer weather, with Chiba kicking off.

Despite conceding the first goal, a patient first half

　After analyzing last week's league match, we chose to play the first half with a compact formation, pulling back the defensive line and not aggressively chasing the ball. It was a cautious start. In the 7th minute, Danilo cut into the area from the right and Ishikawa received the return pass in the center. Kurisawa followed up with a shot from the back, showing good coordination, but the shot hit the crossbar. In the 17th minute, Kanazawa picked up the loose ball from Fujita's cross and connected with Imano in the center, who then passed to Kobayashi on the left. Kanazawa made a forward run and crossed from the left, but Danilo in the front line was offside.

　Tokyo had many chances, but they allowed Chiba to dominate the ball and did not create any decisive chances. However, in the 20th minute, Chiba tried to attack from a pass from the defensive line, and MF Popescu received the ball near the center circle and made a through pass to the front line. FW Hayashi cleared the ball, and Popescu, who had advanced, received the return pass and entered the penalty area to take a shot. Taking advantage of Tokyo's lax marking, they allowed the first goal of Popescu, who was making his debut.

　After that, Chiba completely dominated the game. They took the lead and didn't take any risks, patiently passing the ball around the defense line to create opportunities. On the other hand, Tokyo couldn't even get the ball back. Coach Hara also said after the game, "I feel like it was a disappointing performance," but if you think calmly, they didn't concede a second goal and the game unfolded as planned. The strategy was to let Chiba attack in the first half, and in the second half, take a gamble with Toda and Miura's substitutions and aim for a comeback.

Despite launching a fierce attack and creating numerous chances...

　As planned, the rhythm changed dramatically with Toda's entry in the second half. Tokyo aggressively attacked by chasing from the front and aggressively attacking after stealing the ball. In the 46th minute, Kondo Yu boldly made a move from the left side and took a shot. The rebound went to Ishikawa, who was free in the right area, and he trapped the ball and took a volley shot, but unfortunately it hit the crossbar.

　In the 49th minute, Chiba MF Popescu bypassed the offside line and picked up the ball near the end line, crossing it to the left. FW Maki from the far side → MF Sato in the center headed the shot, but it went over the bar. In the 53rd minute, Sato jumped out to the area and took a shot, but it narrowly missed to the right. The game was in motion, and Chiba also created chances, but they did not allow any additional goals.

　In the 55th minute, there was a decisive scene in Tokyo. Kanazawa made a big side change that perfectly reached Ishikawa on the right. Ishikawa initiated the attack, and Kurizawa picked up the loose ball in the center and crossed it with a floating ball. Toda headed the ball, but it narrowly went over the bar. Immediately after that, Miura was substituted for Kobayashi and placed in the defensive midfield position, with Kurizawa moving to the left. With Miura's entry, Imakano also showed a bold attacking move and threatened Chiba's goal.

　In the 65th minute, Ishikawa passes the ball to Fujita on the right space. Fujita catches up near the end line and sends a short cross to the right area. Just as the goalkeeper comes out, Toda connects and Kondo Yusuke takes a shot, but it hits the crossbar. Once again, they are unable to capitalize on a big chance.

　In the 70th minute, Toda → Fujita, who went up the right side, took a shot. There was momentum, but it went over the goal. In the 76th minute, Kanazawa & Imano teamed up to steal the ball, and Imano dashed into the left area. Kondo Yusuke received the last pass, but couldn't take a shot. Tokyo picked up the loose ball completely and connected it to the attack. However, they couldn't bring it to a finish. In the 81st minute, tired Kondo Yusuke was replaced by Baba as a forward. In the 84th minute, Ishikawa, who had drifted to the left, won a corner kick, and Baba kicked it, but the goalkeeper caught it. In the 87th minute, a corner kick from the right. Imano hit a header shot in response to Ishikawa's kick, but it bounced over the goal. They continued to launch a fierce attack with a sprint, but once again, a goal was far away. Clearly taking control of the pace and launching a counterattack, but the issue of lack of finishing power could not be resolved, and they ended up losing with no goals scored.

　【Player Comments】《Toda》"Because we endured so much in the first half, in the second half, we tried to chase from the front and close the spaces to attack. It's not about me not playing, the game is a 90-minute battle. I wanted to give my all even for the minutes Danilo played. We conceded the first goal, but I thought if we could turn it around, it would be good. We lost, but the intention to go with this game plan is a shared understanding. In the second half, if we had scored, it would have been exactly as planned..."《Miura》"Right now, what the team needs is to produce results. It's frustrating that we couldn't do that. It's my role to change the flow. It's meaningless if I can't contribute when it's tough, using that role. I feel responsible. But there's no doubt that the goal is getting closer. We had chances to score two goals. There's no point in looking down, so we have no choice but to keep fighting."《Kanazawa》"In the first half, the problem was conceding a goal as a result. If we hadn't conceded that goal, it would have gone according to plan. While continuing the second half's soccer, we want to score and win. For that, there are times when we don't have enough players during a fast attack. We want to fully grasp our rhythm during a slow attack. We want to solve those challenges."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "We lost to JEF in the league match a week ago, but they were able to throw the ball into our defense early and pick up loose balls. So today, we tried to let the opponent pass the ball without panicking and aim for the goal from the halfway line. We put Danilo in the forward position and expected his ball control skills, but our defensive approach was not clear, and we didn't know where to intercept as a team... so the first half turned out like that. I understood that the players were frustrated and there was a sense of frustration, but if we forcefully tried to intercept from the front and the backline was pulled back, it would be the most favorable situation for JEF to play. We wanted to avoid the team becoming fragmented by changing our playing style. In the second half, we had Toda and Kondo Yuh from the front, and we tried to change the rhythm and use the sides. JEF probably didn't want to push too hard since they were leading, but in the second half, Isono and Ishikawa made runs, and Fujita crossed the ball... creating good opportunities. The challenge was that we couldn't score. The first half was disappointing, but we can't have organized defense if we don't control where the ball comes from. We didn't change our approach drastically, it just changed when Toda went all out to win the ball. Our foundation is still in this aspect. We want to pursue scoring goals with the players in the same way as the second half."

　[Summary of Chiba Osim's press conference] "It was completely different halves. I think today's game was a good opportunity for both the coach and the audience because it gave a chance to players who don't usually play in matches to see what they can do. It's unfortunate, but today's game turned out to be like that. What we were trying to do was working well until the players' stamina lasted. However, Tokyo, who is technically inferior to us and targeted players who couldn't keep up their stamina, came to take the ball. That was the content of the second half. We were put under pressure in that situation. Rather than being broken down, we gave the opponent a chance with our own mistakes, and they could have scored. In the end, we won, but it's really difficult to beat the same team twice in a week. One achievement is that we played without a libero for the first time today, and Abe and Stoyanov played really well. I can't say anything about the midfield because there were problems on the sides."