League game restart, aiming for a simple victory!

　The league match, which was suspended after the 12th round on May 14th, will resume with the 13th round, facing Cerezo Osaka at home. After the Nabisco Cup, there was a break of about 3 weeks, but the team held a camp at Fukushima J-VILLAGE from June 17th to 22nd, and then prepared for the restart by arranging two practice matches. The training during the break period focused on building stamina to cope with the busy schedule in July, as well as improving the intensity of one-on-one situations and transitioning between offense and defense.

　During this time, Doi, Shigeta, Kaji, and Masushima, who have been active as members of the Japan national team, as well as Kajiyama, who participated in the World Youth, have gradually joined the team since last weekend. Today, Toda and Yusuke Kondo formed a two-top, with Imano and Miura as a double pivot in a 4-4-2 formation. Fujiyama, Lucas, and Kajiyama, who have recovered from injuries, were on the bench.

　C Osaka, on the other hand, has suffered three consecutive defeats since the start of the league, but has improved afterwards and currently sits in 11th place with 4 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss. In this match, DF Maeda and FW Furuhashi will be absent due to injury, but caution is necessary against their fast counterattacks from a solid defense. It is important to firmly contain the high-scoring FW Nishizawa, the free-moving FW Morishima, and the left-side MF ZE CARLOS, who is said to add accents with his dribbling and spacing characteristic of Brazilian players (Manager Hara).

　Manager Hara said, "C Osaka has been the only team to defeat Kashima this season. Even if we have some control over the ball, they have been effective in counterattacking by passing it to Nishizawa in the front line. If we only partially regain possession, there is a possibility that the game will be played at C Osaka's pace. Therefore, it is important for us to attack simply and finish strong," he talked about the desired battle. The players are also highly motivated, saying, "We want to play a Tokyo-style soccer with momentum. No matter what happens, we will fight until the end without giving up." In order to start anew, the match kicked off at 19:04 at Ajinomoto Stadium, which had a break in the rainy season.

Simple Is Best!

Following a six week break the J.League reopened with the visit of Cerezo Osaka to Ajinomoto Stadium. In the three weeks since the final Nabisco Cup game TOKYO had spent a few days at the J.Village in Fukushima in preparation for the restart. Training had focused on the basics: increasing strength, winning individual match ups and switching from defence to attack.
Doi, Moniwa and Kaji had rejoined the team from National Team duty while Masushima and Kajiyama had returned from the World Youth Championships. TOKYO fielded Toda and Kondo in attack, with Miura and Konno in defensive midfield. Fujiyama, Lucas and Kajiyama were recovered from injury and appeared on the subs' bench.
Cerezo had begun the season with three straight losses but then steadied to post a W4 D4 L1 in the following nine games and lay 11th in the table at kick off. Regulars Maeda and Furuhashi were injured but the Cerezo style of solid defence and rapid counter attacking would demand extreme concentration from TOKYO. In-form striker Nishizawa, wily veteran Morishima and flamboyant dribbler Ze Carlos all posed a major threat.
Before kick off TOKYO manager Hara commented, "Cerezo are the only team to have beaten Kashima Antlers this year and if we allow them to dictate play or if we give the ball away they will feed Nishizawa and hit us on the counter. We have to prevent the game being played at their pace and make sure we finish all our moves with an attempt on goal". The players were highly motivated and pledged to fight to the finish in true TOKYO style.
The downpours of the Rainy Season abated for the day and the match began shortly after 7pm on a warm, clear evening.

Despite attacking from a stable defense, the first half ended with no goals.

　Tokyo launches an offensive. Within a minute of the start, Yusuke Kondo receives a pass from Konno and infiltrates the left area. He crosses the ball with a shooting intention in front of the goal. Toda tries to finish it, but narrowly misses. In the 3rd minute, Kondo, who has shifted to the right, wins a corner kick, but Ishikawa's kick is cleared by the opponent's defender. In the 4th minute, C Osaka creates an opportunity on the left side, and FW Morishima breaks through the center and takes a shot. They win a corner kick, but Tokyo's defenders safely defend it. In the 9th minute, they seize the opportunity from C Osaka's corner kick and launch a quick counterattack. Kurizawa sends a long pass to the right space, and Ishikawa catches up and crosses, but it results in a throw-in. In the 13th minute, Toda jumps out to Kurizawa's through pass, but is blocked by a defender and unable to take a shot. Tokyo is doing well in chasing the ball and dominating, but the game continues with a fast exchange between offense and defense.

　In the 17th minute, C Osaka took a free kick from the right sideline near the goal. MF Zekaros aimed for it, but Doi caught it. In the 19th minute, Ishikawa took a strong ground shot from the slightly right side of the midfield. The opponent's goalkeeper initially spilled it due to the momentum, but Yu Kondo couldn't finish it. In the 21st minute, Tokyo was attacked from the left side, but defended well and stole the ball, launching a counterattack. Kurizawa swung it to the right, and Ishikawa, who received it, took a shot from the right area, but the opponent's goalkeeper made a save. C Osaka had a fast counterattack in the 29th minute. MF Kudo's right cross was cleared by Ishikawa and resulted in a corner kick. In the 30th minute, Tokyo launched a fast attack from the opponent's corner kick. Ishikawa → Kaji combination resulted in a right cross, but the goalkeeper caught it. Tokyo dominated the ball and attacked, but couldn't convert it into a decisive scene.

　In the 33rd minute, Toda dribbled down the left side and sent a ground cross to the center, but it didn't reach Yusuke Kondo. Kurisawa picked up this cleared ball and took a shot from a distant position on the left, but the goalkeeper caught it. In the 40th minute, Kurisawa dribbled up after stealing the opponent's ball in the midfield and was fouled, earning a free kick. Ishikawa aimed for the goal from the left side outside the penalty area, but unfortunately, it curved to the left. In the 44th minute, Yusuke Kondo's powerful shot was deflected by the goalkeeper and resulted in a corner kick. Just before the end of the first half, Morishima had a free header from a left cross by C Osaka Zekaros, but it went over the bar. Tokyo tried to create chances from stable defense, with Ishikawa and Kaji as the starting points from the right and Kurisawa's through passes from the left, but the ball didn't reach the front line enough and there weren't many decisive moments. Both teams remained scoreless as they entered the second half.

First Period Ends Scoreless

TOKYO hit the ground running and nearly had the ball in the net seconds after kickoff. Kondo received the ball from Konno, raced into the Cerezo area and fired a low cross shot that evaded Toda's boot by inches as he slid in at the far post. Kondo won a corner in the 3rd minute before Cerezo showed their counter attacking prowess through Morishima, who also won a corner. The home defense dealt with the danger comfortably. In the 9th minute TOKYO latched onto a loose ball following a Cerezo corner and Kurisawa played a sublime, raking cross field ball to Ishikawa; the visitors' defense scrambled Ishikawa's cross away for a throw in. TOKYO were playing the ball around neatly and maintaining a fine balance between defense and attack.
In the 17th minute Doi held Ze Carlos' well struck free kick. Yoshida, the Cerezo keeper, fumbled Ishikawa's powerfully struck daisy cutter in the 19th minute but recovered to snatch the ball away from the on-rushing Kondo. The TOKYO left repelled a Cerezo attack in the 21st minute then countered with Kurisawa setting up Ishikawa. Yoshida made a fine save to deny Ishikawa the opening goal. Cerezo won a pair of corners in the 30th minute but the TOKYO defense held firm and launched another counter attack from the second one. Ishikawa fed the overlapping Kaji who raced to the byline but Yoshida cut out his cross. TOKYO were dominating possession but failed to create a clear-cut scoring opportunity.
Toda scampered down the left and crossed in the 33rd minute; the ball evaded Kondo but a poor clearance fell to Kurisawa and his firm drive produced another save from Yoshida. Ishikawa hit a free kick wide of the post and Kondo drew a flying save from Yoshida with a thunderous drive from 25 yards as the first half drew to a close. Morishima should have put Cerezo ahead in injury time but headed over when unmarked in front of goal. That was a let off for TOKYO who had otherwise defended stoutly and attacked with purpose throughout the first period.

Despite taking a 2-goal lead with goals from Toda and Lucas...

　In the second half, Tokyo aggressively attacked C Osaka's territory from the beginning. In particular, Ishikawa became the starting point and tried to create chances with crosses. In the 52nd minute, Kondo Yusuke advanced to the left area from a counterattack, evaded the defenders, and entered a shooting position, but the C Osaka defenders intercepted the ball. However, in the 53rd minute, a goal was finally scored. Toda ran near the goal to meet Kaji's early cross and scored a diving header with a low posture! The ball shook the far net and went in. They took the lead with a goal from the planned formation that they had been repeating since the first half.

　Tokyo, which is increasingly aiming for the C Osaka goal, showered with a storm of shots. In the 54th minute, Lucas was substituted for Yusuke Kondo. Immediately after, Ishikawa, who received a pass from Lucas, took a calculated long shot from outside the opponent's area on the right. It hit the crossbar and bounced back. Picking up the rebound and persistently connecting, this time Kaji's shot from outside the area on the right fiercely attacked the opponent's goalkeeper. Lucas neatly followed up on the loose ball and scored the second goal!

　Tokyo, who took a 2-point lead, in the 60th minute Toda flew behind the opponent's defense line with a through pass from Imano, cut inside the opponent's defense and took a shot. Unfortunately, it went to the left. However, C Osaka did not lose heart and continued to launch counterattacks, with intense clashes and a speedy exchange of offense and defense. In the 59th minute, C Osaka substituted MF Kokeguchi, in the 63rd minute MF Tokushige, and in the 70th minute FW Kurobe. In response, Tokyo substituted Asari for Miura in the 72nd minute. However, it happened immediately after that. In the FK situation of C Osaka, they gave a penalty kick for fouling the opponent in front of the goal. In the 75th minute, Zekarlos scored it, narrowing the gap to 1 point.

　From here, scenes allowing C Osaka to attack increased, and in the 82nd minute, FW Nishizawa, who was free in the right area, cut back the Tokyo DF and took a shot. It went over the bar and nothing happened. In the 84th minute, Kajiyama was substituted for Kurisawa. He tried to stop the counterattack by keeping the ball, but instead, there were more scenes where it was taken away and a counterattack was launched, resulting in a foul to stop it. And in injury time, when Ishikawa->Kajiyama's pass was taken away and a quick attack was launched, In response to MF Kokeuchi's central breakthrough using his speed, Imano couldn't help but hold him back with a foul, giving a free kick near the center of the goal about 25m away. MF Ze Carlos scored this, and the game was tied. Towards the end, Tokyo also had a chance for a free kick in front of the goal, but Lucas' kick was blocked by the wall, and time was up. They took a lead by scoring 2 goals from their planned attacks, but lost 2 goals from set pieces and ended up with a disappointing draw.

　【Player Comments】《Kaji》"We were able to play soccer with a good rhythm from the start. We scored two goals in the second half, but I think we didn't use our time well towards the end. I hesitated for a moment whether to cross or dribble for the shot that led to the second goal, but since there was an opening, I decided to take the shot. We were caught up, but I don't think we were broken down, so I think this was a game that will lead us to the future."《Imano》"Other than set pieces, there were no dangerous situations, so it's a shame that we lost a game we should have won. We had to win. We may have become a bit defensive after taking a 2-0 lead. Also, our attacks were mostly one-off, so we want to create more in the midfield."《Miura》"I'm disappointed because we really wanted to get all three points. In the first half, we were focused on not conceding in our usual flow. However, you never know how soccer will turn out. It would have been great to end the game 2-1...but we were pushed back towards the end. However, when you get caught up in this kind of situation, it can create a negative atmosphere, so I think a draw was good. We won't look back, we'll switch gears and move on to the next game."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "I think we were able to play the soccer we aimed for until 2-0. We conceded a penalty from a free kick and also conceded another goal from a free kick, and moreover, the second goal was scored in injury time. We needed to manage the time well there and escape without conceding. However, the team has been doing what we have been doing during this break period... For example, we were able to defend well against opponents like Nishizawa and Morishima who frequently enter and exit. Toda and Yusuke Kondo are types who flow with the game rather than holding the ball. In order to use them, it is necessary to defend well and then make them run into space to create opportunities. The aim is to quickly attack from defense. We wanted to take advantage of their strength of bursting forward rather than their skill. When Lucas returned, he is good at receiving the ball, so at that time, we wanted to insert a wedge and spread the play to the sides from there. As a result, we scored 2 goals from crosses and shots, and that was the shape we were aiming for. The way we conceded goals and how we used the time at the end are issues, but injured players are returning and overall, I think we are heading in a good direction. However, we have to win with this. We have consecutive matches, so we want to switch our mindset to get 3 points in the next match."

　[Summary of Coach Kobayashi's press conference at C Osaka] "It was a tough game as a start after the break. Our bodies felt heavy from the beginning, and the game didn't develop well. (There were also injuries) Changing a few players affected the combination of the group in the attacking phase, which was noticeable. Overall, it was a game dominated by FC Tokyo. However, as a team, we managed to equalize after conceding two goals by the 10th minute of the second half. This is something that hasn't happened before and it will lead to the next step. The players showed a positive attitude to win, and the substitutes worked hard during that time. In that sense, there were positive results."

Toda, Lucas Score But....

TOKYO began the second period firmly encamped in the Cerezo half. Ishikawa buzzed along the right wing looking for centering opportunities but it was Kaji who provided the cross for the opening goal in the 53rd minute. Toda met his center to the near post with a perfect diving header that flew past Yoshida to give the home side a well-deserved lead. TOKYO attempted the move several times during the first half and it finally bore fruit.
The Cerezo defense was wobbling under the sustained onslaught and TOKYO sent on Lucas in the 53rd minute. It proved a timely substitution. Lucas picked out Ishikawa and the winger let fly from 30 yards; the ball cannoned off the crossbar and rebounded to Kaji some 25 yards out. Kaji hammered a low drive that Yoshida fumbled and Lucas was on hand to side foot the ball into the net and double the lead.
Toda should have made it three a minute later when he raced onto Konno's through ball but fired his shot into the side netting. Cerezo were down but not out and continued to hit TOKYO on the counter attack. The visitors sent on Kokeguchi, Tokushige and Kurobe while TOKYO responded by replacing Miura with Asari. Cerezo earned a penalty in the 75th minute when a player went down in the box following a free kick. Ze Carlos converted to reduce the lead to a single goal.
The momentum swung back to Cerezo and Nishizawa should have equalized in the 82nd minute but fired over the bar. TOKYO replaced Kurisawa with Kajiyama to maintain possession but the switch failed to stem the tide and the home side resorted to illegal means to halt Cerezo's forward movement. Deep into injury time Konno fouled the pacy Kokeguchi about 25 meters from goal; Ze Carlos stepped up and curled a sublime free kick over the wall and beyond Doi's despairing dive. Lucas had a chance to snatch victory with the last kick of the game but fired a free kick into the wall from about 25 yards out. The final whistle blew on a disappointing 2-2 draw.


Players' comments
Kaji:
"We played well from the start and found our rhythm. We built a two goal lead but the way we used the ball at the end was very poor. For the second goal I was undecided whether to shoot or cross but I saw a space and just hit it. They caught us out but we weren't overpowered and we can take heart from the performance today".

Konno:
"Apart from two set plays they hardly threatened at all and it's very disappointing we didn't win the game. We should have won. After going two up we became slightly defensive, I think. The attack was a little monotone and we want to create more from midfield".

Miura:
"We wanted the three points at all costs today. We were determined not to concede in the first half. The game should have finished 2-1. We won't dwell on this but move on to the next game".


TOKYO manager Hara:
"Everything went according to plan until we were 2-0 up. They won a penalty from a free kick and then scored from another free kick in injury time. We have to be able to run down the clock in that situation. However, many of the things we worked on during the break showed in our play today. Nishizawa and Morishima hardly had a chance at all and the defence played very well. Neither Toda nor Kondo are holding players so we worked on defending solidly and creating space for them to run into; we focused on breaking rapidly from defence. Lucas returned from injury and is skilled at receiving the ball and moving it out to the wings. Our goals came from a cross and a shot so we're pleased with that. Defending a lead is a recurring problem for us but with the injured players coming back we feel we're moving in the right direction and are looking forward to the next game".

Cerezo manager Kobayashi
"For the first game after the break that was tough. We looked sluggish and really didn't create at all. We had to move some players around because of injuries but the attacking combination completely misfired. TOKYO really turned us over today. We conceded two goals in a few minutes but fought back to draw the game; that's something that has never happened before. The players' desire to win was very strong and the second half substitutes performed well for us. This is something positive we can take from today's game".