Defeat Gamba Osaka, the top team, at home!

　Sec. 29 will welcome Gamba Osaka at home. In the previous match against Verdy, we achieved a come-from-behind victory and climbed up to 9th place in the rankings. However, the point difference with the lower-ranked teams is not significant, so we cannot afford to let our guard down. This is a crucial match that we want to win and aim for a winning streak without losing focus. However, on May 27 (Thu), Kajiyama complained of back pain, and on May 28 (Fri), Shigemori injured his lower back and Lucas injured his foot, so there were some concerns. However, they have recovered well by the weekend. Regarding Kaji, Coach Hara said, "It is risky for him to play at this point," and we will face the match with the same starting lineup as the Verdy match.

　G Osaka, who is currently in first place, has a threatening scoring power with "73 goals and 48 goals conceded" so far, despite losing to Oita in the previous match. DF Miyamoto has left the team due to injury, and FW Okubo (16 goals), who is currently in third place in the scoring rankings, will be on the bench for this match. However, FW Yoshihara, who will be starting for the first time since the 18th round, FW Fernandinho, and MF Araujo in the front line are difficult to stop once they enter the area, according to Manager Hara. It is important to take care of them properly and also to suppress MF Endo and Hashimoto, who are the sources of passes. "Especially Endo kicks all kinds of balls, such as direct passes and soft passes. He also makes runs to the front line and has a high scoring ability in free kicks, so it is important to neutralize his movements," he cautions.

　In addition, "If we try to defend, Gamba will take the lead. Instead of retreating, we want to aggressively attack and try to turn the game around from the front (Manager Hara)." In the away game of the 7th round on April 23rd, they lost after a shootout of 3-5, but if the game starts early today, there is also a possibility of a back-and-forth battle. However, that would be the ideal development for Gamba, who boasts attacking power in a sense. Tokyo aims to bring the game to a close contest in a "Tokyo-like" manner and seek victory.

Taking On The Leaders 

League leaders Gamba Osaka visited Ajinomoto Stadium for the 29th. game of the year. The win over Verdy in the previous week had put some daylight between TOKYO and the relegation-threatened pack but there was no time for the team to take anything for granted. Kajiyama, Moniwa and Lucas had picked up knocks in training but were recovered by the weekend. Manager Hara felt it unwise to risk Kaji just yet and named an unchanged team to the one that beat Verdy. 
League leaders Gamba had lost at home to Oita Trinita in the previous round but boasted phenomenal firepower in attack, with 73 goals in 28 games. Captain Miyamoto was injured and Japan striker Oguro was on the bench but Araujo, the league top scorer, and Fernandinho both started. "If you let them get into the area facing the goal they're very difficult to stop", commented manager Hara. Preventing Endo and Hashimoto from delivering service to the front men also posed problems, "Both are excellent passers. Endo has a wide range, from direct balls to delicate one touches. They can also make runs from deep positions and strike free kicks. We will have to guard them closely throughout the game". The reverse fixture in April had finished 5-3 to Gamba and another high scoring game was always a possibility.

Despite conceding a goal right after the start, the team regained their pace and Tadashi BABA scored the equalizer.

　The weather recovered from the previous day's rain at Ajinomoto Stadium, and the game started with a kickoff in Tokyo. However, just one minute into the game, G Osaka's right throw-in resulted in a corner kick. Midfielder Endo kicked the ball accurately near the goal from this right corner kick, and defender Clayson jumped in and scored a header. Jean's marking on Clayson was delayed, and they conceded a goal early in the game.

　An unpleasant atmosphere flowed, but Tokyo continued without feeling down, and intense ball battles continued from there. And around the 10th minute, Tokyo started creating chances. In the 13th minute, Baba's floating pass, right MF Yoshiro ABE broke through the front line and stole a CK. Jean headed Baba's right CK, but it hit the bar. In the 16th minute, Doi caught G Osaka's fast cross. From there, a quick attack was launched and Kajiyama took a shot from the midfield. In the 19th minute, Toda became a post from a fast pass work in the opponent's territory, and Baba took a shot. It hit the opponent's GK's face, but gradually took control of the ball against G Osaka, whose press was becoming loose.

　At 20 minutes, Lucas entered the right area and took a shot after Fujiyama's attack. On the other hand, G Osaka approached the Tokyo goal from a free kick led by MF Endo. However, in the 21st minute, the free kick from outside the left area was blocked by the Tokyo DF wall. In the 23rd minute, Toda had an accident injuring his right heel and was replaced by Suzuki Nori. Immediately after, G Osaka's left free kick resulted in a shot by DF Mihira from a very close range, but it went to the left. Tokyo did well in taking the ball and controlling the pace, but in the 28th minute, Fujiyama switched to the left side with Abe Yoshiki, and Kanazawa crossed the ball. Baba caught the opponent's DF clearance in front of the goal, took a shot but missed, missing the chance.

　In the 37th minute, Tokyo DF cleared the FK from the outside right area of G Osaka. Endo, who entered the right area, connected the loose ball and took a powerful shot, but Doi made a save! In the 40th minute, the wall blocked G Osaka's FK, and they tried to launch a quick attack from there, but the pass didn't connect well. It seemed like the first half would end like this, but in the 44th minute, Kanazawa on the left side made a side change from Kajiyama. Kajiyama received the return pass and cut inside while moving towards the center, then passed to Baba on the left side. Baba dribbled slightly to create space and took a precise shot. It grazed the right post and bounced into the goal! They equalized just before the end of the first half and carried the expectation into the second half.

Baba Belter Ties Early Goal

TOKYO kicked off on a warm afternoon at Ajinomoto Stadium but found themselves behind while late arrivals were still taking their seats. Gamba won a corner in the first minute and Sidiclei rose to meet Endo's outswinger and bullet a header past Doi. Sidiclei evaded Jean's attentions all too easily and Gamba had the lead. 
The home side then launched themselves at Gamba and began to make headway. In the 13th. minute Baba floated a pass over the visitors' defence and Abe won a corner. Jean met Baba's ball with a powerful header that flew just over the bar. In the 16th. minute Doi cleanly held a cross then launched a counter attack that ended with Kajiyama shooting from outside the Gamba area. In the 19th. minute Baba shot from distance, as did Kajiyama in the 23rd. Toda was injured and had to be replaced by Suzuki. Saneyoshi fired wide from point blank range following a free kick a few moments later. In the 28th. minute a sweeping crossfield move found Kanazawa steaming down the left but Baba failed to make firm contact with his centre and a good move came to nothing. 
A key moment came in the 37th. minute. The TOKYO defence partially cleared a free kick and Endo pounced on the loose ball, raced into the area and unleashed a thunderous drive that Doi could only parry away. The ball evaded the onrushing Gamba players and TOKYO breathed a sigh of relief. The game seemed to be headed into halftime with the visitors ahead until Baba produced a goal out of nothing in the 44th. minute. Following some neat interplay in midfield Kajiyama slipped the ball to Baba around 25 metres from goal; Baba unleashed a beautiful drive that Fujigaya got his fingertips to but couldn't prevent from hitting the back of the net. TOKYO had tied the game on the stroke of halftime.

Kono scores the go-ahead goal and secures a brilliant victory!

　G Osaka replaced FW Yoshihara with Okuro and MF Matsushita with Nikawa in the second half. As coach Hara said before the game, "Nikawa is the best match for Okuro. How to bring their combination into play is the key," they went all out. However, Tokyo took control of the game from the beginning. In the 47th minute, Suzuki Nori crossed from the left and Lucas headed perfectly, but DF Shijikurei blocked it with his head. Kajiyama connected the loose ball and took a decisive shot in the right area, but it was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. In the 48th minute, Baba shot directly from Suzuki Nori's left cross, but it was blocked by the DF.

　53 minutes, Lucas picked up the clear of Kanazawa's cross and took a shot, resulting in a corner kick. From this corner kick, Kajiyama shot from the right area but was blocked by the opponent's defender. Lucas then lifted a sharp cross from the loose ball, but the opponent's defender cleared it. Although no goal was scored, they launched a wave-like attack centered around Suzuki Nori on the left side. In the 57th minute, Fujiyama's early cross was cleared by the opponent's defender. In the end line area, Imano tenaciously picked up the loose ball and passed it to Lucas in front of the goal. It was a decisive scene, but it was blocked by the opponent's defender. In the 63rd minute, Imano aggressively attacked after intercepting the ball, and Lucas took a shot from outside the area, but it went to the right.

　In the 64th minute, G Osaka MF Araujo broke through the left side and passed the ball in front of the goal. FW Fernandinho ran in and took a shot, but it went over the bar. In the 65th minute, G Osaka created a decisive scene. Again from Tokyo's left side, MF Hashimoto entered near the end line. He passed the ball back, and OGK's Okubo was free in front of the goal and took a shot. However, it didn't connect and Doi made a save! In the 68th minute, FW Fernandinho rushed towards the goal from a fast break, and MF Araujo, who ran in from the left, entered a shooting position. However, Tokyo's DF blocked it with a quick interception.

　Preventing the pinch with a concentrated play, in the 71st minute, Jean won the left FK of Kanazawa with a header and Norio Suzuki, who was waiting in the center, scored a perfect heading shot. Although it was blocked by the opponent's GK's nice save at first, Imano, who quickly approached the loose ball before the opponent's DF, pushed it in and scored!! They took an additional point and took the lead. In the 82nd minute, Lucas flew out with Baba's through pass and faced the GK in a one-on-one situation, but the shot was saved, and he missed a decisive chance.

　After that, there were moments when G Osaka threatened to score. In the 84th minute, forward Okubo received a pass from midfielder Ienaga and broke through to the right area with a trap, taking a shot. It went over the bar, but showed a momentary threat. However, Tokyo never turned to a defensive stance and continued with an attacking posture. In the 84th minute, Suzuki Ki sprinted down the left side. He advanced to the goal area and took a shot from an angleless position, but the goalkeeper saved it and it resulted in a corner kick. In the 2 minutes of added time, G Osaka attacked, but Tokyo's concentrated defense repelled it and they took possession and moved forward. As a result, throughout the game, Tokyo dominated in physicality and duels, with 22 shots compared to G Osaka's 11 shots. With a passionate play, they achieved a satisfying victory against the top-ranked G Osaka. Following the victory against Verdy, they secured a consecutive win with a comeback.

　【Player Comments】《Imano》"I stretched my left foot because the opponent didn't clear the ball. Gamba has a strong attacking line, and I thought we were in trouble when we conceded a goal at the beginning, but I think we were able to play in our own rhythm from the first half. I enjoyed playing. Before the match, Coach Hara told us, 'Gamba has attacking power, but we can also attack. Let's show our attacking power that surpasses Gamba.' I'm glad we won in the end."《Baba》"I've been taking a lot of shots recently, but they haven't been going in during the matches. I was always tense, so today I aimed for a goal with a calm and curled ball instead of shooting with all my strength. I think that kick is my style, so I want to keep using my favorite patterns. The first half was tough, but I believed that if we endured, the second half would be our pace. Gamba is not a difficult opponent to fight against, and I thought we could win if we could play with our full strength. The team is in good shape, and everyone is giving their all. I want to continue with the momentum and win all the remaining 5 matches without wasting it."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "We were able to calmly play against Gamba, who have scored 73 goals. When Gamba wins, they often score 2 or 3 goals, and sometimes even 6 or 7. They are a team that we will lose to if we can only score one goal. However, they have conceded far more goals than us and our compatibility is not bad. We won 3 times last season and in this season's away game, we lost 5-3. We scored 3 goals, but we also conceded an own goal and a goal right after scoring, so if we didn't allow those, we had a good chance of winning. We talked about taking advantage of the fact that Tokyo's wingers are good against Gamba. However, Gamba's attacking power is destructive, and even if we mark players like MF Araujo, FW Yoshihara, Fernandinho, and Okubo, they can still break through. We focused on marking them tightly and not letting them have the ball. We wanted to show our strength of defending and attacking as a team. However, we conceded a goal in the first minute and I had a bad feeling. I thought we could still manage if it was only a one-goal difference. There were a few dangerous situations, but we wanted to avoid conceding on the counter after being scored on. In the good time of the first half, Baba's shot went in and we talked about how this would be our pace for the rest of the game. Coach Nishino made two substitutions and tried to win early, so I thought we had a chance if we could get through this. Despite our poor performance, so many supporters came to cheer us on and we wanted to show our strength to respond to that. If we were afraid of Gamba and just defended and packed the goal, we would probably end up losing. Our players were not afraid and fought well with our style of soccer, and we were able to get a big 3 points. Today, Fujiyama held the final line, Kanazawa came back, and Kaji's condition is getting better. Today, Mochida's back was heavy, so I thought about using Kaji, but I have to be careful not to injure him again. If Kaji comes back, I think our more aggressive style of soccer will return. We want to aim for even more aggressive soccer."

　[Summary of G Osaka Nishino's press conference] "Both in the previous match and today, we did not play like a team aiming for the championship. We had no choice but to acknowledge the strength of the opponent. We were defeated as we deserved. We had been considering various attempts from different aspects, but we were not functioning well overall. Especially in the previous triangle, where three players lead the attack, we have been facing various countermeasures, and both individually and in terms of the three players' coordination, we have been completely disrupted. Both Daiki Oono and Fernandinho are playing under stress. In this way, when we consider our defense, it results in a performance like today's. That's all. The functionality of the previous three players is not sufficient. Next is the final of the Nabisco Cup, and today we tried to anticipate that. Naturally, we challenged while producing results and tried to have the best game, but in that sense, it became a game without any gains."

Konno Grabs Winner

Gamba made changes at halftime: Oguro replaced Yoshihara and midfielder Futagawa replaced Matsushita. Before the game Hiromi Hara had said, "Oguro works best with Futagawa. How and when they make use of that combination will be a key point". Gamba were clearly going for a win and were not prepared to settle for a draw. It was TOKYO, though, who began the second period strongly. Sidiclei blocked Lucas' powerful header after good work down the left by Suzuki in the 47th. minute. Kajiyama pounced on the loose ball and shot powerfully but Fujigaya produced a fine save to deny TOKYO the lead. A minute later the Gamba defence again blocked a goal-bound effort, this time from Baba. 
In the 53rd. minute Kanazawa had a shot blocked away for a corner. Kajiyama was quickest to the clearanace but again the Gamba defence blocked his effort and Lucas' low cross was somehow scrambled away. TOKYO were enjoying a purple patch with Suzuki's pace down the left causing Gamba all kinds of problems. Konno's tenacity set up a glorious chance for Lucas in the 57th. minute but again some desperate defending from Gamba kept the scores level. Lucas flashed a shot wide of the right post in the 63rd. minute. 
Gamba suddenly roused themselves and created two fine chances within a minute. Araujo raced down the left wing to the byline and cut the ball back in the 63rd. minute but Fernadinho scooped his shot over the bar. In a repeat move less than a minute later Oguro missed an absolute sitter, scuffing his shot from 6 yards out with only Doi to beat. 
That miss would prove costly as TOKYO soon took the lead. Kanazawa curled in a free kick in the 71st minute, Suzuki outjumped the Gamba defence and smacked a firm header that drew a flying save from Fujigaya. The ball bounced up in front of Konno who poked it into the goal with great alacrity and TOKYO had the lead. Lucas could have killed the game off in the 82nd. minutes he raced onto Baba's through ball and bore down on the keeper; Fujigaya kept his eye on the ball and made a fine save. 
As the game entered the final few minute Gamba launched a succession of attacks on the TOKYO goal. In the 84th. minute Ienaga opened a chink in TOKYO's defensive armour that allowed Oguro a sight of goal; Oguro shot fractionally too high and let the home side off the hook. Suzuki then ran the full length of the field, cut into the area and drew another good save from Fujigaya, winning a corner. Suzuki's pace kept Gamba off balance and the TOKYO defence held firm. The final score was 2-1, the second time in a week TOKYO had come from behind to win. 

Players' comments
Konno
"For the goal our opponents hadn't cleared the ball so I just stuck my leg out. Gamba have a very strong attack and after we conceded so early in the game I thought things were going to be difficult but we fought back playing at our own rhythm. I really enjoyed the game today. Before the game the manager said, 'Gamba have a good attack so that will allow us to attack. Let's show we are better than they are'. To get the come from behind win was just great".

Baba
"I've been shooting a lot recently but they haven't been going in. I usually put a lot of power into them but today I decided to try to relax and place the ball. I think that shot is becoming my speciality. We were under some pressure in the first half but came through it and always believed we could win it in the second half. Gamba aren't the most difficult team to beat so we felt if we could play our normal game it was possible. The team is in really good form at the moment and we hope to win the last 5 games".

F.C.TOKYO manager Hara 
"Gamba score a lot of goals; they can completely overrun teams but they have conceded more goals than us and aren't such a difficult opponent for us. We beat them three times last year and could easily have won the reverse fixture in April. There's always space for our wide men to get into. Their attack is very strong though and it's difficult to contain them. We had to mark them tightly and prevent them from getting the ball so we had to concentrate on defending from the front. Then they scored in the first minute and it was deja vu all over again. But we felt we could always make something; we had many chances but were concerned about scoring and then conceding again on a counter attack. Baba scored at a perfect time and we discussed playing the second half at our pace. Mr.Nishino changed two players at half time and went for the win; we felt that could work to our advantage. Even though our record this season isn't great a lot of supporters turned out today and they inspired us in the second half. We weren't afraid of Gamba, we played the game at our pace and took the three points. Fujiyama played in defence, Kanazawa has come back and Kaji is on his way. Moniwa had a back niggle today but we decided against playing Kaji as it might be a little early yet. When he comes back we will have our best attacking style. We want to be more aggressive". 

Gamba manager Nishino
"We didn't play like champions last week and we didn't play like champions again today. The game allowed our opponents to play to their best and they did what we should have done. We tried various things but didn't play well as a team today. Our front triangle didn't work well together or individually. I think Fernandinho and Oguro are playing under heavy stress. Next week is the Nabisco Cup Final and I think we can look at today's game and say we've learned some things from our performance".