Nabisco Cup Opening!

　The 2006 Yamazaki Nabisco Cup kicks off. Tokyo will compete in the qualifying league Group A against Urawa, Yokohama FM, and Fukuoka in home and away matches. In the knockout tournament, the top team from each of the four groups A to D, as well as the top three teams from the second place, will advance (and G Osaka has secured a spot). National team players Doi and Mobata are absent. The tournament is held under a tough schedule with only two days of rest since the previous league match, but Coach Garo said, "We won't do anything special just because it's a cup match. We will fight for victory with our usual play."

　Urawa is currently in first place in the league and can be said to be in excellent form. DF Tsuboi, Mitsushu, MF Hasebe, and Ono of the Japanese national team are absent, and GK Tsuzuki and MF Yamada are also absent due to injury. Today, GK Yamagishi, DF Uchidate, MF Okano, Sakai, Soma, and FW Escudero started for the first time this season. With 6 members replaced, they faced the match with a 3-5-2 formation, placing FW Washington and Escudero as the top two and MF Ponte as the attacking midfielder.

　In response to this, Tokyo is cautious of Urawa's high quality regardless of who comes out (Manager Garo), and Inonami marks MF Ponte and Imano marks FW Escudero. Jean primarily responds to FW Washington. First, they do not allow the opponent to move freely with strict marking, and then they look for opportunities to attack. The match started at 19:00 with Tokyo's kickoff at the Urawa Komaba Stadium, where the coldness can be felt.

Restricting Urawa with a tough mark, not allowing them to play freely

　3 minutes into the game, Baba chases after a big side change from Tokunaga, but the ball goes out of bounds. At this point, Baba injures his right hamstring and Kurisawa hastily substitutes in. It was an accident, but he continues to play without being shaken. In the 6th minute, Tokunaga sends a cross from a deep position. Kurisawa jumps in and at the same time, Lucas tries to connect, but is blocked by the defender.

　8 minutes, Urawa Reds' FW Washington dribbles and FW Escudero makes a through pass in front of the goal. Left MF Soma advances and has a shooting chance, but Shioda bravely comes out and prevents the shot. Urawa gradually begins to take control of the game, but they are not allowed to play easily under intense pressure. In the 12th minute, Suzuki is beaten by Urawa's right MF Okano and a right cross is delivered. Shioda initially spills the ball, but he quickly regains his balance and holds off FW Washington from the far side.

　After that, Urawa repeatedly attacked from MF Okano's cross, but Tokyo also created chances from the side. In the 24th minute, they stole the ball in their own half, Kawaguchi -> Kurisawa to the space on the right front line. Tokunaga ran and won, taking a corner kick. In the 37th minute, Suzuki made a move from the opponent's half interception and took a left corner kick. In the 39th minute, Suzuki raised a cross from Kajiyama's free kick, but the momentum was weak and the opponent's defender cleared it. Jean, who picked up the loose ball, boldly aimed from a distant position, but it went high. They tried to score from set pieces, but all of them were blocked by Urawa's defenders and they couldn't finish.

　In the 32nd minute, FW Washington received a right cross from Urawa and turned around in front of the goal to get into a shooting position, but Jean cut it off. In the 42nd minute, FW Washington broke through behind the Tokyo DF and was passed by right MF Okano, but Jean desperately returned and did not hit the shot. Urawa's continuous attacks, centered around Jean, Mashima, and Inoha, were defended well without losing focus and ended the first half with a 0-0 score.

Conceding after a chance, lamenting the difference in goal scoring ability

　In the second half, Tokyo took the lead. In the 50th minute, Lucas received a vertical pass from Inonami and moved towards the center. After passing through Kurizawa, Lucas passed to Tokunaga on the right, but it was unsuccessful. Tokunaga picked up the loose ball and cut inside again, delivering a lofted pass to the goal area. It was blocked by the opponent's defender, but Kajiyama picked up the loose ball and showed a good combination play with a mid-range shot. Tokyo started to keep possession of the ball in the midfield, gaining momentum forward, and had numerous decisive chances.

　57 minutes, a big side change from left to right, Kurihara made a sharp shot from the cross by Tokunaga who ran in, but it was blocked by the opponent's defender in front of the goal. In the 58th minute, Kawaguchi sprinted past the defender with his speed and made a decisive shot towards the goal. However, it was blocked by the goalkeeper's fine play. From the right corner kick won here, Tokunaga made a header shot, but it was cleared by the opponent's defender right on the goal line. They created one chance after another but couldn't convert.

　On the contrary, immediately after that, they were caught off guard by an attacking move. In the 62nd minute, Urawa defender Tatsuya Tawara made a long feed from near the center circle to the front line. FW Washington accurately played a post play and connected it to FW Escudero, who was in the area, and they scored a goal. In the 76th minute, Tokyo made substitutions, replacing Kajiyama and Lucas with Abe and Sasa, and switched to a three-forward formation to counterattack. Intense attacks and defenses continued as both teams stretched their lines, but Tokyo approached the Urawa goal with passionate play.

　In the 80th minute, Sasa -> Kurisawa intercepted a through pass to Sasa on the right side of the area and won a corner kick. From that right corner kick, Jean, who was unmarked, took a header shot but missed the target. In the 87th minute, a free kick from a distant position inside the opponent's territory. Kurisawa threw it into the front line and the opponent's goalkeeper caught it. The goalkeeper was pushed into the goal, but it was not counted as a goal. In the 88th minute, Abe, who had escaped behind the opponent's defense after receiving a feed from Mashima, faced the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation. However, the shot narrowly missed the right post.

　And then, immediately after that, Urawa launched a fast attack and FW Washington received a pass from the right inside the area and made a final pass in front of the goal. MF Ponte ran into that position and took a shot. Shibata made a save at first, but it was followed up by MF Sakai and they conceded a goal. In the end, despite creating many chances in the second half, Tokyo couldn't convert them and conceded 2 goals in a counterattack. Urawa had 11 shots while Tokyo had 14 shots, but they were defeated due to the difference in finishing ability, starting the Nabisco Cup with a loss.

　【Player Comments】《Mashima》"Jean was supporting forward Washington, and I was defending in a surplus position. It was a familiar situation for me, so I was able to do it without feeling uncomfortable. However, we conceded a goal when the marking slipped during a momentary gap. Before that, there was a rhythm to score the opening goal. Kawaguchi-san was creating chances, so I tried to provide a feed as well. During that period, there was a rhythm to score goals, so if we could have taken the lead there, the flow of the game would have changed..."《Abe》"(In the late chance) it was my job as a substitute who came on during the match. It's very disappointing that I couldn't do it. (Regarding the substitution) It was decided that we would play with a front three, so I just went towards the goal. The midfield became stretched, making it difficult to pick up second balls, and there were times when the ball couldn't go in, but there were also periods where we could launch a second attack. We had to score there..."

　[Summary of Manager Garo's Press Conference] "In regards to the first half, Urawa had more opportunities to keep possession of the ball, but in regards to the second half, we also had chances. I think it was a good match. In the second half, I think we had about 6 chances, but unfortunately, we couldn't convert them and ended up conceding 2 points. It's not always the case that more chances lead to victory, this is also soccer. The reason why chances didn't arise in the first half was because we couldn't connect passes in the midfield. As for the second half, we were able to connect passes and opportunities came. I think we were able to dominate for most of the second half, but in soccer, the team that scores wins. That's where our failure to convert chances showed in the result. I think it's a difference in finishing ability. (Inoha and Imano seemed to drop back to the defensive line and form a 6-back formation?) We didn't play any differently than usual. It may have appeared that way because Inoha was marking Ponte in midfield and Imano was marking Escudero in the forward position. However, we were thinking of attacking as usual and winning."

　[Urawa Buchwald's press conference summary] "Today's match was a typical cup game. We had to replace 6 players from the previous match's starting lineup, including 4 national team players and injured Yamada and Tsuzuki, so the lineup was different than usual. However, we had a good start and were able to dominate the game in the first half. We had some great chances, but couldn't convert them into goals. In the second half, FC Tokyo came back strong and created several chances, but we were able to score when it was a good time for Tokyo. After that, both teams had good chances but couldn't convert them, and we were able to score an additional goal towards the end of the game. Looking at the full 90 minutes, I think the victory was deserved, but it could have also been a draw. I hope you all felt the depth of the Reds' squad today. Even the players who have had limited playing time in the past performed close to the level of the starting 11 when given the chance. The Reds are currently leading the league, and the teams we face are highly motivated. The games will be tough, but that applies to all future matches. For the opponents, they have to continue playing as if every game is a must-win. In that regard, even with so many changes in the starting lineup, the players showed that they can fight well. (Regarding defense) It was good to keep a clean sheet, but especially in the second half, we lacked compactness and gave away too much space. The players gave 100% effort to win in one-on-one situations, but in terms of compactness, I think we were lacking compared to the previous match."