Tama River Clasico, seeking revenge in the away game

　Sec. 30 of the league will be a match between Kawasaki Frontale and Tama River Clasico for the 12th time. They will face each other at home. In the previous match against Nagoya, they secured 3 points despite not playing well. Building on that momentum, they aim to achieve a 3-game winning streak with a strong desire for victory.

　However, Fukunishi injured his left knee. Following Baba and Kajiyama, the team is in a difficult situation due to the successive absences of midfielders. Coach Hara also laments, "There is no player to replace Fukunishi. We have lost the type of player who can take the opposite side of the midfield along with Kajiyama." However, he still wants to switch his mindset and aim for victory by playing a simple game where everyone runs and exploits the opponent's defense without wasting opportunities. That is originally one of Tokyo's strengths," he said, with a strong determination to achieve victory through powerful soccer.

　Kawasaki, on the other hand, is currently in 8th place with 43 points. It seems that they have recovered from the fatigue of the intense battle in the ACL, as they have not lost in the last 3 league matches. They have also advanced to the final of the Nabisco Cup and are in good form. They have scored many goals towards the end of matches, so it is expected to be a fight where they cannot let their guard down until the very end. Their attack, led by the FW JUNINHO with outstanding speed, is astonishing. Tokyo will need to thoroughly mark and cover him. Also, they should be careful not to have the ball taken away from them with half-hearted plays, as they are most afraid of being counterattacked. It is important to increase the awareness of finishing with shots and to attack relentlessly.

　Tokyo started Inoha as a defensive midfielder, with Hata on the bench for the first time this season. They want to demonstrate the power of their home ground and avenge their away defeat. The match started at 14:05 with Tokyo's kickoff in Ajinomoto Stadium, under clear skies after the typhoon that hit the Kanto region the day before. "Brazil Festa" was being held at the same time.

In a vicious cycle of being stolen and then conceding a counterattack, they lose four goals in the first half.

　In the early stages, there was intense competition for the ball. In the 4th minute, Kawasaki quickly restarted and FW Zheng turned around and took a shot in front of the goal. In the 7th minute, FW Zheng moved up to the left front line and MF Maginun, who followed the minus pass, took a shot from the right corner of the area to try to get into the rhythm. Tokyo attacked, but the ball did not settle in the front line, and it was taken away and counterattacked, and the game progressed at a fast tempo. Still, in the 17th minute, Lucas jumped in again to Suzuki Nori's cross after breaking through the left side, but it was not well connected.

　Amidst the intense battle, in the 23rd minute, Rychely dashed out to a long through pass from Kanazawa, but the goalkeeper caught it a step ahead. Immediately after, Akamine caught up with the feed to the front line and boldly challenged in the left area. The development up to this point was back and forth. However, in the 25th minute, Kawasaki started from the right side and exchanged passes in front of the Tokyo goal. The pass from FW Zheng to MF Nakamura, who had moved up in the middle, was intercepted by Lucas, but FW Zheng reacted to the loose ball and shot from just outside the right area. The sharp grounder rolled into the lower left area, and they conceded the first goal unexpectedly.

　However, in the 26th minute, Suzuki Nori, who received a return from Akamine, also launched a powerful shot and counterattacked. In the 28th minute, while Kawasaki was engaged in a shooting match with FW Zheng from the right area, in the 29th minute, Kawasaki connected Tokyo's clearance and MF Kawamura passed to FW Juninho, who had drifted to the right. FW Juninho shot at the cross sent by FW Juninho from near the goal line. Although the Tokyo DF blocked it once, FW Zheng persistently pushed it in and conceded the second goal.

　With this, Tokyo is in a frenzy and Kawasaki takes control. In the 34th minute, Iwakawa was substituted for Rychely. They tried to recover, but couldn't create any decisive chances. They kept losing the ball in the build-up and suffered counterattacks from Kawasaki with the forward and defense stretched out. In the 39th minute, Kawasaki's midfielder Taniguchi's right cross was cleared by Kanazawa for a corner kick, but in the 40th minute, they couldn't clear midfielder Magunun's cross from the short corner, and once again, they were pushed in by defender Minowa who closed in near the goal, making it a 3-point difference.

　In the 42nd minute, Kawasaki MF Maginun intercepted Tokyo's short clearance and passed it to FW Zheng who broke through the front line. Although Shigeno was also facing him, FW Zheng confidently swung his right foot from inside the right area, and the ball hit the left post and went in. They allowed FW Zheng to score a hat-trick. They couldn't catch the attacking line of Kawasaki that came out in the midfield, and they showed vulnerability by conceding goals immediately after being scored against, losing four goals in the first half.

Lackluster performance in offense and defense, a humiliating defeat...

　However, last season, in the match against Kawasaki at Ajinomoto Stadium, they achieved a remarkable comeback from a 1-4 deficit. Perhaps everyone thought that "if they could score one goal, the momentum would change." In the second half, Hirayama was substituted for Inoha. They strengthened their front line and launched a counterattack with Konno as the lone defensive midfielder. However, in the 47th minute of the second half, Akamine broke through to the goal area after receiving a long pass from Kanazawa, shaking off the pursuing defenders, and took a shot. However, the ball hit the left post, missing a big scoring opportunity.

　In the early stages, they took the second ball and went on the offensive, but Inamoto's shot in the 53rd minute went high. In the 58th minute, they took a corner kick from Inamoto to Ishikawa's cross, but they couldn't finish from there. In the 62nd minute, Kawasaki substituted Terada for forward Zheng and strengthened their defense by allocating more players to the defense. In the 63rd minute, they launched a quick counterattack from Ishikawa's interception, and Suzuki tried to connect with Lucas from Suzuki's cross, but Kawasaki defended well. In the 65th minute, Suzuki broke free in the area from Inamoto's early cross and took a direct shot, but couldn't find the target... In the 67th minute, the opponent's goalkeeper came out to intercept Tokunaga's pass and collided with Ishikawa. The ball rolled in front of the goal, but Kawasaki's defenders cleared it.

　In the midst of not being able to take advantage of chances, Kawasaki also launched a counterattack without any gaps from their solid defense. In the 69th minute, Tokyo's defense line was caught off guard as Kawasaki midfielder Nakamura stole a corner kick from a cross. Although they defended against this corner kick, they allowed Kawasaki to score their fifth goal in the 74th minute. Kawasaki midfielder Taniguchi made a long pass from his own territory to the left front line. Forward Juninho, who received the ball, kept it loosely before speeding up and crossing. Tokyo's defenders were unable to catch midfielder Magunun, who jumped into the goal area, and he scored with a header.

　After that, Kurisawa was substituted for Kanazawa. However, in the 77th minute, the ball was stolen in their own territory and Kawasaki MF Taniguchi took a shot. It escaped to a corner kick once with a save by Shioda, but when it gave the second left corner kick, in the 79th minute, DF Terada scored a header from MF Nakamura's kick... In the 81st minute, Kawasaki MF Maginun received a second warning and was sent off. Despite having a numerical advantage, in the 84th minute, Akamine broke through with Inoue's through pass, but couldn't finish it in front of the goalkeeper's quick dive. Immediately after, Hirayama was stolen while being aggressive, and FW Juninho turned around Moino and rushed towards the goal. They conceded the 7th goal in a form that lost concentration.

　In the 89th minute, Hirayama's header from a corner kick, followed by Imakawa's shot, narrowly missed the target and the game ended without scoring. Lacking brilliance in both offense and defense, they were unable to surpass the score of the first half classic match. They suffered a humiliating defeat, conceding 7 goals for the first time in club history.

　【Player Comments】《Fujiyama》"This season, we often struggled to recover after conceding a goal. Recently, we have been able to defend well, but today it happened again. I think the last goal was unavoidable, but we shouldn't have conceded four goals in the first half. That was everything. The start of the game wasn't bad, but we couldn't find our rhythm. It would have been good if we could have discussed and made adjustments as players, but we were caught off guard before we could do that. It's really disappointing to end up with this result after everyone had hyped up the Tama River Clasico."《Ishikawa》"From the beginning of the game, Kawasaki was stronger in the physical battles, and we were losing in those areas. I think that was the biggest reason for our defeat. We tried to attack by targeting the space behind the opponent's defense, but when the goal difference became so big, the opponent also dropped back, and Tokyo couldn't play the attacking style we wanted. Kawasaki prevented us from playing the kind of soccer we wanted to play. We should have played better soccer like that."

　[Summary of the press conference by Coach Hara] "It is very disappointing that despite the gathering of many fans for the Tama River Clasico, the result turned out to be very unfortunate. The players were not playing carelessly, but Kawasaki was kicking the ball to FW Rychely quickly and picking up the loose balls. After conceding the first goal, I think they became scared like in the previous match. They became stretched out and dropped back. I told them that we could turn the game around with 1 or 2 goals, but right after conceding the third goal from a short corner, we quickly conceded the fourth goal. I think that was the reason for our defeat. In the second half, we brought in Hirayama to try to score a goal. If the first chance by Akamine had been successful, I think the momentum would have shifted to our side, but instead we conceded goals from counterattacks and ended up with this result. Recently, we have become a team that can hold its ground even in close matches, but today, because we were emotionally invested, our concentration wavered when we conceded 2 or 3 goals. That is very disappointing. I started Inoha because I considered his potential and the opponent's height. However, he has been playing as the final line in the Olympic team and has not always played as a defensive midfielder in Tokyo, so after conceding a goal, there were moments when he didn't know where he should be. Certainly, if I had used Asari, we might have had more stability, but that is hindsight. Inoha has the ability to compete even in difficult matches and against strong opponents, so I gave him a chance. I wanted to use Ishikawa at a crucial moment. However, Rychely was not able to move as he normally does. Even the situation leading to the goal was created because he received the ball and dropped it at his feet. I felt that he was afraid to receive the ball, so I decided to bring in Ishikawa early to stop Kawasaki's momentum. The last title left for us is the Emperor's Cup. We want to learn from today's match and prepare for it."

　[Summary of Kawasaki Sekizuka's Press Conference] "FC Tokyo has been in good form recently with 6 wins and 1 loss, so I told the players that we need to concentrate and not underestimate them. They followed my instructions and started the game well. By stopping FC Tokyo's speedy momentum and scoring the opening goal, I think we were able to maintain our momentum. I'm very satisfied that we won both matches in the Tamagawa Clasico this season. However, we have an important decisive match in the Nabisco Cup next week, so we want to prepare properly."