Aiming for victory with an aggressive fight even as the away team!

　In the second round of the league, we will play against Albirex Niigata away. In the opening match, we created chances with dynamic soccer but ended in a draw. In this round, we want to achieve a "result" no matter what. During this one-week interval, we have been training repeatedly to improve our coordination and accuracy at an even higher level. Even though it is an away game, we want to aim for victory with an aggressive fight.

　Niigata, led by coach Jun Suzuki, is entering its third season aiming for a style of soccer where the ball and players move. Coach Jofuku says, "I think Tokyo and Niigata have similar soccer styles," but he continues, "Niigata has another strength." Niigata's attack, which utilizes long balls, the height of FW Yano, and the movement of new signing FW Alessandro, is a major characteristic of Niigata. However, Jofuku emphasizes the need to be cautious, saying, "If Niigata can effectively utilize their two characteristics of connecting passes and long balls, they will control the pace of the game." Therefore, it is necessary to press from the front to prevent Niigata from easily kicking long balls and to connect good attacks from strong defense.

　Tokyo, here Sato and Kondo have been injured, but on the other hand, as coach Jofuku says, "Getting results in practice leads to results in the game," Kawaguchi, Akamine, and Yoshimoto, who are in good shape, have made it into the lineup. In particular, Yoshimoto started the game due to the countermeasure against Niigata FW Yano's height. He himself said, "I want to fearlessly make mistakes and aggressively collide. I want to stop all the balls that Niigata kicks to the front without letting them go behind me. I want to focus on the results." Also, Cabore's condition has improved and he has made it into the starting lineup. Although there are still concerns about coordination as it has only been about three weeks since he joined, his individual ability has already been proven in the opening game. We hope for his first goal.

　Niigata, who lost the opening match against Omiya without scoring, will aim to be more aggressive in scoring at home this round. Coach Jofuku said, "Both teams will surely have a strong desire not to concede first. We need to see how the opponent plays." Niigata is expected to attack with both fullbacks in high positions. On the other hand, Tokyo wants to launch attacks by exploiting spaces. They want to suppress the opponent's strengths while utilizing their own strong points to seize the opportunity to win. The match started at 16:03 with Niigata's kickoff at the cloudy and chilly Tohoku Denka Big Swan Stadium.

Start off well and score three points to end the first half

　Immediately after the start of the match, Niigata created chances by shooting, but they quickly switched from defense to offense and scored three goals in the early stages. In the 6th minute, Kajiyama sent a ground pass to the right front line, which Ishikawa reacted to and passed directly to the center. Emerson, who ran into the goal area, easily scored the opening goal. In the following 8 minutes, Ishikawa and Habu connected with a short pass from the left corner kick, and Ishikawa received the return and took a powerful shot. Cabore followed up on the save by the opponent's goalkeeper and scored a goal! From Ishikawa's assist, Emerson and Cabore each scored their first league goals and quickly took a 2-0 lead.

　At the 11th minute, Inamoto cleverly kicked the ball to the front line, where the opposing defender failed to clear it, and Niigata's goalkeeper also came out, leaving the goal unguarded. He kicked it in, extending the lead to a 3-point difference. Tokyo's offensive continued after that. At the 21st minute, the ball was passed from Emerson to Cabore on the right front line. He induced a handball from the opponent, earning a free kick. Kajiyama aimed directly for the goal with the shot, but it hit the opposing defender and went out for a right corner kick. At the 22nd minute, Tokyo stole the ball in the midfield, and Inamoto -> Hayashi -> Cabore took a free shot from the left side of the opponent's field, but it was saved by the goalkeeper.

　Gradually, Niigata regains momentum, but Tokyo calmly circulates the ball and uses time. Also, they aggressively steal the ball at a high position against the opponent's ball, not allowing them to create scoring opportunities. In the 34th minute, Ishikawa received a through pass in the opponent's territory from a counterattack, quickly turned around and dribbled forward. He passed to Emerson, who was free in the right area, but couldn't shoot as he was closed down by the defender. In the 36th minute, Yoshimoto headed Ishikawa's right corner kick, but it floated high above the crossbar.

　By the time 40 minutes had passed, Niigata had dominated the ball and launched counterattacks. However, they were able to respond firmly, especially with Shigeki Morinaka, and did not allow any decisive chances. As a result, they went into the second half with a 3-point lead.

Overcoming Niigata's fierce attack, securing the first victory of the season

　Niigata took the initiative to attack from the start of the second half. They approached Tokyo's goal with speedy attacks. In the 52nd minute, DF Uchida crossed the ball and MF Homma perfectly connected with it in front of the goal, unleashing a header shot. However, it slightly veered to the right and the danger was avoided. Then, in the 57th minute, DF Uchida advanced on the right side, dribbled inside, and took a shot. The ball pierced the net on the right side, scoring a goal. Immediately in the 58th minute, FW Yano ran up the left side from MF Terakawa. Then, he forcefully cut inside the left area, easily evading Tokunaga's press and taking a shot. They conceded two goals in quick succession.

　Tokyo, who wants to stop Niigata's momentum, substituted Asari for Emerson in the 62nd minute and placed him in the central midfield. Hayu changed his position to left MF and first focused on defending to calm the game. Then, in the 71st minute, Kawaguchi replaced Ishikawa, and in the 82nd minute, Akamine replaced Cabore. They responded aggressively both in attack and defense. After that, Niigata, who continued to launch sharp counters with their momentum, pushed Tokyo back, but Tokyo tried to regain their rhythm by calmly connecting passes.

　In stoppage time, Hayu picked up a defensive mistake and entered the area. He faced a one-on-one chance against the opponent's goalkeeper, but missed the timing of the shot and couldn't finish it. Niigata continued their fierce attack until the end, but the whole team defended with their bodies and held on until the final whistle. They successfully protected their lead and secured 3 points away at Niigata, achieving their first victory of the season since 2004.

　【Player Comments】《Yoshimoto》"As a starter in the league game for the first time in a year, I felt pressure at first. In the games I have played, including the Nabisco Cup, I haven't won yet, so today I really wanted to focus on the result. I approached the game with the feeling that if we lose, there will be no more chances to play, so I'm really happy that we won. I was cautious of Niigata FW Yano, who moves well and has strong headers, so I tried to disrupt his movements to go for the second ball and also be aware of covering for the second ball. I was conscious of the fact that if I go for a header, Moni-san will cover for me. There were parts that I did well and parts that I didn't, but I'm disappointed that we conceded 2 goals in that period of the second half. (What are the points to reflect on?) We panicked after conceding a goal. The opponent's movements were quick, and our defensive line dropped, which is something to reflect on. I think the game would have changed more if we had kept them to just one goal. Among them, Moni-san controlled the defensive line and helped us a lot. It's good that the team was able to win, but personally, I still have a long way to go. I want to practice more and become a player who can control the defensive line. I want to improve more."《Cabore》"In the first half, we were able to score goals and end it in a very good shape with a 3-0 lead. In the second half, we made some mistakes and conceded goals. However, we were able to make adjustments afterwards and everyone's perseverance until the end led to the victory. (About the goal?) Ishikawa took a good shot and the goalkeeper fumbled, so I followed up on the loose ball. I think my condition has improved and I also had the desire to start. Niigata's center-backs are both good players with height, and they tried to intercept a few times. However, I was also conscious of not being caught there."

　[Summary of Coach Jofuku's Press Conference] "Not only in the opening match, but also in the practice match this week, our start to the game was not good, so we emphasized the importance of starting the game well. Fortunately, we were able to start very well and score a goal, which was lucky for us. The content of the game was also good, but it worked in our favor that we were able to score at a good time. After that, we went into a defensive mode and were dominated by the opponent's possession for a while. It's not like we can withstand the remaining 60 or 70 minutes against a great team like Niigata. After conceding two goals, we tightened up again and started to connect well when we regained possession. In that sense, the period from scoring three goals to conceding two goals is a big challenge for us. I think it's great that we were able to take three points from Niigata by holding on until the end. (What are your thoughts on the first victory?) I'm purely happy about the victory. I'm really happy that we were able to give the victory as a present to the many fans who came to support us. (What is the current level of completion?) It's hard to say what percentage of the soccer we are aiming for has been achieved, but we want to play for a long time in the period before and after scoring in the first half. Also, when we score first, we tend to focus on defense. We need to learn from the experience of changing from a quick attack to a slow attack when we regain possession, and we need to develop the part of being experienced in games. In terms of our soccer, we still have a lot to build on. I think we still have a long way to go in terms of gaining the experience of shifting the flow of the game."

　[Summary of Niigata Suzuki's press conference] "First of all, I think we played a very bad game for the fans. I'm sorry. Mentally, we lacked concentration after conceding a goal, and I'm very disappointed that we had many plays like that. We were able to recover in the second half and play forward despite being 0-3 behind, but it's a shame that we couldn't do that from the first half. I put Davi on the right because Tokyo's Tokunaga player overlaps a lot and comes up aggressively, so I thought Teragawa would be better in taking care of that. Alessandro couldn't do much today. He contributed a lot defensively with his movement, but he couldn't become the starting point in the front line and couldn't take shots."