I want to take revenge on Nabisco with the momentum so far

　Sec. 8 of the league, Shimizu S-Pulse will play away against Almir. In the previous match against Kawasaki, both teams fiercely competed for points, but Shimizu S-Pulse managed to take the lead and achieve a come-from-behind victory in the second half. As a result, they are now in 3rd place. The upcoming schedule during the Golden Week will be tough with 5 consecutive matches, but Konno stated, "There is a possibility that the ranking will change significantly in these 5 matches. We will focus on each game and accumulate points without being conscious of our current 3rd place position." He promised to value and fight for each game in front of them.

　Shimizu, on the other hand, is currently in 15th place with 1 win, 2 draws, and 4 losses, and they haven't quite found their rhythm yet. However, in the previous match against Yokohama FM, they managed to secure a draw with a solid defense. With a team consisting of technically skilled players, they dominate the game by connecting short passes from a strong defense and utilizing the attacking power upfront. In the first match of this season's Nabisco Cup, they lost to Tokyo, who prevented them from playing the style of soccer they wanted. As Coach Jofuku mentioned, "That game was a game we were destined to lose." Therefore, in this match, it will be crucial for Shimizu to control the game for as long as possible and break through their strong defense.

　Tokyo, 7 players were called up for the Japan national team and Olympic team training camp, and the condition of each player was a concern, but all players joined in good spirits. There doesn't seem to be any problem. The starting lineup is using Otake instead of Kurisawa from the Kawasaki game. Morimura also made the bench. Nagatomo said, "In the previous match, my defense and attack were both half-hearted. Now, the transition is going smoothly, so I want to grasp the rhythm from tough defense and attack more and more." Konno also said, "When attacking, I want to support the side and break through by outnumbering the opponent's full-back and create a numerical advantage situation to connect to chances."

　The players are determined not to lose to the same opponent twice, and Coach Shirofuku also stated, "We have gradually built up our performance and points since the first match of the Nabisco Cup. We will never lose in the same way again in order to continue growing. We aim to achieve victory with our own style of soccer." The match started at 13:04 with a kickoff from Tokyo at the rainy IAI Stadium Nihondaira.

Conceded a goal in stoppage time, ending the first half 1 point behind

　One minute into the game, Kabore, who received a pass on the left side of the Shimizu field, dribbled forward and boldly shot from just outside the left area, but it went straight to the goalkeeper. Although they immediately seized the chance, Shimizu's rhythm took over afterwards. Shimizu quickly transitioned from defense to offense, with MF Fernandinho and MF Fujimoto creating opportunities, and they were pushed back by speedy attacks. In the 11th minute, Shimizu lost the ball in midfield and suffered a counterattack. They couldn't stop it on the right side of Tokyo, and MF Fujimoto, who was free on the left, received a pass and took a well-aimed looping shot. Shibata made a fingertip save in the top corner of the goal.

　12 minutes, Shimizu's fast break again, swung wide and attacked right back Ichikawa, but Asari blocked it and escaped danger. In the 17th minute, Shimizu's left corner kick was cleared by Akamine, but Ito crossed it again and escaped to the right corner kick. In the 21st minute, Tokyo's Akamine tried to volley the clear ball from Shimizu's defense, but couldn't find the target. After that, Shimizu continued to dominate the ball and gave them consecutive chances from set plays, but no decisive opportunities were created, with Shioda at the center.

　At the end of the first half, it seemed that the game would end as it is. However, in injury time, Shimizu was given their 9th corner kick. DF Aoyama struck the ball with a powerful header and conceded a goal. Despite managing to keep the score at 0 against Shimizu's momentum, they were caught off guard for a moment. The game ended like that, and they went into the second half trailing by 1 point.

Despite a fierce attack in the second half, we were unable to score and it became a frustrating defeat.

　In the second half, Tokyo gradually started to connect passes and attack. In the 51st minute, after stealing the opponent's ball, midfielder Konno sent a lob pass to forward Kabore, but Shimizu's defender cut it off. In the 54th minute, Otake timed a through pass to the right forward. Tokunaga advanced and crossed the ball, but it was caught by Shimizu's goalkeeper. In the 56th minute, Otake's right free kick was dropped by Asari near the far post, but it was cut off by the opponent's defender and resulted in a left corner kick. In the 58th minute, Nagatomo was fouled near the left sideline in Shimizu's half, resulting in a free kick. However, Otake's kick was cleared by Shimizu.

　Substitute Mori for Asari in the 62nd minute. Move Kajiyama to Asari's position. In the 68th minute, Otake keeps the ball on the right side. He drops a heel pass to Tokunaga who overlaps, and then delivers a perfect ground cross between the defender and the goalkeeper. However, the Shizuoka defender manages to escape with a corner kick. Sato meets Otake's ball from the left corner kick in front of the goal with his head, but it is cleared by the opposing defender. In the 71st minute, Fujiyama advances from his own half after intercepting the ball and passes it to Cabore on the left side. Cabore aims for a daring shot, but the goalkeeper punches it away. The ball goes up in the penalty area, but Akamine, who was competing for it, is judged to have committed a foul by bringing down the opponent.

　In the 74th minute, Cabore dropped the ball from Fujiyama's feed and Otake got into a shooting position. It was blocked by the Shizuoka DF, but Tokunaga crossed it early from the loose ball. Akamine from the far side returned it, but it went over the line. Tokyo further strengthened their attacking posture and substituted Hirayama for Otake in the 77th minute. Tokunaga and Nagatomo created chances from overlapping on both sides. However, in the 78th minute, Cabore couldn't finish the shot after connecting with Tokunaga's ground cross. This time, Akamine on the left received a return pass from Morimura and took a shot, but couldn't find the target.

　82 minutes, the ball is stolen in the opponent's territory and a counterattack is launched. In the end, Cabore takes a shot from just outside the area, but it lacks power and the goalkeeper catches it. In the 83rd minute, Morimura drops the ball from a right corner kick and Akamine gets into a shooting position, but Shimizu clears it persistently and it becomes a left corner kick. After that, Tokyo continues to dominate the ball, but Shimizu's counterattacks are sharp, resulting in a back and forth battle. In injury time, a feed to Hirayama is cleared by Shimizu's defender, but Cabore follows up with a direct shot. However, it misses the target by a wide margin and all hope is lost. In the second half, Tokyo had 8 corner kicks, but all of them were repelled by Shimizu's solid defense. They managed to limit the opponent to only 1 goal from a corner kick in the first half, but they were defeated without scoring any goals...

　【Player Comments】《Tokunaga》"We couldn't handle Shimizu's pressure and made a lot of mistakes ourselves. We tried to attack from the sides, but Shimizu pulled back to create a defensive block that we couldn't break through. However, in the second half, there were moments where I was able to overlap. Although there were fewer players in the middle and the accuracy of crosses was poor, we couldn't convert them into goals. We can go that far, so in the future, I want to improve our coordination with the center and increase our accuracy."《Akamine》"We had many set-piece opportunities in both attack and defense, but Shimizu scored and we couldn't. It may be a momentary difference in concentration. In the first half, our defense became a bit vague in response to the opponent's movements. So we made some adjustments to our defense. (Was the position change with Otake also for that reason?) Yes, it was. In the second half, those adjustments worked well, but we should have made those changes on the pitch during the first half."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "We expected S-Pulse to come with a strong mentality, and we entered the game thinking that we had to prevent that. However, in the first half, it was all S-Pulse's space. Still, it would have been good if we could have ended the half 0-0, but we ended up conceding a goal in the end. In terms of performance, I think 0-1 is fair, but if we had endured until the end, we should have made it through with a 0-0 score. In the second half, even at 0-1, we didn't change our pace and maintained our balance. We believed that there would always be a chance if we played patiently. However, looking back, I think we had too few shots. It's not just about the awareness of shooting, but also about whether we completely broke through to that point. We were able to break through on the sides, but we lacked the ability to break through in better positions. We should have played like we did in the second half from the beginning, and since there are more games to come, I hope we can start the next game with that kind of momentum. (Specifically, what was not good in the first half?) We were dominated by the ball. The opponents were passing the ball simply, and especially from the defense line to the top, they easily played long through balls. As a result, they created opportunities and accelerated through MF Fernandinho. There were several cases like that. First, we have to prevent long through balls to the top, and even when we finally won the ball, we couldn't keep it and control the game at our own pace. There were also mistakes in technique and decision-making, and S-Pulse had a very focused defense, not giving us any space. So, I have the impression that we couldn't overcome that."

　[Summary of Shimizu Hasegawa's press conference] "I think today's victory is a very significant result. The players ran well until the end, and the support from many fans in this rain was a great source of strength. In that sense, I believe that the players and supporters came together as one and were able to earn 3 points from Tokyo. In the first half, we were able to play at a high tempo and create the desired shape to a certain extent. We were able to attack well into the opponent's goal area from the flow of the game, and scoring from set pieces was crucial. Although there were several corner kicks in the first half, being able to take the lead in the final chance was a very important moment in today's game. In the second half, there were scenes where our physicality dropped and we were pushed back by the opponent, but I think we were able to respond properly until the end. Apart from the scene where the opponent had a shot from a second ball situation, they only had 3 shots in the second half, so I think we were able to defend well and prevent them from taking shots. In that sense, I believe that the result of being able to concentrate and fight for 90 minutes, including the players on the bench, led to today's victory at home. We have back-to-back games with only 2 days of rest, but I think this will give the team some confidence. We want to prepare well for the game against Reysol and come back with a good result."