2009 Season Opening! Moving Football's New Challenge

　The 2009 J-League season kicks off. In the first match, Albirex Niigata will face off against Ajinomoto Stadium. Building on the foundation of "Moving Football" developed last season, Jofuku Tokyo aims for further evolution this season. With the bitterness of last year in their hearts, they have focused on a more attacking style of play, emphasizing their own soccer and undergoing intensive training.

　Salt's departure, Cabore's temporary return to his home country, and injuries to Ishikawa and Nakamura, among others, have caused unexpected setbacks. However, Coach Jofuku says, "Accidents can happen at any time. We want to minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive outcome." In Tokyo's lineup, Gonda made his professional debut as a starter. New signing Hiramatsu also starts. On the right side, Nagatomo plays as a full-back, while Tokunaga is on the left. In the double pivot, Imakawa and Kanazawa are in midfield, with Kajiyama and Hanyu ahead of them. Akamine and Kondo form the attacking duo.

　Niigata, on the other hand, finished 13th in the last league. In last year's matches, Tokyo won all three games, including the Emperor's Cup, but each match was a close contest. Jun Suzuki, who is entering his fourth year as the team's coach, suggests a more attacking style of play, saying, "Based on what we have built so far, I want to add some extra changes." They are trying a 4-3-3 formation with new signings FW Oshima, FW Pedro JUNIOR, and FW Yano leading the front line, and how they can contain their wide attacking play will be one of the highlights. It is also important to be cautious of the fluid movement in the midfield, led by MF Marcio Rishardes. It is without a doubt that they will be a tough opponent for Tokyo.

　Manager Jofuku said, "Regardless of whether we can play for 90 minutes, we will show a new challenge in soccer no matter who plays." On the other hand, he continued, "We will also focus on winning without caring about the consequences," and vowed to show a fighting spirit in facing new challenges. The wind is cold but the weather is clear, and the match started with a kickoff in Tokyo at 13:04.

Taking the initiative, they constantly aimed for the Niigata goal, but...

　The start of the match was a battle for possession of the ball, with both teams launching attacks and defending. In the 3rd minute, Kondo took the first shot of the day from the right side, and gradually Tokyo began to find their rhythm. They connected passes quickly, controlled the ball, and players like Hanyu and Kajiyama moved fluidly. Nagatomo also made several attacking runs, threatening the Niigata goal.

　At 16 minutes, Inamoto crosses from the right side of the midfield. Akamine breaks free to the far post and attempts a diving header, but it goes over the bar. At 19 minutes, Kajiyama keeps the ball on the right area and Nagatomo moves forward from near the end line to deliver a ground cross into the box. Kondo jumps in, but it only results in a corner kick. At 39 minutes, Hayashi sends a ball from the left corner of the area towards the front line, but it hits a Niigata defender and ends up with Akamine in front of the goal. He gets into a shooting position but is blocked by the Niigata defender. Afterwards, Kanazawa follows up on a loose ball in front of the area and takes a shot, but it goes over the bar.

　Niigata did not allow any clear chances and constantly attacked, but they were unable to create any decisive opportunities and could not score a goal. In the midst of this, in the 44th minute, Tokyo attacked the right area after Niigata FW Pedro JUNIOR broke through and earned a corner kick. From this left corner kick, Niigata DF Jiuton scored a perfect header, resulting in a painful goal against... Despite having control of the game, they conceded a goal and entered the second half trailing.

Kondo scores the team's first goal, but fails to win the opening match with 4 goals conceded

　In the second half, we desperately wanted a goal. In the 51st minute, Kanda kicked a free kick from our own half. Inoue cut off the clearance by Niigata's defense with a header, and Hayashi immediately sent it forward. Kondo, who received the ball just outside the right area, dribbled it out and scored a spectacular goal with his left foot! He scored the team's first goal and equalized the score!

　However, immediately after the 53rd minute, from Niigata's right corner kick again, DF Chiyohantanda heads the ball. It falls to FW Oshima in the right area, and FW Pedro JUNIOR kicks it directly with a volley... Unfortunate events overlap, allowing the opponent to take the lead. After that, Tokyo starts attacking to catch up with one goal behind. In the 62nd minute, Suzuki is substituted for Kanazawa and brought in on the side. In the 64th minute, Kondo and Hanyu are substituted for Kabore and Bruno QUADROS. Suzuki initiates the attack from the right side, and in the 67th minute, Suzuki runs up the left side and dribbles into the middle to take a shot, but it goes high.

　However, the attacking posture became too strong, causing the balance to collapse and allowing Niigata to counterattack without being able to stop their momentum. In the 68th minute, DF line was taken away by Niigata FW Oshima from Hiramatsu's pass. Shigeta faced him and marked him, but a sharp shot from just outside the area pierced the net. In the 72nd minute, while attacking, Niigata MF Matsushita stole the ball and MF Marcio Rishardes played a through pass to the front line. FW Pedro JUNIOR rushed up to the left area. Here, Gonda also jumped out, but the opponent kicked one step ahead and the ball went into the unguarded goal.

　Still, in the 80th minute, Cabore connected with Nagatomo's right throw-in with a header, and Hiramatsu headed the bouncing ball towards the goal, but it narrowly missed the crossbar. They continued to threaten the Niigata goal until the end, but they suffered a bitter defeat in the opening match of the 2009 season, conceding a massive four goals due to mistakes.

　【Player Comments】《Gonda》"Losing by 4 goals is frustrating, to say the least. Most of the shots that were taken turned into clear scoring opportunities. I personally have to reflect on the fact that if I had stopped even just one of them, and as a team, we need to acknowledge that every opportunity became a scoring chance. It was very reassuring to hear the supporters cheering us on from behind, and thanks to them, we were able to enter the game smoothly. I thought I would be more nervous, but I was able to approach the game with a calm mindset than I had anticipated."《Hiramatsu》"We approached the game calmly... We were cautious about not allowing Niigata FW Pedro JUNIOR to easily turn towards our goal, but in the end, they created a chance towards the end of the first half and won a corner kick. We had been vigilant about set plays, but I don't think we were able to maintain our focus. We have a lot to reflect on regarding these aspects. Personally, I feel like I was able to handle one-on-one defense and aerial duels to some extent... However, I keenly felt the "scoring prowess" of J1 players. Additionally, in the second half, when the entire team was losing balance, we were unable to regain our composure, and that is also an area we need to work on."

　[Summary of Manager Shirofuku's Press Conference] "I am very sorry and disappointed that I couldn't meet the expectations of the fans, supporters, and team sponsors who have been eagerly waiting for today's opening. In the first half, we were mostly following our plan and didn't have many situations where we were broken down, but we conceded a goal from a set piece. We also conceded a goal right after equalizing, again from a set piece. It is difficult to win in the J-League when we concede two goals from corner kicks, and we need to strongly reflect on the timing of conceding goals and making the same mistakes. Personal mistakes also contributed to us conceding the third and fourth goals, and if we don't stand firm there, we will lose the qualification to use the word 'we will compete for the championship this year' very early on. We need to sort things out properly and start fresh for the next game. I want to work hard so that we can give the supporters a good experience next time."

　[Summary of Niigata Suzuki's press conference] "A lot of supporters from Niigata came to support us. We are very happy that Niigata won their first opening match in J1, both me and the supporters. The game was tough for both teams as it was the opening match. There were many long balls, and Tokyo was the first to regain composure and start creating opportunities. In that situation, we wanted to build the game from the full-back position, but we couldn't carry the ball forward due to the opponent's pressure, and we lost the ball in the midfield, which led to their attacks. However, in defense, although they moved the ball, we didn't collapse, so I wasn't too worried. We were able to score from a corner kick in the 44th minute, so it was a decent first half. In the second half, we were struggling to pick up the second ball from Tokyo's goalkeeper's long balls since the first half, and we conceded a goal because we couldn't pick up that second ball. We need to fix that in training. After that, we were able to score in quick succession, and the attacking line was in great form. FW Oshima and Pedro JUNIOR, among others, fit well into the team and scored goals, which will lead to the future."