Nabisco Cup kicks off, starting anew with a strong determination

　The 2009 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup starts today. The first match of the qualifying league is against Kashiwa Reysol. This season's Nabisco Cup will have two groups, each consisting of seven teams (Group B: Yamagata/Chiba/Kashiwa/Tokyo/Shimizu/Kyoto/Kobe), and they will play a round-robin qualifying league. The top two teams will advance to the knockout tournament.

　From the first victory in the league match to the match held in 3 days, and with Nagatomo and Konno absent from the national team, Coach Jofuku said, "In the midst of a flat competition, we will face the game with the lineup of players who have prepared." Fujiyama will play as a left fullback, and Kajiyama and Kanazawa will form the midfield. Asari, Hiroe, and Mukuhara also made their first appearance in the team this season and will be on the bench.

　Kashiwa, on the other hand, has drawn all three league matches. They should come to this match with a new mindset aiming for their first home victory. Under the command of coach Shinichiro TAKAHASHI from this season, they are challenging not only the "soccer that utilizes speed from a solid defense" that they have shown so far, but also the soccer that breaks through with passing. In this match, they have changed the lineup, with forward Kitajima at the forefront, forward Popo as the attacking midfielder, and forward Ota and Otsu on both sides. However, above all, they need to be cautious of their speedy and powerful counterattacks.

　The first match of an important tournament where we want to seize the momentum. The overall strength of the team will be tested, as well as how much we can make use of each individual's characteristics, which will be the key. Coach Shirofuku said, "Our goal this season is to win a title. We have a strong desire to stand on the stage of the final," and once again showed his enthusiasm for winning the title, vowing to start the new tournament with a strong determination to win. The Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium, with cloudy skies and occasional light rain. In the midst of feeling the harsh cold, the match started exactly at 7:00 PM with Kashiwa's kickoff.

Trailing by 2 points, but caught up with Cabore's goal!

　Kashiwa took control of the rhythm from the kick-off. They launched a speedy attack, with right midfielder Ota and others attacking one after another from the sides. However, Tokyo's defense remained calm and responded well. They quickly switched to an attacking mode and in the 12th minute, Ishikawa made a fierce dribble. He shot a powerful shot, but it hit the crossbar... In the 19th minute, Kabore in the center controlled a lofted pass from the right, immediately turned around and took a shot! It flew towards the bottom right corner of the goal, but it was blocked by a great save from the Kashiwa goalkeeper... This time, Hirayama picked up the rebound in close range on the right side and took a shot, but it hit the far post and bounced out... They couldn't capitalize on the chance.

　In the 22nd minute, Kawasaki Frontale's defense was breached on the right side by Tokyo, and a cross was delivered from a high position. It was perfectly met by midfielder Yamane who was positioned in the center, and finally a goal was conceded... We wanted to calmly turn the tide and launch a counterattack, but unfortunately, a mistake was made during the attack, and the situation of being hit by a sharp counterattack from Tokyo did not change. In the 31st minute, a pass from the Tokyo defense inside their own territory was intercepted by Kashiwa, and Tokunaga had no choice but to stop it with a foul. This gave Kashiwa a free kick from the left area just outside the box. In the 32nd minute, Kashiwa forward Popo aimed directly for this free kick, and the ball that dropped was powerfully placed into the bottom left corner, resulting in the second goal being conceded...

　However, in the 33rd minute immediately after, Cabore aggressively closed in on the goalkeeper's trap mistake of Kashiwa MF's back pass and stole the ball, scoring a goal! Both teams launched a quick attack and narrowed the gap to one point. Then, in the 41st minute, Sasaki and Shigemori successfully defended against Kashiwa MF Ota's and FW Kitajima's offensive move and launched a counterattack. Habu passed to Cabore, who broke through the right side, but no one was able to follow up. In the 44th minute, Tokunaga, who had changed positions to left fullback, made a move and entered the left area. He passed it back, and Ishikawa crossed the ball, but it didn't reach Hirayama in the right area... Nevertheless, Tokyo's rhythm finally started to emerge, raising hopes for a comeback as they entered the second half.

Despite creating many chances, the team suffered a tough defeat with 3 goals conceded...

　However, in the early stages of the second half at the 46th minute, Kashiwa FW Otsu, who received a pass from the right side with his back to the goal in the central area, tried to slip past Fujiyama who was marking him. Fujiyama was judged to have fouled Otsu, resulting in a penalty kick. Otsu himself scored this penalty kick, and we lost our third goal...

　In the 52nd minute, Suzuki was substituted for Hanyu. Immediately after, Suzuki attacked the left side and became the starting point, launching a wave of attacks towards the goal. Suzuki tenaciously picked up the loose ball from the resilient Kashiwa DF, and Kajiyama brought it into the right area for a shot. However, it was blocked by the DF again, and Sahara took a shot from the loose ball, but couldn't finish it off from there to the front line's Hirayama.

　In the 59th minute, Akamine was replaced by Akamine, and in the 63rd minute, Ishikawa was replaced by Otake. They energetically stole the ball from Kashiwa, whose stamina had begun to decline, and gathered the ball in the front line to create chances. In the 64th minute, Cabore crossed from the right after a loose ball from a set play. Sasaki and Kajiyama, who were still attacking, connected, and Suzuki shot from the loose ball, but it went high. In the 68th minute, Suzuki received a free kick from Gonda and took a bold shot. The Kashiwa goalkeeper punched it and it resulted in a left throw-in. However, they were unable to continue attacking from there.

　In the 74th minute, Kajiyama steals the ball in the midfield and dribbles. Otake -> Tokunaga makes a move, but is blocked by Kashiwa. Otake then steals the loose ball and delivers a strong cross from the left area. However, it doesn't reach Akamine at the far post and slightly goes over the line. In the 81st minute, starting from Kajiyama, they attack and Suzuki from the right area calmly evades the opponent's defender and takes a shot. However, the Kashiwa defender who covered blocks it. From the loose ball, Otake tries to score from the right area in front of the goal, but it goes wide. In the end, despite taking 10 shots in the second half, they couldn't convert any of them. The 3 goals conceded had an impact, and they suffered a tough defeat...

　【Player Comments】《Kanazawa》"We were pushed back by Kashiwa's momentum from the start. It would have been good if we could have held on and endured it by breaking through. However, the passing between the defenders and midfielders became ambiguous, and that's where they took control. Personally, I was thinking about maintaining balance and getting more opportunities to touch the ball and make plays, but we were constantly chasing two points, and it became a tough situation. Everyone knew that this was an important first match in the Nabisco Cup, and we were all motivated. Unfortunately, we couldn't turn that into results, and it's very disappointing."《Hirayama》"We were losing the ball poorly and repeatedly exposed to short counters. We were hit back in a numerical disadvantageous situation, and it was tough. Especially in the first half, I have regrets that we should have played a bit more simply."

　[Summary of Coach Jofuku's Press Conference] "It's very disappointing that we couldn't give a win to the supporters who came to cheer us on away in the cold rain on a weekday night. The pitch was slippery, requiring both decision-making and technical skills, and there were many instances where our decision-making was lacking, not just our technical abilities. There were also several instances where we were weak in one-on-one situations. Perhaps due to poor decision-making and being easily dispossessed, our physical burden became high, and we couldn't fight as well. I was dissatisfied with the fact that we didn't fight in the one-on-one situations right in front of us. Knowing that the opponent is strong in counterattacks when we lose the ball, we wanted to finish our attacks with shots or by exploiting the opponent's blind spots. However, due to the slippery pitch, we couldn't execute such plays. As a result, we felt like we were repeatedly hit by the opponent's strong counterattacks. It's very frustrating, but in the next match, we will make adjustments and prepare to show that we can fight against the opponent right in front of us."

　[Kashiwa · Coach Takahashi's summary of the press conference] "Throughout the first and second halves, the players expressed their strong desire to win on the pitch. There were some dangerous moments, but we also had some luck, and I fought with the same desire to win that brings luck. The players fought for us, and the supporters fought for us as well. I think today's victory can be attributed to that. We used many players who hadn't played in the matches so far, but they showed no inferiority in their play compared to the players who had been playing. They should have had the desire to play in the matches, and they also had an image of what kind of play they would make when they got the chance to play. Including the players who have started in the matches so far, we can expect a healthy competition."