Approach with a sense of crisis and confront Chiba at home, National Stadium

　Sec. 6 will be held at Japan National Stadium, welcoming JEF United Chiba as the home team. In the previous match against Kashima, although they showed a promising fight, they couldn't secure a victory. Coach Hiroshi JOFUKU expressed his concern, saying, "The challenges that we have been working on as a team were clearly evident in the first 15 minutes of the game. It hasn't been resolved yet."

　And in order to break this situation, he continued, "It is necessary to change the combination of members once again and to have a sense of responsibility and crisis individually under intense competition." In this round, the members were changed from the previous round, and Imano was assigned as a center back, and Yonemoto, who made his first professional start, was appointed as a defensive midfielder. Kondo will lead the front line and face the game.

　Chiba, on the other hand, has not yet won in the league with 3 draws and 2 losses. However, Coach Hiroshi JOFUKU is not letting his guard down, saying, "Under Coach Miller, they will come up with measures to firmly suppress the opponent's strong points." Above all, their strong determination and eagerness to bet on this crucial match have already been proven in the final match of last season. It is an absolute requirement for victory to not just defend against Chiba's strong determination, but to concentrate from the start of the match.

　Chiba is also sharp on the counterattack, with FW Makoto Kashiwagi hitting the ball and FW Fukai and others making bold runs. MF Kudo's movements are also skillful, and we want to thoroughly prevent them from easily playing. In the attack, it will be necessary to break through Chiba's compact defense by basing it on the wide shape shown in the Kashima match. The goal, of course, is to acquire 3 points, but we want to take advantage of every opportunity and ideally score 2 or more goals step by step. Under the spring-like weather, the National Stadium was enveloped in the twilight. The match started with Chiba's kickoff at 19:04.

Seizing control on the right side, Kei Ishikawa takes the lead with his first goal of the season!

　From the beginning, both teams showed intense fighting spirit and went towards the ball. The match continued with both teams exchanging kicks, but Ishikawa fought well in both attack and defense, creating chances from the right side. In the 6th minute, Tokunaga, who had advanced forward, was fouled on the right front line, earning a free kick. Ishikawa pretended to kick a lofted ball and instead sent a ground pass to Kondo just outside the penalty area, but the kick was weak and they couldn't synchronize their timing. In the 9th minute, Cabore stole the loose ball and dribbled forward, expanding to the right front line. Ishikawa caught up and passed to Tokunaga, who had moved up to support. Kajiyama met the subsequent cross with a half-volley from the far side, but it went straight to the opponent's GK.

　At 15 minutes, Chiba's long pass was successfully dropped by FW Maki, and MF Kudo advanced from the position of defensive midfielder to create a shooting opportunity, but Kanda caught it. In the 18th minute, Yonehara cleared the pass to Chiba's front line with a header. Kajiyama received this and passed it to Cabore, who then passed it back to Kajiyama. Kajiyama passed it to Ishikawa, who was drifting to the left. Ishikawa dribbled into the middle and skillfully evaded the defenders with a powerful right-footed shot that grazed the goalkeeper's hand and went into the top right corner. Ishikawa's strong first goal of the season gives the team the lead!

　In the 20th minute, Chiba's quick attack was received and FW Fukai broke through to the front line, but Nagatomo stopped him. From the FK given, they were attacked in front of the goal, but the defense cleared it with their bodies. There was also a save by Kanda, and they defended the subsequent CK. In the 26th minute, Kondo broke through to the front line and took a powerful shot, but couldn't find the target. In the 38th minute, Ishikawa caught up with a long side change pass and connected with Hayashi, who went up on the outside. They showed good coordination, but the ball sent inside by Hayashi hit the opponent's DF. Although they couldn't capitalize on the chance, they remained calm in defense and held back Chiba's powerful counterattack, leading by one goal going into the second half.

Lost 2 points in the last 5 minutes and suffered a comeback defeat...

　In the second half, Chiba quickly grasped the rhythm. However, Tokyo responded firmly at the backline and calmly defended, gradually taking control of the pace with speedy attacks. In the 53rd minute, after Kondo's reliable post play, Hayashi, who had moved up front, attracted the attention of the defenders and quickly spread the ball to the left. Cabore swung his right foot freely from just outside the central area, but his shot was blocked by Chiba's goalkeeper, resulting in a corner kick. Cabore then connected with the clearance from this left corner kick, and finally, Tokunaga's shot from the left area found the back of the net, but it was ruled as offside and disallowed... In the 56th minute, Kondo received a vertical pass and attempted a shot from a difficult angle, but it was also blocked by the goalkeeper.

　The time passed without being able to score an additional goal. Here, Chiba substitutes MF Yonekura with MF Tanizawa in the 63rd minute. Tokyo also substitutes Suzuki for Ishikawa in the 64th minute. In the 67th minute, Chiba FW Fukai sprints from the left side to the center. Yamamoto is turned around and shot at by Tokyo's defense. The course changes as it hits Tokyo's DF, making it a close call. It narrowly misses the goal and avoids danger, but the game becomes intense and the lines become stretched, leading to a counterattack. In the 69th minute, Asari is substituted for Yamamoto in an attempt to calm the game down.

　However, in the face of Chiba's determination, both teams had a "one-shot" chance. In the 78th minute, Cabore was replaced by Akamine. They tried to press from the front line, but in the 82nd minute, Chiba stole the ball in the midfield and launched a counterattack. The ball was floated in front of the Tokyo goal, and finally FW Maki headed it. The floating ball went over goalkeeper Kanda's outstretched hand and hit the crossbar... It was a breathtaking moment, but they were also helped by a mistake.

　However, in the 86th minute, from Chiba MF Tanizawa's throw-in, MF Alex, who had moved up to the left front line in a deep position, passed the ball to the center on the ground. This took advantage of Tokyo DF's gap and reached FW Maki, who was free in front of the goal. He slid and kicked it in, resulting in a goal... Our feet stopped during the restart, allowing the equalizer.

　Tokyo, who desperately wanted a victory at home, attacked in the remaining few minutes of injury time to try to take the lead, but instead Chiba threw a long ball and Chiba FW Makoto connected it to the front line with a header from Chiba GK's long kick. Unable to take this ball, FW Fukai was persistent, MF Tanizawa was passed to FW Fukai who broke out on the right side. They were able to score this goal with certainty, and all hope was lost... In the final moments, Chiba, who never gives up, took advantage of Tokyo's momentary pause and scored 2 goals, resulting in a shocking comeback defeat. They suffered their second consecutive loss at home.

　【Player Comments】《Ishikawa》"It's frustrating and there are a lot of things I need to reflect on. On the other hand, there were also parts where I was able to do well. It's necessary to continue working towards results while not losing sight of that. Last year, there were also tough times and I was also very frustrated in today's match against Kashima in the previous round. I think this frustration will make the team and individuals stronger. Regarding scoring, we missed some close chances in the previous round, so it was good to be able to calmly kick the ball. However, both myself and the team have been unable to score a second goal. Even though the defense is working hard, it's still tough when we only have one goal. (Were there any harsh voices from the supporters?) That just shows how passionately they support us. We are the ones actually playing on the pitch, so we will sincerely accept those voices and continue to work towards receiving applause in the next match. It's frustrating, but we have no choice but to keep going."《Yonemoto》"Personally, I think there were some good plays and my body was moving well. I was determined to give my all and fight until my legs cramped, so in that sense it was good... But it's disappointing and frustrating that the team lost. I thought my role was to defend in the midfield and I think there were some parts where I was able to do that, but I was only able to make one pass that led to an attack. In the future, I want to be more actively involved in the ball as a plus alpha and be able to add rhythm to the team. Today, I felt more lacking in technique than physical strength. I want to use this frustration from the loss as motivation and do my best for the next match."

　[Summary of Coach Shirofuku's Press Conference] "Very disappointing. I apologize for making the fans feel frustrated. (What was the intention behind the player substitutions?) Some players were tired, had conditioning issues, or had minor accidents with their legs. There were substitutions made for those reasons, as well as to convey tactical messages. (Did the team panic when the opponents exploited the defense's blind spot?) We were in a leading position, so we knew the opponents would come attacking. We should have stayed calm and defended properly... In a situation where we could have scored the second goal, I think I went a bit too far when I made the third substitution, and we lost control. We went too far forward both in terms of numbers and consciously. Even if it's said that the message didn't get across in the end, there's nothing we can do about it."

　[Summary of Chiba Alex Miller's press conference] "I think the first half was an even game, but we were unable to keep possession and easily lost the ball, which allowed the opponent to attack easily. Even when we had the ball, we only made 1-2 passes before it was taken away by the opponent and they repeatedly attacked us. In the second half, the players started to press the opponent more, and from there we were able to regain possession and make good movements in the attack, allowing us to use the wings. In the last 15 minutes, we completely took control. As for the second half, our defense also fought well against Tokyo's counterattacks, as we pushed forward. Especially regarding DF Sakamoto, he changed positions from right back to center back and did a fantastic job. Sakamoto is an experienced player. Tokyo's number 18 player was trying to exploit the space behind DF Aoki, but Aoki responded well to that. Therefore, we kept Aoki in that position and moved Wada to the right side, bringing Sakamoto to CB. In the previous few games, we were able to play well, so the players should have known what kind of play was expected of them. In that sense, we were able to respond well to Tokyo."