GAME RESULTMatch Results

Sec. 15 2009/6/27 (Sat)
Audience 28,987 people 
Weather: Cloudy, weak temperature 26.0 degrees, humidity 64% 
Referee: Nobutsugu MURAKAMI Assistant Referees: Haruhiro OTSUKA/Shinichi HIRANO Fourth Official: Kazuhiko MAEJIMA

J1 Sec. 15

National

HOME

FC Tokyo

2-1

Match ended

First half1-0

Second half1-1

AWAY

Shimizu S-Pulse

FC Tokyo Shimizu S-Pulse
07' Yohei KAJIYAMA
62' Naohiro ISHIKAWA
Scorer 58' Jansen
74' Naotake HANYU → Tatsuya SUZUKI
85' Cabore → Kenta MUKUHARA
89' Naohiro ISHIKAWA → Shingo AKAMINE
Player substitution 42' Takumasa Edamura → Marcos Paulo
73' Akihiro Hyodo → Jungo Fujimoto
83' Daisuke Ichikawa → Shinji Tsujio
15 Shoot 9
5 CK 4
11 FK 20
17' Sota Hirayama
26' Yohei Kajiyama
42' Shuichi Gonda
66' Yasuyuki Konno
Warning 06' Akhiro Hyodo
Expulsion
FC Tokyo Starting
GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 25 Yuhei TOKUNAGA
DF 4 Bruno QUADROS
DF 6 Yasuyuki KONNO
DF 5 Yuto NAGATOMO
MF 28 Takuji YONEMOTO
MF 10 Yohei KAJIYAMA
MF 18 Naohiro ISHIKAWA
MF 22 Naotake HANYU
FW 9 Cabore
FW 13 Sota HIRAYAMA
FC Tokyo Substitute
GK 1 Hitoshi SHIOTA
DF 3 Hideki SAHARA
DF 33 Kenta MUKUHARA
MF 17 Jo KANAZAWA
MF 27 Sotan TANABE
MF 40 Tatsuya SUZUKI
FW 24 Shingo AKAMINE
Shimizu S-Pulse starting lineup
GK 29 Kaito YAMAMOTO
DF 25 Ichikawa Daisuke
DF 3 Naoki Aoyama
DF 2 Kodama Shin
DF 4 Kosuke OTA
MF 23 Shinji Okazaki
MF 8 Shoma Edamura
MF 7 Teruyoshi ITO
MF 13 Akihiro Hyodo
FW 11 Hara Kazuki
FW 18 YONSEN
Shimizu S-Pulse substitute
GK 21 Yohei Nishibe
DF 26 Yasuhiro HIRAOKA
DF 14 Takagi Junpei
DF 15 Tsujio Shinji
MF 16 Honda Takuya
MF 6 Marcos PAULO
MF 10 Jun'go Fujimoto

[Player and Coach Comments]

Aiming for consecutive victories, this time we will share the stars equally!


 Sec. 15 of the league will welcome Shimizu S-Pulse at Japan National Stadium. The team is currently on a winning streak of 3 consecutive victories, scoring 3 goals in each match from the June 3rd Nabisco Yamagata match to the league match against Kashiwa, and they have found their rhythm. In this match, they aim to continue their winning streak in the league and also want to even out their head-to-head record. Coach Shimizu Taku also expressed his determination, saying, "By evening out the stars, the players should gain mental composure. This will enable them to make better decisions and enter an even better cycle. However, last season, we suffered a painful defeat just before achieving a 6-game winning streak against Shimizu. That's why I want to start the counterattack in this match."

 Shimizu, who will face us, is also in good form. In the previous match against Yamagata, they were missing defender Aoyama due to suspension, but the national team's midfielder Okazaki and forward Jansen returned. With forwards Hara, Okazaki, and Jansen all scoring goals, they are currently on a 3-game winning streak in the league. They can also be considered to be in excellent form. They will surely come at us with determination to repay their debt from the Nabisco Cup. We must pay close attention to Okazaki and Hara's runs behind the defense, as well as Jansen's height. On the other hand, Tokyo wants to suppress Shimizu's attacking opportunities by gaining an advantage in the midfield. Creating rhythm from defense and executing coordinated attacks will be the key to victory.

 Tokyo will face the same starting lineup as the previous match. Shimizu will be without defender Iwashita. At the start, Aoyama and Kodama formed the center-back pairing, with Ito and Edamura in the double pivot midfield. Okazaki played on the left side, while Yonson and Hara formed the two-man attack. It will be a match between two teams in good form, but both have struggled in the early stages of the season, making this match an important one to determine their future. They will give their all and aim for victory! The hot daytime sun finally began to fade at the National Stadium. The match started with Shimizu's kickoff at 19:04.

Cabore earns a penalty kick, Kajiyama stabs it in, taking an early lead


 At the 6th minute, Iwakawa intercepted Shimizu's ball in the midfield and tried to attack, but was fouled, earning a free kick. Bruno QUADROS sent this free kick to the front line, where Cabore dropped it and tried to break through, but was fouled, earning a penalty kick. In the 7th minute, Kajiyama kicked the penalty with his right foot, scoring in the opposite side's sharp course and taking the lead early in the game.

 In the 14th minute, they launched a counterattack from their own half, and Kabore tenaciously kept the ball in the right area. Ishikawa, who had moved up to support, sent a cross to the center, and Hirayama in front of the goal attempted an overhead shot, but couldn't find the target. Shimizu also relentlessly exploited the space behind the Tokyo DF, with FW Yoensen as the starting point and MF Okazaki and FW Hara making runs. In the 15th minute, from the ball dropped by Shimizu FW Yoensen, MF Okazaki made a move in the left area and made a final pass to MF Hyodo, who had run into the opposite side. MF Hyodo took a step dribble and got into a shooting position, but Imakono intercepted and it resulted in a corner kick.

 In the 29th minute, Tokyo gave a left FK to Shimizu inside the Tokyo team, and MF Hyodo kicked sharply to the front line. In front of Gonda who jumped out, he was competed by MF Okazaki and dropped it, and FW Jonsen jumped in, but Bruno QUADROS cut it with a sliding tackle just before the goal line. It was a dangerous scene, but Tokyo's defense also responded calmly. From a tenacious defense, they tried to connect passes and initiate their own soccer.

 35 minutes, Tokunaga's early cross was sent to the far side, but Cabore jumped and couldn't connect. In the 36th minute, Ishikawa, who changed his position to the left side, took a shot, but it narrowly missed the goal. In the 40th minute, Tokunaga, Hanyu, Kajiyama, and Cabore exchanged quick passes on the right front line, and finally, Yonemoto advanced to the sideline and crossed the ball, but it went out. In the back and forth battle, the first half ended with a score of 1-0.

Ishikawa scores for the third consecutive game to equalize! Persistently snatch victory


 In the 46th minute of the second half, FW YONSEN headed the ball from Shimizu's FK. In the 47th minute, Cabore passed to Tokunaga who crossed from the right, and Hirayama in the left area dropped the ball with a header. Ishikawa in the center then shot with his left foot, but neither of them scored. In the 50th minute, Cabore didn't miss the control mistake of Shimizu's DF and quickly snatched the ball and rushed towards the goal. He faced the Shimizu GK in a one-on-one situation, but his shot curved to the left and he couldn't take advantage of the big chance.

 Then, Shimizu, who was trailing by one point, gained momentum. Starting from FW Yonsen, MF Okazaki, who changed his position to attacking midfielder, launched a counterattack by making sharp movements and targeting the back of Tokyo DF. In the 58th minute, Shimizu left full-back Ota made a long pass to MF Okazaki, who had escaped behind the DF line. The ball, which was cleared by Bruno QUADROS with a header, seemed to be offside for a moment, but it passed to Shimizu FW Yonsen inside the penalty area and was kicked directly, resulting in a goal conceded...

 The score was tied, but we didn't panic and launched a counterattack. In the 62nd minute, just 4 minutes after conceding a goal, Nagatomo passed the ball from the left side to Hirayama in the center. Kajiyama connected with the loose ball from the opponent's defender and Ishikawa, who had moved into the center from the right, took a shot with his right foot. The ball hit the inside of the crossbar and dropped down, GOAL! It was a splendid goal by Ishikawa, his third consecutive goal, which gave us the lead.

 Still, Shimizu did not give up and launched a powerful counterattack, which troubled the opponents. In the 81st minute, Shimizu's right SB, Ichikawa, overlapped and delivered a precise cross. Gonda, who came out to catch it, missed the ball, and it was returned to the center by Shimizu's MF Fujimoto, but it was cleared with a brave effort. In the 85th minute, Muhara was substituted for Kabore, and everyone worked together to cover the defense. In the 89th minute, Shimizu's FW Jansen sent a ball to the left front line, and MF Okazaki ran for it, but Imamura responded perfectly. Immediately after, FW Jansen -> MF Okazaki took a shot, but Kajiyama calmly intercepted it in front of the goal, and the game ended. Despite Shimizu being under pressure, they showed resilience and achieved their second consecutive victory in the league.

 【Player Comments】《Kajiyama》"We scored early and were able to progress well. In the second half, Shimizu gained momentum and caught up, but Nao-san scored the second goal for us and we were able to secure the win. In the second half, we were aware that Shimizu, who was behind, would definitely come out attacking, so we focused on competing firmly against FW Yongsen and thoroughly covering the surrounding areas. I think we were able to achieve our defensive goals. In terms of attack, we were able to take it to the cross, but it was just being bounced back. What kind of play to make at that time is still a challenge. We want to enhance the team's common awareness and make adjustments."《Yonemoto》"If we win today, we can gain momentum again and we wanted to bring our performance to a draw no matter what. We scored first and in the first half, we were able to calmly pass the ball. However, the start of the second half was a problem. We were under attack for a long time, and it would have been better if we had started chasing earlier... We tried to maintain a compact formation together, but Shimizu targeted the back of our defense and we dropped back a little too much. It is a challenge to be able to raise the line even in such situations."

 [Summary of Coach Jofuku's Press Conference] "This season has been tough from the beginning, and we really struggled in March and April. It was a challenging two months where we constantly tried to play a new style of football and experienced the pains of childbirth. However, starting from May, we started to feel some progress and were able to gradually show what we are aiming for in the games, including the Nabisco Cup qualifiers. And as the results started to come, today we all stepped onto the pitch with a strong determination that if we can get a draw today, we can start a new beginning and kick off the summer of counterattacks. Last season, we played against Shimizu five times and struggled to break their solid defense. How to break that thorough zone defense was a major factor in determining our performance this season. In the recent Nabisco Cup match, we happened to score three goals, but today everyone had the courage to build up and shake the opponent. We are still not satisfied with the level of completion, but I think everyone's efforts have led to results. It was great that we could start the summer of counterattacks together with the support of 29,000 fans."

 [Summary of Shimizu Hasegawa's press conference] "Very disappointing. I don't think the result reflected the performance. Many supporters gave us passionate support, and both teams played a heated game in response to that support. We made some adjustments to the system at the beginning of the second half to create more pressure in front of the goal, and we were able to equalize as planned. After that, it became a situation of who would score first... Unfortunately, Tokyo scored a fantastic shot first, and we couldn't score any additional points. However, in terms of the content of the game and the players' mentality, they did well. Of course, we knew that Tokyo has been in good form recently, but it was a game where we wanted to win and gain more confidence against such a team. Nevertheless, the league is still wide open. We want to switch gears and prepare for the next home game."