Win at Ajinomoto Stadium during the halfway point of the league!

　The league season this year also reaches the halfway point with the 17th section, and will face Nagoya Grampus in a match held at Ajinomoto Stadium for the first time since May 24th. In the previous away match against Kobe, they won with a score of 2-0, currently on a 5-game winning streak in official matches. They have achieved 3 consecutive victories in the league, and for the first time since the opening, they have taken the lead with a white star and risen to the highest position of 5th place this season. However, Coach Jofuku said, "There is no time to look back on what has happened so far. Anyway, I don't want to stop this progress," expressing a strong determination to rise to the top. The team will continue to work under this continuous effort as they approach this section.

　Nagoya, who will be playing against, has decided to transfer their main FW David to the Qatar League. However, he is still eligible to play in the next 3 matches and has also been named in the starting lineup for this match. They also have a versatile attacking lineup with FW Tamada, who is a member of the Japanese national team, MF Ogawa, who was the Rookie of the Year in the J-League last season, and MF Maginun, among others, and their specialty is side attacks. The team's overall strength should have increased through their experience on the AFC stage. Coach Shirofuku is not letting his guard down, saying, "FW David will come out with a high motivation for his last countdown," and at the same time, he pointed out, "Nagoya will use the field widely and launch side attacks from the outside. It is not a good situation for us to keep being swung from side to side. We need to prevent the opponent from showing their good side."

　Despite starting the season slowly, we have gradually climbed up the rankings through twists and turns. However, the "Summer of Counterattack" has just begun. In order to earn the right to enter the top group, we cannot afford to lose the 3 points at home in Ajinomoto Stadium. As the year comes to an end, Ajinomoto Stadium is getting darker. Tokyo will face the match with the same starting lineup as the previous round, and the game started with Nagoya's kickoff at 18:34.

5 consecutive Naogoals! Following the previous round, Cabore adds another point

　The match started off with a bang. In the 3rd minute, Gonda's goal kick was dropped by Hirayama on the left front line and passed to Ishikawa in the center. Ishikawa's trap was a bit too big, but he quickly turned towards the goal, changed his position, dribbled up smoothly, slipped through the three opposing defenders in the center of the area, and swung his right foot! The ball found the bottom right corner of the goal with a sharp trajectory and scored. With Naogoal's fifth consecutive goal, they quickly took the lead.

　Tokyo, who took the lead, showed a calm game. In the 8th minute, Cabore was fouled on the left side and won a free kick. In response to Ishikawa's kick, Imakano headed the ball but narrowly missed the target. Tokyo's attacks, starting from Nagoya's side, were defended safely. In the 16th minute, from Nagoya MF Yamaguchi's right cross, MF Ogawa, who had slipped behind Tokyo DF in the left area, took a shot, but Gonda caught it easily. In the 26th minute, Tokyo launched a quick counterattack, with Kajiyama advancing and playing a vertical pass to the right front line. Ishikawa, who received the ball, brought it into the center and aimed for the goal without hesitation, but narrowly missed to the right.

　28 minutes, Nagoya received a pass from MF Ogawa in the left area, and FW Davi, who received the pass, turned around in front of the area and took a shot, but it went over the bar. In the 29th minute, Tokyo created an attacking opportunity. Yonemoto created space and drew out Nagatomo's overlap. Nagatomo, who received the pass in the left area corner, dribbled towards the center. He took a shot towards the left side of the goal, but couldn't find the target.

　The development was back and forth, but in the 34th minute, Nagoya's right cross was cut by Konno. Yonehara -> Kajiyama -> Hirayama -> Ishikawa rushed into the right area and sent a last pass to the center. Hayu's shot, which was taken with speed, was saved by the goalkeeper once, but Cabore neatly followed up on the rebound and scored with his left foot! From a sharp counterattack, just like in the previous match, Cabore scored an additional goal and led by 2 points as they entered the second half.

Suzuki secures the final goal with a stable game play, and achieves a resounding victory at Ajinomoto Stadium

　In the second half, Nagoya replaced MF Yoshimura with FW Maki in the front line. FW Tamada played as MF, and MF Ogawa took on the role of defensive midfielder, launching a counterattack. However, Tokyo took the advantage with a stable game. In the 48th minute, Cabore kept the ball on the right side. From there, Hirayama received a pass near the right area and turned around to shoot. In the 56th minute, a counterattack was launched, and Cabore broke through the left front line from Nagatomo. From there, a pass was made again to Nagatomo, who ran into the center of the area, but the trap was too big and he couldn't make a shot.

　In the 64th minute, Tanabe, who made his first appearance at Ajinomoto, replaced Hayu. In the immediate 67th minute, Yonemoto, who advanced into the opponent's territory, competed with the opponent and failed, but connected with Tanabe who came up from behind. Tanabe smoothly dribbled into the area and made a final pass to Cabore on the right side! However, Cabore's decisive shot was blocked by the goalkeeper's save...

　In the second half, we were unable to fully capitalize on good opportunities, while on the other hand, Nagoya did not create any chances. In the 77th minute, Suzuki replaced Ishikawa, and in the 80th minute, Akamine was substituted for Cabore. On the other hand, Nagoya suffered an accident when substitute midfielder Hanai injured his right shoulder after the 78th minute. Since they had already used all their substitution slots, they were forced to play with 10 players and had no remaining strength for a counterattack.

　In the 43rd minute, Akamine, who had drifted to the left side, advanced with a dribble. He passed to Hirayama, who was free in the center of the area. However, the timing was slightly off and Hirayama's trap became too big, unable to finish. In the 44th minute, Kajiyama dropped the ball to Hirayama securely, and Suzuki in the front center area entered a shooting position, but it was blocked. Then, in injury time, Suzuki passed to Akamine on the side from Tokunaga behind. Akamine kept the ball once and passed it to Suzuki, who had moved up to support from a long distance. Suzuki dribbled to the center and shot as he entered the area. He decisively scored with his left foot, securing the third goal as a finishing touch, and the game was over. With a comfortable 3-0 victory, they achieved their first win at Ajinomoto Stadium since the Omiya match in the 9th round on May 2nd.

　【Player Comment】《Suzuki》"(Regarding the goal) It was a play considering the situation of leading by 2 points. Personally, I also had the desire to take a shot, but I wanted to avoid going forcefully and getting caught on the counter. Just at that moment, a perfect ball came from Akamine, and Tanabe cleverly lured the opponent's defender, so I thought I had no choice but to shoot. I hesitated until the last moment, but I'm glad it went in. I think expressing my strong feelings led to the goal. In order to aim for the top, I think it's important to score an additional goal to seal the victory. While being conscious of that, I want to play with the balance of protecting the lead and scoring more goals without making the wrong decision. The soccer we are playing now has a solid foundation, so we can have confidence. But let's not be complacent and approach the next game with the desire to aim even higher."

　"Hanyu" "The current team is flowing so well that it feels like things are going too smoothly. There is a sense of confidence that if we try what we need to do, we will definitely get results. We were talking about whether we were falling behind in that flow, myself and player Hirayama (laughs), but Sota is also doing a great job, and each player's role is fluid. So it's difficult for the opponents to focus on defending. Also, the center-back and defensive midfielder are controlling the game well, creating opportunities for the attacking players when they move forward. However, I think we will be studied more in the future, and there may be times when things don't go well. So I want to be able to quickly identify what we were doing well during the good times. When we are in a bad flow or rhythm, we can look back on what we did to win, based on the image we built during this winning streak. I think having something to fall back on is a sign of a strong team."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "We finally finished the tough months of March and April and were able to bring the win-loss ratio back to 5:5, and we took the lead in the previous Kobe match. One point of today's 17th section = halfway through the league was to see where we stand, and after bringing the win-loss ratio back to 5:5, we aimed to become a team that wins consecutively. Today, there was a high motivation in the sense of whether it would become a conviction. Of course, when we look at the content of the game, there are various challenges. In the past few games, even in games that we won after June, we have been working on the task of "not ending in a chaotic manner" and as the next step, "delivering the final blow". The technique and judgment there were a bit poor, but today we were able to score an additional goal in injury time, and I think the players have a sense of improvement in that task. However, that is not the biggest progress. Of course, today's score means that we defeated the strong Nagoya 3-0, so it's not something to complain about, but every player was cooling down with an expression of "we could have done more". I think the biggest progress is that everyone feels that "we could have done more". I don't want to stop this progress, and I want to become a team that grows with each game and goes uphill. With that feeling in mind, I want to walk together with the fans."

　[Nagoya Stojkovic's press conference summary] "It was an important league match, so I am very disappointed with the result. I always told the players to concentrate in the first 5 minutes after kickoff, but we were caught off guard in the first 2-3 minutes. It was a game where we were losing from the start. In the latter part of the game, MF Hanai and FW Maki got injured, and we had to play with two fewer players in the last 20 minutes. It was a difficult game. Of course, I think there are times when we lose. But even if we lose, I want us to lose as men. I want them to have the determination to do something. In today's match, there were selfish plays and we couldn't see cohesive soccer. The result doesn't matter whether it's 3-0, 2-0, or 1-0. What frustrated me the most was that there were players who played selfishly. I think we need to change something in the next Nabisco Cup."