Striving for victory with coordinated offense and defense in soccer!

　Sec. 30 of the league, Shimizu S-Pulse will play away. In the previous match against Kashiwa, they scored 4 goals through good combination play and achieved a resounding victory. However, Ishikawa injured his left knee and will be out of action. Despite this situation, Coach Jofuku says, "It is very painful to lose the league's top scorer. But each energetic player must showcase their strengths and cover for Ishikawa's absence as a team. Our approach to the game remains unchanged." This match can be considered a "decisive battle" to keep even a slight possibility for the final match. They aim for victory while building further unity and playing Tokyo-style football.

　Shimizu, on the other hand, is currently in 4th place with 50 points. This season, their record against Tokyo, including the Levain Cup, is 3 wins and 1 draw, which is a favorable opponent. However, Coach Jofuku said, "We lost in the matches last season as we should have. From there, this season's matches could have gone either way. We can be confident that we were able to compete on equal terms by building up ourselves, but they are by no means an easy opponent." In particular, FW Okazaki, who continues to perform well even in the Japanese national team, starts moving quickly and boldly exploits the gaps in the defensive line even without the ball. It seems that there will be a continuous time where we cannot lose focus on defense, but we want to defend, including the coordination with the side backs and midfielders.

　Tokyo will have Nagatomo returning from injury, and Suzuki, who was suspended in the previous match, will replace Ishikawa as the right midfielder. Similar to the previous match, Shimizu will send long balls to forward Yonsen to initiate attacks, so Tokyo's key will be how well they can win second balls and connect them to their own attacks. Yonemoto says, "Of course, we want to win second balls, but not only that, we also want to pass them to Kajiyama and I want to aim for vertical through passes myself. By doing so, our attacking options should also expand." They want to match the opponent's work rate and dominate the midfield.

　Shimizu, starting with side back Ichikawa, has high accuracy in crosses, but they also want to create chances by utilizing the abundant mobility of Hayabusa and Suzuki without losing in the attacking and defending on the sides. In addition, recently, a rhythm has been born in the combination of Hirayama and Akamine as the top two, so they want to continue playing coordinated soccer and aim for goals and victory! The match started with Shimizu's kickoff at 3:03 pm at the Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira, under the cloudy sky with strong winds.

Leading by one goal with an own goal from the opponent, we head into halftime

　Both teams aggressively attacked the opponent's goal from the beginning, resulting in a fast-paced game with quick transitions between offense and defense. In the 3rd minute of the first half, a long pass was sent to Suzuki, who had sprinted up the left side after a possession play by the backline. Suzuki then passed it back to the midfield, where Yonemoto, Akamine, and others reorganized the play and unsettled the Shizuoka defense, leading to a cross from the right side by Tokunaga. Suzuki, who was positioned on the far side, headed the ball into the goal! A promising start with an opening goal.

　However, just 4 minutes later, Shizuoka's Heidou's right CK was headed by FW Okazaki in the center, and the score was caught up. The issue of conceding goals from set plays has been a challenge in the past few games. However, there was no sign of disturbance in the players, and the offensive and defensive battle continued. In the 25th minute, Nagatomo, who had injured his right shoulder before the match, was replaced by Mukuhara. Mukuhara moved to right SB and Tokunaga to left SB. In the 37th minute, Tokyo picked up the ball from the melee and passed it to Akamine in the front line. It seemed like a goal was about to be scored, but it was judged offside. The flow gradually shifted to Tokyo.

　And in the 39th minute, they obtained a free kick from a match-up on the left side of the Tokyo team's field. They quickly restarted the game. The ball was passed from Hayashi to Kajiyama to Hirayama, and they entered the attacking third. Tokunaga on the left side evaded the opponent's defender and made a quick cross with his right foot. However, Shizuoka's defender Tanaka, who was waiting in the center, couldn't clear the ball with his head. It resulted in a fortunate own goal, adding another point. They continued to defend against Shizuoka's long balls and ended the first half leading by one point.

They calmly dealt with the opponent's counterattacks and didn't allow any goals, securing their fourth consecutive league victory!

　Tokyo continues to attack aggressively without losing rhythm in the second half. In the 46th minute, Yonehara quickly reacts to a loose ball in front of the goal and takes a shot. Saved by the goalkeeper. In the 54th minute, Yonehara is surrounded by two opponents on the left side, but Hirayama receives a perfect looping pass. Hirayama dribbles inside and takes a shot, but it goes wide of the goal. In the 59th minute, the midfield connects the ball and Tokunaga on the left side passes it to Hirayama in the center. Suzuki volleys the ball directly from this post-play, but it hits the opponent's defender and results in a corner kick.

　Tokyo, who patiently passed the ball while waiting for a chance as instructed by Coach Shirofuku at halftime, did not rush to attack. In the 62nd minute, Shimizu FW Okazaki intercepted a back pass from Bruno QUADROS and attempted a shot, but missed the target. Tokyo continued to exploit Tokyo's mistakes and launch attacks, but they were solidly defended by Tokyo's DF line. Tokyo wanted to score an additional goal, but in the 74th minute, Bruno QUADROS headed the ball from Hanyu's right corner kick, only to narrowly miss the crossbar...

　Shimizu became more aggressive using player substitutions, and Tokyo was unable to penetrate the area and had the ball stolen from them on multiple occasions. In the 76th minute, Hiramatsu was substituted for Suzuki, and in the 85th minute, Fujiyama was substituted for Hayu. They continuously sent defensive players onto the field. With Hiramatsu and Akamine's dedicated defense from the front line, they were able to contain Shimizu's attacks. In the end, they successfully controlled the ball and effectively used the remaining time. They achieved their fourth consecutive away victory in the league.

　【Player Comment】《Suzuki》"(First goal?) I entered the goal area at the beginning, but then it became chaotic in front of the goal, so I took some time to reset my movement. I think that was good. 'Resetting movement' is something that the coach has been telling me to do. I reset my movement to try to get into a position between the opponents. The result was a goal, as I believed. A cross came in with a perfect trajectory. I instinctively used my head. It was more of a shot that changed the direction by hitting it, rather than striking it, but it's good if it goes in (laughs). If the team fails to produce results because of injuries, people will always say, 'It's because that person wasn't there,' or 'It's because of the accident.' I don't want to hear that. I just wanted to produce results no matter what. It was the same when Cabore was not there, but I want to keep winning until people stop saying those things. That's all I have to say."

　"Takanaga: "There was no chance for us to go up unless we won, so it was really important to get 3 points away. What was different from previous matches was that FW Okazaki came in and made a lot of runs behind the defense, and there were times when they created chances and got into a rhythm. We were able to control that and it was good that we were able to take our chances. I think we were able to show the shape of the training we had prepared for a week. (What about the assist for the opening goal?) I wasn't really aiming for it. Even the cross that led to the own goal, I didn't aim for it... I just lifted it by instinct, but I believed that something would happen if I kicked it there. (Looking ahead to the league matches?) I think our chances in the ACL have increased, and in order to win in the end, we have to keep winning. For that, I want to cherish each day and fight. There have been accidents like injuries, but I want each player who plays in the matches to have a sense of responsibility and fight firmly. (What about the Nabisco Cup final?) It's my first time in the final, but I want to approach it without being nervous and in a normal way. I want to prepare well and fight."

　[Summary of Coach Jofuku's Press Conference] "From the perspective of the league, we have been playing games that we cannot afford to lose in order to create a miracle in the final match. Especially today, we were facing the strong team Shimizu and it was an away game, so we knew it would be very tough. We approached this game with the awareness that it is a crucial match in the league. Regarding the content, we believed that if we value our positions, move the ball, and patiently connect passes to break through Shimizu's strong zone defense, we will definitely have chances. Both goals were scenes where we unsettled the opponent and eventually scored from calm crosses. The first goal was a header, and the second goal was an own goal by the opponent, but I think it was a scene where we executed the intended attack. In the end, we all had the consciousness of not allowing the opponent to show their characteristics or strong points. We had a chance for the third goal towards the end of the second half, but there were some mistakes. Nevertheless, I think it is very significant to have won against Shimizu in order to leave the possibility of creating a miracle in the final match, and many fans and supporters came to support us, so I would like to share the joy with them today."

　[Summary of Shimizu Hasegawa's press conference] "It is very disappointing that we were unable to respond to the supporters' cheers. I wonder if this is the pressure of winning or the pressure of competing for the top, but I honestly felt that there is an invisible burden weighing on the players. It was a very tough and heavy game, almost self-destructive. However, we still have 4 more games, so we cannot give up here. We believe in our own strength and want to finish the remaining 4 games in a good way for the supporters. We will prepare properly again as we have the Emperor's Cup in between and face the Kashiwa game."