Aiming to secure 3 points by maintaining the momentum and sense of accomplishment gained in the ACL Beijing match

　Sec. 7 of the league, Vegalta Sendai will play away. In the 4/17 ACL Beijing match, they had a lively performance with a fresh attacking lineup including Watanabe, Otake, and Tanabe, and also kept a clean sheet with a strong defense led by Shiota, who replaced injured Gonda, winning 3-0. Despite the consecutive matches, they want to avoid another loss in the league following the Kashima match in the previous round. They aim to secure 3 points away based on the confidence and momentum gained from the Beijing match.

　Sendai, who is currently leading the league with 5 wins and 1 draw in the league. In the Nabisco match against Kawasaki on 4/18, they faced the match with a lineup that changed the main 7 players, including GK Hayashi, DF Uemoto, and FW Akamine, and although they lost, they remain undefeated in the league. In addition to the solid defense and fast counterattacks from last season, this season they have a functioning defense that aggressively goes for steals from the front line. Their quick transition attacks are still effective, and they have scored 14 goals so far, leading the league in total goals.

　Tokyo, following the Kashima match, Hasegawa will be suspended. Kajiyama is also not in the lineup due to his condition. Therefore, in the midfield, Takahashi and Yonemoto will play, and Otake, who made his first start of the season in the Beijing match, will also start this match as an attacking midfielder. Watanabe will be placed as the lone striker. In particular, in the attack, the key is how to unsettle the opponent's tall and strong defenders with speedy passing. Otake, Habu, and Ishikawa will create many opportunities to move between the defenders and make runs forward and backward.

　As Ishikawa said, "We also need solid risk management," we want to judge the development of the game by quickly switching between offense and defense, and determine the deployment of looking for opportunities with fast attacks. Although it is a match against the top team, the players say, "Nothing will change for us," and we want to persistently break through the strong defense by repeatedly attacking the opponent's weaknesses and lead to victory. The match started at 19:04 with the kickoff in Tokyo at Yurtec Stadium Sendai.

In a tense atmosphere, we allowed the opponent to take advantage of a momentary lapse and conceded a goal in the first half stoppage time.

　From the start of the match, both teams are competing with compact formations. There have been scenes where Sendai has brought the ball up to the goal through powerful counterattacks, but Tokyo is also focused on defense and trying to move the ball forward. In the 17th minute, a pass is made to Watanabe who is aiming for the space behind the defense from Takahashi in the midfield, but it is offside. In the 20th minute, just as Sendai is on the verge of being offside, FW Akamine breaks through to the right side of the field and MF Ota crosses the ball. FW Wilson heads the ball, but Gonda catches it and the situation is resolved without any problems.

　Tokyo gradually gains control of the flow by defending the opponent's attack with their bodies. In the 25th minute, Hyun Soo JANG sends a feed to Yu Hanyu who jumps out into the area, but it is contested by the defender and becomes the opponent's ball. In the 26th minute, Watanabe and Ota exchange passes on the left side, and Yonemoto timely meets the ball in the center to take a shot, but it misses the target by a wide margin. In the 29th minute, Otake and Yu connect with a one-touch play, and Ota advances on the left side to show a "typical form". However, Ota sends the ball inside, and Yonemoto's pass from the ball dropped by Otake goes out of bounds on the left side again.

　Although they tend to be pushed back by the opponent's sharp counterattacks, they concentrate on defense and respond. There are also moments where they show Tokyo-like passing plays, but they are unable to bring the ball into dangerous areas due to the opponent's intense press. It seemed like the first half would end with both teams scoreless, but in injury time, they gave the opponent a free kick. Then, the ball went behind the defense and FW Akamine broke through. It looked like offside, but he was perfectly timed and Tokyo couldn't keep up with the marking. He easily scored a goal... conceding. The first half ended like that.

There was also a disciplinary action against Coach Popovich, and we were unable to grasp the flow until the end, resulting in a defeat.

　Tokyo, who wants to catch up, replaced Otake with Tanabe in the second half. Hayu entered as the left MF and Hanyu played as the attacking midfielder. In the 50th minute, Hayu and Ishikawa connected from Tanabe's vertical pass and entered the penalty area. Finally, Watanabe on the right side sent a ground cross, and Ota received it freely in the far side, but he was stopped after evading the opponent and couldn't finish...

　In the 56th minute, Yamamoto and Hanyu were replaced by Tanihara and Lucas. Tanihara took the left side, and Tanabe played as a defensive midfielder, forming a formation close to a two-top with Lucas and Watanabe. However, right after that, Sendai's defensive midfielder Kakuta was replaced by Matsushita, who sent a right cross from the sideline with a slight negative angle. In the center, Lucas RIAN jumped and powerfully headed the ball into the goal... allowing two goals. Just when they were about to attack, they were caught off guard.

　Tokyo, which continues to play their soccer without giving up, even so. In the 72nd minute, it seemed that Lucas tried to break through in front of the left area and collided with the goalkeeper on the verge of offside, but Lucas received a warning. Furthermore, in the 75th minute, Coach Popovic was expelled... Coach Nagashima took over the command instead. Even after that, they tried to connect passes and attack, but they lost the ball in front of Sendai's tough defense and couldn't create a attacking shape until the end. They couldn't stop Sendai's momentum in defense either, and they conceded 4 goals in total, losing the match in the 76th and 87th minutes.

　【Player Comment】《Morishige》"Rather than being completely dismantled by each goal, it was more that we weren't able to focus. As a result, we found ourselves in a vulnerable position, where we were exploited by momentary lapses and weaknesses. However, strong teams, teams with momentum, will always find a way to exploit such situations. The goals we conceded should have been preventable, but we need to reflect on that and make the necessary adjustments. As for our attacking play, we want to come up with various ideas on how to break down the defense in front of the goal... We want to discuss it as a team and strive to elevate our playing style."

　"Tanabe" "Sendai started moving quickly. I thought we had a chance if we could hold them to one goal, but we ended up conceding while trying to attack urgently. I felt that Sendai's team had a high level of completion and they were thorough in kicking and running, and they also had a boldness. However, personally, I didn't think there was as much difference in ability as the score indicated. In the first half, I thought the defense was solid while watching from the bench, but when I stepped onto the pitch, there were also moments where we could push them back with one-two passes or dribbles. Their defense against crosses may be strong... But in the end, I think we rushed too much vertically and ended up being half-hearted."

　Sendai drew, and I also became a defensive midfielder immediately after entering the game, so I didn't know where to receive the ball. Should I go for goals even if it means disrupting the balance... For example, it might have been okay for Morige-kun and the others to push forward and go for goals... I think we also needed to calm down a bit and pass the ball more. However, the coach also said after the game, "This is football. There is no need to look down." Rather than ambiguously losing 0-1, we need to properly accept the fact that we conceded 4 goals while attacking and turn it into a challenge for the next game."

　[Summary of Coach Nagashima's Press Conference] "Today, we came to the AWAY ground looking forward to testing our current strength against the top team, Sendai. Regardless of the opponent, we tried to maintain our own style in both offense and defense. However, Sendai pressed us from a higher position than last season and aimed for short counters, targeting the space behind our high defensive line. We had anticipated it to some extent, but being exploited in that area shows our immaturity. In the end, we conceded 3 goals in the final stages, resulting in a total of 4 goals against. It is extremely disappointing that we suffered such a significant collapse and lost our focus, causing the team to lose its cohesion and deviate from playing our own football until the end."

　【Sendai・Makoto TEGURAMORI's press conference summary】"In today's top match, we talked about in the meeting that it is a battle of collective teamwork. It is about how we can continue to play collectively and maintain it, and the one who can do that will win. As a team, we have been conceding goals recently, so first of all, we want to keep Tokyo, who has attacking power, from scoring. That will give us confidence and show our strength once again. The first half was a game where both teams showed their strengths and it was really tight. It was very significant that we were able to score in injury time."

　When Tokyo entered the second half, you could see a little bit of fatigue from the ACL. The players took advantage of that and kept pushing. Throughout the game, we were able to fight as a team and show that anyone can contribute in this series of matches. I believe this big victory was possible thanks to the supporters who cheered us on with all their might, following the flow of the game. Seeing Tokyo struggling in the ACL, if we were to participate in the ACL next year, I learned that we would have to fight even in such circumstances. I think we were mentally and physically stronger today."