Stick to our own style and unite as one to aim for victory and break free from the losing streak

Sec. 6, we will play against Vegalta Sendai away. In the Nabisco Cup C Osaka match, we equalized with Lee's goal, but conceded 2 goals due to the opponent's effective attack and suffered a defeat. We have not won in the last 4 matches in official games, and have also lost 3 consecutive league matches. It will be a consecutive match with only 2 days of rest, but it is necessary to concentrate until the end even in fatigue and fight tenaciously. We want to stick to our style, unite as one, and take 3 points away to overcome this difficult situation.

Sendai, on the other hand, is currently in 11th place in the league with 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 losses. This season, they are also participating in the ACL, but they have been struggling due to the long-term absence of defender Uemoto and a series of injuries after the start of the season. However, defender Kakuta returned to the team in the ACL match on April 10th (Wed). With the goal scored by forward Yanagisawa, who made his first appearance this season, they achieved a victory and are starting to make a comeback. Coach Popovic describes Sendai as a "disciplined and well-organized team."

Tokyo will face the match with a double pivot of Takahashi and Yonemoto, with Hasegawa and Lucas as the left and right midfielders, respectively. East will play as the attacking midfielder, while Watanabe will be the lone striker. In particular, we want to enhance our defensive awareness to counter Sendai's attacks, which often exploit the space behind our defenders. We also need to be cautious of Sendai's set plays, which are centered around the kicks of midfielder Yan. Furthermore, in our offensive play, we want to take advantage of the movements of Watanabe and East, and create scoring opportunities through quick passing.

The match started at 14:04 with a kick-off from Tokyo at Yurtec Stadium Sendai.

Despite dominating throughout, the first half ends scoreless

Tokyo concentrated on defense from the start of the match and quickly switched to attacking to create chances. In the 9th minute, Yamamoto cleared Sendai's left cross and initiated a counterattack. He tried to pass to Hasegawa, who was running towards the left front line from the center, but his attempt to outpace the Sendai defender was judged as a foul. In the 11th minute, Hasegawa quickly brought the ball up the center and passed it to Lucas on the right. Despite being surrounded by the opponent's defenders in the right corner of the area, he tried to connect with Azuma, who had run forward, but the timing was off.

Gradually, Sendai also sends long balls to the front line and tries to launch attacks from there, but they respond well in the competition and do not allow any clear chances. In the 25th minute, Yonemoto, who stole the ball in the opponent's territory, immediately took a shot, but it went slightly to the left. In the 28th minute, they launched a quick attack, and Takahashi passed a middle pass from the right side. It went over the head of Higashi, who was moving up the center, and reached Hasegawa, who was free, but his trap was too long and he couldn't take advantage of the scoring opportunity.

Despite creating opportunities in front of goal multiple times, the precision of the final play was lacking, and they were unable to take a shot. In the 34th minute, Watanabe carried the ball forward, passed it to Hasegawa on the left after surpassing the defender in the center, and then sent a final pass to Higashi who broke through in the center, resulting in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, but it was ruled offside. In the 42nd minute, Ota was fouled and earned a free kick from just outside the box in the center. MoriShige aimed for a quick shot, but it hit the wall and resulted in a corner kick. Ultimately, despite maintaining control throughout the game, the first half ended scoreless.

Despite changing the system and launching a fierce counterattack, they managed to narrow the gap to one point but couldn't score any additional points and suffered a defeat.

Despite being cautious about the start of the second half after reflecting on the Nabisco Cup C Osaka match, we easily connected to MF Kakuta from the right side in the 2nd minute and were hit with a shot from the middle. The ball was out of reach even for goalkeeper Konda's extended hand. We ended up conceding the first goal. Tokyo, looking to counterattack, attempted a shot from the middle by Takahashi after keeping the ball in the right area corner in the 55th minute, but it slightly veered to the left. In the 56th minute, Lee was substituted in for Watanabe.

In the 58th minute, Yonemoto stole the ball in the midfield and made a vertical pass into the area. Lucas skillfully received it, turned around, and took a shot. It was a decisive chance, but it narrowly missed the right side of the goal. However, in the 60th minute, the ball was stolen from a mistake and passed to Sendai FW Wilson on the left front line. Kaga was defending him one-on-one, but he dribbled into the area and scored a powerful shot, conceding the second goal.

Tokyo substituted Hirayama for Lucas in the 68th minute. Hirayama played as the lone striker, with Li and Higashi in the second row. Yonemoto and Aria formed a double pivot in midfield, while Takahashi joined the back three. From this point, a fierce counterattack began. In the 79th minute, Kaga sprinted up the right side and crossed the ball, earning a corner kick. Higashi then passed the ball to Hirayama near the goal with a header, and Li stabbed it into the left area to score a goal.

In the 84th minute, Hirayama received a superb through pass from Higashi, carried it into the area while carrying the defender on his back, and took a shot himself but it was saved by the goalkeeper. The ball slipped from his hands once but he couldn't follow up. In the 86th minute, Aria followed up on Hirayama's header from Tokunaga's early cross in the area and took a shot from just behind. He created a great opportunity but the ball went wide. They continued to launch fierce attacks but couldn't break through and the game ended. It was their fourth consecutive loss in the league.


[Player Comments]
《Hirayama》"(Regarding the scoring situation) I was able to exchange well with Tokunaga and get close to the goal. I intended to head the ball into the goal myself, but Chungson closed in firmly. I have been focusing on scoring goals and providing assists, so it was good to achieve one today, but there were more chances. I need to produce not just one, but two or three results."

Our tasks will not change in the future, but I think that mistakes and carelessness are leading to conceding goals. I think it is important to concentrate throughout the first and second halves, and I want to express plays on the pitch that will lead to results."


"Yonemoto: "I don't think the start of the match or the first half was bad. We conceded a goal at the beginning of the second half, which made us push forward and concede a second goal... It became a vicious cycle. We still haven't become a strong team. It's true that we started to feel anxious after conceding the first goal. We rushed forward. It would have been good if we could have remained calm and fought back even if we conceded a goal, thinking 'we can score one goal in return'."

Even if you become negative here, nothing will start and there is no meaning in changing the style. There is no choice but to do it and it is important to take it in a good direction. The atmosphere before today's game was good too, and we were able to have a good start by discussing together, "Let's enjoy soccer without worrying about the three consecutive losses."


[Coach's Press Conference Summary]
《Coach Popovich》"I think we showed what we should do and what we have done today, but we were still beaten when our concentration dropped and we showed weaknesses. I remember that the shot the opponent scored was their first shot on target, but we couldn't fully concentrate during that period and let them do it. As a result, we ended up conceding the lead."

Before that, we also created numerous decisive chances, so it is important to finish them off and increase the accuracy when we are creating chances at our own pace. Currently, we are in a situation of consecutive losses, but we believe that we can definitely break free from this losing streak and start a winning streak. We also believe in the players' abilities. In times like this, we will come together as a team, quickly produce results, and turn the situation around.

(It became a situation where we were pushing from the middle of the second half, but was it due to a system change?) It is also true that we were creating chances before switching to a 3-back formation. There was also a big chance for Lucas. Speaking only about chances, it may have been a more decisive chance than the opponent's 2 goals. It is a strategy simply to score goals and turn the game around. We were imagining a situation where we would hold the ball closer to the opponent's goal and approach the goal. At the same time, we were also considering pressing from the front and forcing mistakes from the opponent.)


"Sendai Teguramori Coach" said, "We regained our style and won in the ACL on Wednesday. We will firmly focus on our attitude towards the league games from here on and our determination and enthusiasm towards our goals. I conveyed that if we can win today, it will give us confidence that we can advance and win, no matter how difficult the schedule is, and it will be worth more than 3 points. We wanted to enter the game with momentum, but we ended up entering in a way that accepted Tokyo's possession football."

The players themselves showed patience without forcing themselves too much during the consecutive matches. When we played the full 90 minutes, I felt that such mutual understanding was correct. In the first half, we focused on defending against the opponent's attacks and steadily progressed the game. When I saw Tokyo's attacking style, especially in the 5th consecutive match, I was worried that they might get tired of attacking. Anyway, come back with a 0-0 draw. We suffered the first blow when we started the second half with a good attack. It was good until 2-0. I apologized to the players after the game. We couldn't turn 2-0 into 3-0. One reason for that was the substitution of MF Heberchi.

In the Niigata match, we substituted MF Heberthi during the game and ended up losing. We wanted him to make up for it in today's official match. On the other hand, we had to change the substitute player due to narrowing the gap to one point. However, I think everyone now understands the importance of substitutions and realizes that in a game like today's, we need to turn a 2-0 game into a 3-0 game.

I felt the unity and sense of togetherness in this team, as they managed to hold on and win with a solid 2-1 score. We have realized that we need to do even more. I hope to build on this and continue winning from here.