Despite the bad weather, aiming for another consecutive victory in the away game

Entering the 11th section of the league, facing Shonan Bellmare. Going away. In the previous section, despite feeling the fatigue of consecutive matches, player substitutions worked, defensive adjustments and a never-give-up attitude were displayed, leading to a draw. In order to fight through the long season, it is necessary to calmly respond to various situations that occur during the match. From here, we will enter another 3 consecutive matches, and this section is an away game with pouring rain, but we want to surpass the opponent with judgment and fighting style according to the situation, aiming for consecutive victories again.

Shonan, on the other hand, finished second in J2 last season and is facing J1 for the first time since 2010. Despite the injuries to FW Furuhashi and DF Endo, they are currently struggling in the league with 1 win, 3 draws, and 6 losses, placing them 17th. However, they are still determined to continue Shonan's style, which emphasizes speed and fighting spirit, and achieve results.

The coach, Ranko POPOVIC, said about the opponent, "It is necessary to respect the opponent in every match. That means giving our all. We want to show that respect by paying attention to details and continuing to play our own football, and we want to surpass the opponent." He aims for victory in a fight where he gives his all.

Tokyo's Hyun Soo JANG starts for the first time since Sec. 3. Shonan's FW Kirino returns and is on the bench. The game started with Shonan's kickoff at 17:04, amidst heavy rain.

Conceded early and chasing the game

Shonan at home launched a strong attack from the beginning. They had consecutive shots, but gradually Tokyo also took control of the ball. They passed the ball around and looked for opportunities.

However, in the 11th minute, Shonan launched a speedy attack from their own half. MF Volante Nagaki → MF Takayama dribbled forward through the center and spread the ball to the left front line. FW Takesatomi ran to this position and his left cross hit Tokunaga, causing the ball to fall into the left area. MF Takayama then trapped the ball and unleashed a direct left-footed shot... a sharp shot that found the back of the net, conceding the opening goal.

Nevertheless, without panicking, they launched a counterattack from the side. In the 21st minute, Ota faked going inside and broke through vertically. From here, Watanabe jumped into the cross, but... the timing was off. In the 29th minute, Lucas aimed for the loose ball from Ota's cross after the opponent's goalkeeper punched it, but was blocked by the Shonan DF.

There were moments when Tokyo suffered from Shonan's counterattacks, but they changed their formation to a 3-back with Takahashi joining the defensive line. Lucas played as the forward. Hasegawa moved to the midfield, and Tokunaga and Ota positioned themselves higher up the field to launch a counterattack. However, in the 41st minute, MoriShige dropped Ota's cross from a corner kick, and Watari's shot from the center went wide.

In the 43rd minute, Yonemoto made a move to the left area and expanded to the side. Watanabe sent a left cross, which reached Tokunaga in the right area, but... the shot was blocked. They attacked from the side, but lacked precision and power in the final play, and went into the second half with a one-point deficit.

Kiyoshi OTA scored his first goal, but... it was reversed by Watanabe's amazing shot.

Ota, who had created several good opportunities since the first half, had his accurate kick put to good use in the early stages of the second half. When Watanabe was fouled on the outside of the right area corner and won a free kick, Ota directly aimed for a shot in the 54th minute. The shot slipped through the gap between the opponent and teammate and was sucked into the bottom of the far goal. He marked his first goal in Tokyo and equalized the score.

With this momentum, in the following 57th minute, Lucas and Yonemoto connected with Tokunaga's right throw-in, and Watanabe, near the right corner of the area, turned around and beautifully shot with his left foot, piercing the left side net. With a relentless attack, they successfully turned the game around, seemingly breaking Shonan's fighting spirit and completely seizing control of the game. However, Shonan also launched a counterattack, utilizing the speed of substitute forward Kirino. In the 64th minute, Kirino broke through the defense and charged into the left area, but Takahashi made a sliding tackle to avert the danger.

However, in the 65th minute immediately after, the ball was passed around the DF line, and Takahashi slipped while trying to take it out, and Shonan FW Baba cut it off. He then advanced through the center and faced the GK in a one-on-one situation. He scored a looping shot that went over Gonda's head.... Afterwards, Tokyo substituted Ishikawa, Li, and Hirayama. They regained momentum and pushed Shonan back, but in the 82nd minute, Takahashi -> Hasegawa pressed in their own half and lost the ball, which was then scored by Shonan MF Nagaki, resulting in a goal. They once again allowed the opponent to take the lead.

Still not giving up, in the 87th minute Ishikawa dropped a feed to the right front line, and Tokunaga shot after moving up inside. In injury time, Li in the center made a move and Hasegawa persistently connected the loose ball to the left area. Hirayama tried to aim for the goal by reversing and avoiding the opponent's DF, but couldn't finish it. Although they succeeded in turning the game around once, they suffered two goals in the second half due to consecutive mistakes, a painful defeat...


[Player Comments]
"Unfortunately, it didn't lead to victory. I had an image of the free kick. It was intended to go through the players and score from the far side, just as planned. Before that, we had discussed that we could definitely create chances by attacking from the sides today. I think there were many scenes where we created a 2-on-1 situation with the previous player Hasegawa and broke through from the left side. However, maybe it would have been better if we could have simplified it a bit more and created more opportunities to develop the play from my position."

《Susumu WATANABE》
"Shonan's defensive line was high, so I tried to aim for the space behind them. I thought that if we just passed the ball around, Aizu Athl.S.'s central block would be strong and wouldn't break, so I tried to create opportunities by getting behind them and starting the attack from there. Scoring goals is my specialty. It was a left-footed shot, just as I intended, but..."


[Coach's Press Conference Summary]
《Coach Popovich》
"We couldn't start the game the way we wanted and became a bit passive. If we start like that, we can't take control. We gave the opponent a chance and fell behind. That's natural. After that, we improved our fighting spirit and caught up to a tie, and successfully turned the game around. But any player, even in a big team, can make mistakes. The opponent took advantage of the two mistakes we made and turned the game around again."

However, we must feel something to grow from today's game and make use of it in future matches. Instead of showing a fighting attitude after being defeated by the opponent, we must fight with an attitude that can overwhelm the opponent from the start of the game. We will work together as a team. After a defeat, the true strength of the team is tested, not only as soccer players but also as human beings. We want to show our strength in the upcoming matches."

"Shonan Cao Coach"
"Today, the supporters' cheers resonated until the end. The players are also doing their best, but there were situations where they were booed. At that time, I told the players, 'That is the reverse side of expectations. Whether we win or lose, we must show the Shonan style.' The first goal today was fantastic. The second and third goals were also due to the opponent's accidents. We didn't have many situations where we could hook onto the opponents last season, but FW Baba and MF Nagaki scored for us. They were great, but it was a victory that we achieved together with all the players, including those who didn't get to play on the pitch."

Tokyo is good at moving the ball with width, and I thought they had the best ability to break through the backline with pass and go in the league. So even if the ball was passed around a bit, we had to persistently keep going. I think the plan itself worked well in the first half. From the point where we conceded a goal in the second half, our start and covering were a bit delayed and we were turned around. However, today, regardless of the process, I want to appreciate the feeling of taking back two goals from there. We are not a skilled team, but we must show that kind of spirit at least in J1. Today, I was really glad to see the supporters, players who didn't play, and staff happy."