Nabisco Cup resumes, looking to regain momentum and confidence

As we face another consecutive match schedule, the Levain Cup resumes. We will welcome Ventforet Kofu at Ajinomoto Stadium for the 5th round of the qualifying league. In the previous league match, we suffered a heavy defeat with 4 goals conceded against Urawa. However, we aim to regroup here and break the streak of consecutive losses. At the same time, Manager Massimo and the players say, "The Levain Cup is also an important tournament for us. We will fight each match with importance, aiming for the championship." Tokyo currently stands at the top of Group A with 7 points after the 3rd round, but if we can earn 3 points in this round, we will be significantly closer to advancing to the group stage. It will be a match where the team comes together as one to aim for victory.

However, this round, Tokunaga, Kono, and Canini will be absent. As a result, Matsuda will make his first start of the season as the right fullback. Maruyama will be used as the starting center back. In the midfield, Takahashi will be the anchor, with Yonemoto and Mita. Muto and Maeda will form the front two. East will be positioned as the attacking midfielder.

Kofu, on the other hand, has only earned 1 point after 3 matches in the Nabisco Cup, placing them in 7th position. They have also been unable to escape from the bottom of the league standings. However, after a change in coach, Coach Sakuma has taken over and led the team to a victory in the previous match, ending a 3-game losing streak. Kofu will also make changes to their lineup for this match, with new signing FW Caprini being absent. The only player who started in the previous league match is DF Arai, but they will also come with a strong determination to seize the opportunity and aim for victory.

In particular, Kofu struggled when they faced the league leaders (Sec. 4 on Apr 4) and had their possession of the ball taken away from them. Tokyo wants to defensively contain Kofu's attacks that originate from the wide areas and break through their solid defense by utilizing crosses from both sides.

Even after the sun sets, Ajinomoto Stadium remains humid, and the match started with a Tokyo kickoff at 19:04.

BETO takes the opening goal from a set piece

Tokyo dominated the ball from the beginning. They connected passes and advanced the game inside the Kofu territory, frequently earning corner kick and free kick opportunities. In the 11th minute, Mutoh circled inside from the left side and tried to create an opportunity in collaboration with Higashi and Mita, but they couldn't finish and the play developed on the opposite side. Ota crossed the ball. Takahashi tried to run into the Kofu's clear ball, but couldn't control it, allowing Kofu to launch a counterattack. Kofu's right forward, Horiyone, sprinted down the side with the ball. He took a step inside and took a shot, but it lacked power, and Gonda caught it in front.

Tokyo also attacks from both sides, and in the 16th minute, Matsuda made an early cross. Yonehara closed in on the clear by the opponent's DF and took a direct shot with his right foot from a trap with his left foot, but it just went over the bar. In the 27th minute, while the battle for the ball continued, Morishige intercepted but couldn't connect to Yonehara in front, and received a counterattack from Kofu. Immediately, it was developed to the right side, and MF Matsumoto aimed for a middle shot, but it was off target. Although Kofu's accuracy was not high, they brought it to a precise finish.

In the 33rd minute, Higashi dropped Ota's diagonal pass on the left side and entered the area himself. Muto in a withdrawn position attempted a vertical pass into the area but was blocked. Mita followed up on the loose ball and attempted a direct shot from the center of the area, but was blocked again. There was a continued inability to bring the ball into a shooting position, but in the 40th minute, Higashi and Ota overlapped. Muto in front of the goal headed the cross from here, but it went over the bar.

In the flow of the game, the chance was not taken advantage of and time passed. However, in the 41st minute, a free kick was obtained on the right side of the midfield. From a quick restart, Mita -> Morishige made an early cross. The ball crossed the center of the area and Muto in the left area scored a goal with a direct shot with his left foot!! Finally, the lead was taken just before the end of the first half, and the game entered the second half.

Despite being equalized in the final stages, we take the lead in additional time!

In the early stages of the second half, Tokyo took the initiative and aimed to score additional points through crosses and set plays. In the 49th minute, Matsuda was fouled on the left side and awarded a free kick. Morishige passed to Mita on the right front line, and Matsuda sprinted up to a high position and crossed the ball towards the goal, but the goalkeeper of Kofu caught it. It couldn't be connected to Maeda near the goal. In the 52nd minute, Yonemoto sent a fast early cross from a left throw-in. Mutoh jumped out from behind Maeda in the center, but his sliding tackle was just a little late. In the 56th minute, Takahashi regained possession of the ball from Kofu and launched an attack on the left side. Higashi's cross to Ota skimmed past the opponent's defender and fell to Maeda, who was free in the right area. However, it was a handball foul at the moment of the trap.

Gradually, Tokyo loses its rhythm due to repeated mistakes, while Kofu introduces FW Adriano in the 55th minute. This became an opportunity for them to seize the rhythm of the counterattack. In the 60th minute, they bypassed the press from the front line and carried the ball to the right front line. FW Adriano's right cross was intercepted by Morishige. In the 66th minute, Kofu's MF Shimoda played a one-touch vertical pass into the area. FW Adriano took advantage of this and made a decisive shot from the right area, but Morishige cut off the angle and Gonda made the save. In the 75th minute, Kofu's right side MF Matsumoto -> FW Horiyama sent a vertical pass into the area, and FW Ito was able to break through behind the defense.

Despite not allowing any goals, in the 85th minute when our legs started to slow down, a kick from the Kofu GK was dropped to the midfield FW Adriano, and FW Horikome expanded to the left. MF Matsumoto sprinted down the left side at full speed, carrying the ball all the way to the left area. The Tokyo DF couldn't keep up. They were left free to take a shot and we conceded a goal... We were caught up to the tie in a disappointing manner.

Still not giving up on victory, in the 87th minute, Hayashi was substituted for Higashi. This turned out to be successful. Just before the end of the 4-minute additional time, Muto, carrying the opponent's defender on his back, received a foul from Yonemoto's pass and won a free kick on the left side. From here, Ota sent a kick to the front line, which was headed by Hayashi in the right area. Muto reacted to the ball that flew to the lower left corner of the goal. He quickly jumped out and pushed it into the goal with his left foot, despite being blocked by the goalkeeper's save! Immediately after, the final whistle blew, and they successfully secured valuable 3 points while struggling. As a result, they accumulated 10 points and maintained their position as the group leader.

[Player Comments]
《Hayashi》
"(When I entered the game), the flow was leaning towards Kofu, so I wanted to press forward from the beginning. At that time, we conceded a goal and I desperately wanted to score a chance. I moved to the right side of the front three and tried to get behind the opponent and take advantage of a chance by jumping into the cross from the opposite side. In the corner kick situation, I was able to time my run well by avoiding the opponent's marking. The most important thing today is that we won, but next time I want to score a goal."

"Maruyama"
"In the first half, I think we were able to move the ball well and defend well. However, in the second half, the atmosphere gradually became loose and the overall performance became lax. We lacked concentration and the atmosphere became a bit loose, which resulted in conceding goals during that period. These are significant points for reflection. However, it's not easy to have a perfect or flawless game. We want to take these new challenges as positive gains and carry them forward to the next game."

[Summary of Massimo FICCADENTI's press conference]
"We were able to dominate the game until midway through the second half. However, it was a good lesson that we need to finish the game properly, or else things like this will happen. There were several dangerous scenes created, including the save by Gonda, but we created more chances throughout the 90 minutes, so I think it was a deserving victory. The performance was good from the start, and luck was on our side in the end. If possible, I was considering making substitutions early on to give the players some rest, but the game became tight, so it wasn't easy to make substitutions. The opponents kept running until the end, and it was not an easy game, but it's not good to end a game like today's, where we took control, with a draw. Especially in the second half, we were too focused on attacking and made some midfield passing mistakes, which created large spaces. As a result, we ended up conceding counterattacks from Kofu. If there were no mistakes, we wouldn't have conceded, and I think we could have managed the game better. Nevertheless, it's important not to dwell on the defeat in the league match and focus on the victory."

[Kofu - Coach Satoru SAKUMA's Press Conference Summary]
"Although we faced today with a short preparation period, I am disappointed that we couldn't deliver 3 points to the supporters who came to support us on a weekday away game. The game plan in the first half was to aim for a 0-0 draw, but we made a boring mistake and conceded a foul, which led to a goal. In the second half, we had to score goals, so we made improvements such as bringing in FW Adriano and adjusting the players' positions. Today, we fielded players who have had few chances so far, but the players who played understood the advantages and disadvantages of Tokyo's system and our system well, and they attacked with courage in the second half. What became clear today is that if we give a free kick to a top J1 team in that time period at the end of the game, there is a high possibility that they will score. I think the players were able to learn from it again. It's very disappointing, but I want to switch our focus to the league game against Sendai."