Away at Fukuda.A, don't forget the challenger spirit

The 3rd round of the Emperor's Cup will be held. JEF United Chiba will face off against Terry at Fukuda Denshi Arena. In the previous league match against Kashima, they suffered a defeat and their winning streak was broken. However, the players, while acknowledging their defeat, lifted their heads once again and vowed to move forward one game at a time, saying "It's not over yet. What's important is how we recover from this and not losing consecutive games."

In this 3rd round of the Emperor's Cup, MoriShige and Gonda are absent due to the simultaneous activities of the Japan national team. As a result, GK Shioda and center backs Kaga and Maruyama will be playing. Yonemoto and Lucas will be in the defensive midfield, with Mita and Hasegawa on the wings and Higashino in the attacking midfield. On the bench, there are fresh players such as Hiroe, Kono, and Hayashi, and Hiramatsu has also made a comeback to the team after about 3 and a half years since April 2010.

Chiba, on the other hand, advanced to the 3rd round of the Emperor's Cup after a big win against Kamatamare Sanuki (JFL) in the 2nd round. They are currently in 6th place in the J2 league, but today they will be without FW Kempes, who has scored 18 goals in the J2 league and is a major loss. However, FW Morimoto, who joined mid-season, is gradually improving his condition and their individual and team abilities are something to be wary of.

Manager Ranko POPOVIC also said, "We must not think that the opponent is from J2. It is important to approach the game with the same mentality as we do in J1. However, for the opponent, their motivation will be very high when facing a J1 team. We must show a stronger determination than them in order to achieve victory."

A challenging match for Tokyo, facing it with a challenger spirit. Based on what we have built up so far, we want to push Chiba away with a persistent fight without rushing. Even as the sun sets, the weather is good enough that you don't feel the cold, and the match started at 7:04 pm with Chiba's kickoff.

Lucas scores with a PK, taking the lead and advancing in a heated match.

Both teams showed intense determination from the start and fought with fierce spirit. The game became a back-and-forth battle as they both tried to steal the ball from each other's tough defense. In the 7th minute, Kaga intercepted the ball in their own half and carried it up the left side. From there, Higashi advanced forward and passed it to the center. Watanabe skillfully evaded the opposing defender and took a shot from the area, but the ball hit the top right corner of the goal. In the 9th minute, Chiba's long ball was met by FW Morimoto who made a run towards the front line. His shot, aimed to get past the goalkeeper, was saved by the determined Shioda from close range!

At 13 minutes, Lucas on the right side exchanged passes with Nakawaki in the center, drawing the opposing DF and passing to Mita on the left. Mita took a first touch and shot decisively from the left area, but was blocked by Chiba DF on the goal line. Both teams pressed from the front and connected with quick attacks, but as time passed, Tokyo gradually took control of the ball. On the other hand, Chiba collected the ball and created chances by utilizing the movements of FW Morimoto. Both teams showed their strengths and the exchange between offense and defense was intense, leading to a heated and exciting match.

At the 40th minute, they pressed and took the ball on the right side of their own field, and passed it to Hasegawa in the center from Yonemoto. Hasegawa sent a high ball to the front line with a direct pass, and Lucas broke through the area. Lucas was fouled and brought down by the Chiba DF behind him, earning a penalty kick. In the 41st minute, Lucas calmly scored the penalty kick to take the lead! They scored the first goal just before the end of the first half, leading by one point going into the second half.

Conceded a goal just before the end of the second half... However, Shioda made a PK stop and led the team to victory.

In the second half, in the 50th minute, midfielder Hasegawa sent a long side change to left forward Lucas, and Lucas → from the inside, East jumped out in front of the goal and took a shot, but... it just missed the frame. After that, without breaking the balance of defense, they aggressively tried to steal the ball centered around Yonemoto and aimed for an additional goal from a counterattack. However, in the end, Chiba, who was trying to counterattack, ended up holding onto the ball for a longer period of time.

Therefore, in the 61st minute, Takahashi was substituted for Mita as a defensive midfielder. Hasegawa moved to the attacking midfielder position, and Higashi moved to the right midfielder position, trying to attack while maintaining a strong defense. On the other hand, Chiba also made player substitutions and found their rhythm by using quick passing and the mobility of their front line. However, they were unable to create any clear chances, and then Higashi and Lucas both missed the target with their shots, and they were unable to score a second goal. In the 88th minute, Lucas on the left side passed to Ota on the outside. Ota crossed the ball on the ground, and Hasegawa in the near post took a direct shot, but the goalkeeper made a save. Hasegawa then took another shot from the rebound, but it hit the left post.

Unable to take advantage of the chance, they were countered and in the 90th minute, a long ball was sent from the left midfield of Chiba to the right front line. DF Yonekura, who had advanced to attack, was able to make a pinpoint pass and take a shot, but it was saved by Shioda with one hand and Maruyama escaped with a throw-in. However, from this throw-in by Chiba, a direct pass was connected and a vertical pass was made to MF Machida, who had advanced to the goal. He dropped it with his heel and FW Fukai, who had run in from the left, scored. They were tied in the final minutes and entered extra time.

In the extra time, both teams attacked each other but lacked the finishing touch, resulting in a scoreless draw. The score remained 1-1 and went into a penalty shootout. Here, Shioda, who confidently said "I'll stop it, so everyone can kick with confidence," showed a great performance. Tokyo's Lucas, Ota, Hirayama, Hasegawa, and Yonemoto all calmly scored. On the other hand, Kono and Takahashi were unable to score, but Shioda stopped Chiba's penalties from DF Takeuchi, MF Tanihara, and MF Takahashi! Finally, Tokunaga drove in a powerful penalty, surpassing Chiba with a score of 6-5. They came together as one and advanced to the 4th round with a victory.

[Player Comments]
"Shioda"
"We conceded a goal, but even before extra time and penalty kicks started, I said 'In this situation, our mindset is important. Let's show our determination to win and fight.' Regarding the penalty kick stop, we had data and knew the opponent's basic kicking style, but Coach Yamagishi told me 'Jump towards the side you have confidence in' and I trusted my instincts. I could hear the support from the opposite side and everyone stayed focused with a strong mindset until the end. After I made the stop, it's easy to get flustered if the next one is stopped, but everyone stayed focused. In a tournament, no matter how we win, it's the biggest achievement. We want to carry this victory over to the next league match and the Emperor's Cup for sure."

"Lucas"
"(Was it a goal right after the birth of your third child?) I couldn't score a goal with my previous two children, so this goal will be a very good memory. Ishikawa player and Kuribara trainer also recently had children, and we did the cradle performance to express the joy of three people. (Did you go to meet the player who missed the PK?) The player who missed it must be the most sad and depressed. Still, I also had the feeling that I didn't want that feeling to be transmitted to everyone else, so I went to talk to him. I am most happy about the team's victory today. We can share the joy together with everyone. I want to win all 6 remaining league games from here. I want to improve our ranking."
 

[Coach Ranko POPOVIC's Press Conference Summary]
"Thank you very much for staying until late. It must have been an exciting match until the end. It was great that we were able to get a result in the end, but because of these kinds of matches, my hair is still thick and full... (laughs). As for the game, it was a very good one. We were able to do what we needed to do and be patient. I think we only allowed two decisive chances, one where Chiba scored and one where we cleared the ball just before it crossed the goal line. On the other hand, we had several chances to decide the game. We needed to be more clinical in those moments. Today, we played against Chiba and it reaffirmed that they are a team with J1 quality. I think we both gave our all and had a good match for Japanese football. The players fought really well."

[Summary of Chiba Suzuki's Press Conference]
"I think we played a good game, but it's very disappointing that we couldn't win. We tried to put pressure on the opponent from the beginning and aim to take the ball quickly, and I think we were able to do that to some extent. However, I felt that the precision in front of the goal and the distance and speed of bringing the ball to the goal with one pass were different for J1 teams. In the scene of the penalty kick, they were able to take the ball to a decisive area with one pass. In the second half, we dominated and created chances by moving the ball, but we couldn't get close to the opponent's goal. It's a fact that we had the ball but couldn't create decisive chances. It's commendable that we managed to score at the end and take it to extra time. However, in the end, it went to a penalty shootout, but I think Tokyo had more decisive chances. Even though we couldn't get the result, we fought well and fought hard. We have to build on this game for the next one. That's the most important thing. We'll do our best to play another good game next time."