Seize the Cup! Challenging for the first Emperor's Cup Final Round

　Tokyo, who has risen to the Emperor's Cup final. On New Year's Day 2012, they will face Kyoto Sanga F.C. at the Japan National Stadium. This will be the club's first appearance in the Emperor's Cup final, but it will be their third time in a cup final after the Nabisco Cup in 2004 and 2009. This experience will be a definite advantage for the team, and they will approach the match with a calm and focused mindset.

　Manager Okuma, who will lead the team for the last time this season, also said, "The players themselves know what they need to do and what they should not let the opponent do. So I want them to play with energy. However, in a one-shot game where you don't know what will happen, it may be necessary to attract luck. Including that, mental strength becomes important when you come this far. Not just the players on the pitch, but all 31 members will fight with a strong determination to grab victory."

　Kyoto, on the other hand, is in 7th place in the J2 league. However, towards the end of the season, the team has matured and raised their collective awareness. In the Emperor's Cup, they have defeated Yamagata, Kashima, Shonan, and Yokohama FM. Against Kashima, they won 1-0, and against Yokohama FM, they won 4-2 in extra time. This shows that they have evolved into a team that can fight tenaciously and engage in back-and-forth battles.

　On the other hand, Tokyo has also achieved victories of 1-0 against Mito, Urawa, and C Osaka, successfully holding off their opponents' counterattacks. While they have been pushed back after taking the lead recently, it can also be said that this is a testament to their ability to remain calm and fight tenaciously. Tokyo has won both of their matches against Kyoto in the current league season, but at this point, past data and records may not hold much significance. The team's strength and determination, as well as their strategic decisions and accumulated experiences, will ultimately determine the outcome of the match.

　No matter what the situation, we will unite the power of everyone, including the stands, and aim for victory as one on the first big stage. The game started at 2:05 PM in Tokyo, at the National Stadium under cloudy skies.

Despite conceding the first goal, we lead by two points in the second half thanks to goals from Konno, Morishige, and Lucas.

　From the start, we aimed for the back of Kyoto's right side, centered around Ishikawa. In the 3rd minute, Kajiyama → Ishikawa took a shot. In the 7th and 9th minutes, we threatened Kyoto's goal again with Ishikawa's breakthrough. However, in the 13th minute, we couldn't control the ball from our own left throw-in and were hit by Kyoto's counterattack. Now, Nakayama, a central FW, was surrounded by Imakawa and Tokunaga, trying to steal the ball, but it spilled to the right side, where Kyoto's MF Nakayama ran freely and scored a looping shot over Gonda's head, giving up the first goal.

　But without panicking, in the 15th minute, Rene connected a short left CK and Inakano headed in Ishikawa's left cross from the far side! The ball was sucked into the net on the opposite side, quickly equalizing the score. The game returned to square one, and afterwards, Kyoto's press caused trouble, making it difficult to settle down and pass the ball. But in the 36th minute, Tanizawa received a foul and earned a FK in the opponent's half, slightly to the right. Although it was about 30m away, Ishikawa took a short FK and Morishige aimed from an unseen spot behind the DF's wall. The amazing shot with no spin went beautifully into the net, getting the go-ahead goal!

　After that, Tokyo grabbed the rhythm and launched an attack with Lucas as the starting point, connecting passes. And just before the end of the first half, in the 42nd minute, Takahashi headed the Kyoto goal kick to the front line. Lucas quickly reacted to this and broke away from the opponent's defense, calmly assessed the GK's position and scored, taking a 2-0 lead into the second half.

Lucas scores the fourth goal to secure victory for Kyoto, and Daikuma Tokyo is crowned champion!!

　In the second half, Kyoto struggled to connect against the momentum of the counterattack, but their defense responded well. Even when the opponent had possession of the ball, they were able to steal it with tough defense and launch a counterattack. In the 66th minute, Tanizawa stole the ball in their own half and passed it to the left flank. Mokuhara made a powerful run and passed it through to the left area. Lucas controlled the ball perfectly, despite colliding with a DF, and evaded the opponent's DF to score from a difficult angle. This marked a valuable fourth goal to put Kyoto ahead.

　Kyoto still shows persistence. In the 71st minute, MF Cho Won-yeon aimed for a FK from slightly left of the goal, but Gonda made a save with his left hand! However, from the resulting right CK, they allowed a goal from a header by substitute FW Kubo...

　However, Suzuki, Roberto CESAR, and Nakamura, who came on as substitutes, calmly waited for another chance from a tough defense. In the final stages, the game became hectic, but they did not lose their quickness to switch and in stoppage time, Cesar and Suzuki made runs behind the defense, creating a great scoring opportunity. They were unable to score a fifth goal against Kyoto's determined defense, but they continued to play their own style of soccer until the end and the game ended.

　Daikuma Tokyo, who showed strength throughout, won the Emperor's Cup for the first time and ended the season in the best possible way.

　【Player Comments】《Kanda》"Today, the result is everything. I think it's okay to say 'OK' because we won. We conceded two goals, but I am grateful to the attacking players. We scored a lot of goals from restarts, which proved that we are a team that can score from various places. We were able to adapt to the situation and control the game, and we didn't panic. That's our growth this season. We may not be experts yet, but I want to show what we have built up on the stage of J1 next season."

　"Shioda" "I've always wanted to share the joy with the stands and give them a cup as a present. All the players had the same feeling, but we couldn't give them the J2 League trophy, so I really wanted to deliver it to the stands today. They have supported us through good times and bad, and today they made the National Stadium our "home". Next season will be even busier, but we want to continue fighting with the supporters. We sincerely thank you for your support this season and look forward to your continued support in the future."

　[Summary of Manager Okuma's Press Conference] "We won the J2 championship this season, but the players often said, 'We don't know if we can really compete in J1.' They were humble. Even if we win today, we can't say we've truly become stronger, but I think we've proven our initial goal of 'becoming stronger and returning to J1' by being able to continue winning against J1 teams. I think there will be various voices saying 'because we're in J2' or 'because it's a tournament', but I believe the team will become stronger by overcoming various pressures. I am extremely grateful to the players, and I would like to express my gratitude once again to the sponsors and supporters who have supported us. And I hope that FC Tokyo will continue to be watched with both strictness and warmth. I sincerely hope that they will perform well in the J1 league next season and aim for a consecutive victory in the Emperor's Cup."

　There are many players on this team that I have been watching, and I have always wanted to take them to Asia, including their level up and the team and club's level up. It was a dream of the club, but it was also my own dream. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for being able to achieve it. Football is a global thing, so there is still a lot that needs to be done, but I am grateful to the players. I would like to ask for your continued support and support for FC Tokyo in the future. Thank you very much."

　[Kyoto - Coach Ogi's Press Conference Summary] "First of all, I want to thank the players. In the J2 league, we were told to "win against J1 teams" in the Emperor's Cup, and we beat Sagawa Printing and Kashima. After that, we were told to "go to the National Stadium" and we won against Shonan, and when we came to the National Stadium, we were told to "go to the final round" and we won again. Finally, we were told to "win the championship" but we couldn't do it (laughs). We were able to overcome each hurdle as they got higher, but we couldn't overcome the final high hurdle. However, I am truly grateful to the players who brought us this far, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to the sponsors, supporters, and fan club. What was lacking was my own lack of effort.

　It was very disappointing to concede the second and third goals as a game. I think the difference in quality was clear in the 3/4 area where we wanted to score. We had to come up with better ideas and techniques to compete against FC Tokyo in the final moments. But there's no point in just lamenting about it. We need to reflect on it and move on to the next game. At first, there were some who said that the final between two J2 teams would be "low level", but that was never the case. I want to sincerely congratulate FC Tokyo from the bottom of my heart and applaud their fantastic football. We will continue to fight in J2 for another year, but we will do our best to get promoted to J1 and become champions.