Emperor's Cup kicks off, Komazawa University, seeded, faces off

　The Emperor's Cup of this season has begun. J Team will face Komazawa University in the 2nd Round. We want to make a good start to this new tournament and gradually advance towards the final.

　The team will face the first leg of the Nabisco quarterfinals in three days, during which time Konno will leave the team for Japan national team activities and Kim Yong-gun for South Korea national team activities. Additionally, Ishikawa and Gonda are injured. In this situation, coach Jofuku explained his decision for the starting lineup, saying, "We want to win the Emperor's Cup until the end and we don't want to miss our chance in the Nabisco Cup. We have to make our decisions within that context." The starting lineup will consist of GK Shioda, with Hirayama and Shigematsu as the two top players. Matsushita and Tanabe will form a double pivot in midfield, with Suzuki and Otake on the wings. Morishige and Takahashi will be the center backs, while Mokuhara and Hirade will play as full backs.

　Komadai won the "34th Prime Minister's Cup All Japan University Soccer Tournament" held in July and earned the right to participate in the Emperor's Cup as a university seed, defeating Tokyo Verdy Youth and advancing to the 2nd round. Komadai is also a strong team nationwide. In the Kanto University League, they finished 2nd in the first half of the season with 12 total points and 6 total goals conceded, boasting a strong defense. Their attack is led by 184cm FW Natsume (4th year), and their characteristic is their fast vertical soccer. The bench is also filled with players over 180cm, giving them power and strength in set plays. They continue to press from the front line with their high stamina throughout the 90 minutes, aiming to create quick counter attacks.

　Tokyo, on the other hand, wants to exploit the gap in the DF line. If they can avoid the press from the Komadai front line and connect their attacks, the versatile attack should be able to be launched with the cooperation of the two top and side players, Otake and Suzuki. They want to break through by repeating it, not just once.

　Komadai players have been aiming to "defeat FC Tokyo" since winning the Prime Minister's Cup. Their unity and loyalty to the team as university students is exceptional. As FC Tokyo, it will be difficult to face a university team in the Emperor's Cup for the first time, but they will aim for the 3rd round with Tokyo-style soccer without playing defensively. The match started at 7pm in Ajinomoto, still humid from the heat.

In the early stages, we were pushed by the momentum, but we regained our composure and rhythm.

　In the early stages, the line dropped against Komadai's long ball. In the 4th minute, Komadai's right cross was punched by Shioda. Komadai MF Kanekubo picked up the loose ball and took a direct shot. In the 9th minute, Tokyo lost the clear from Komadai's left throw-in and Komadai MF Usui took a shot. In the 12th minute, Tokyo's Hirade attacked and Matsushita took a middle shot, but it went over the bar. From there, there were noticeable moments of passing mistakes and lack of coordination in the front line, leading to counterattacks even when the ball was won.

　The match was evenly matched with a strong Komadai team, but they were unable to make a decisive shot. Gradually, they settled down and attacked with Tokyo-like passing. In the 24th minute, Shigematsu took a shot from Suzuki's pass from the left side. In the 29th minute, Takahashi dropped a vertical pass from Matsushita, and Otake sent a through pass back into the area, where Shigematsu broke through. However, both were stopped by the Komadai goalkeeper. Next, Otake took a volley from Suzuki's cross from the right, but it was blocked by a sliding Komadai defender.

　At 39 minutes, Tanabe launched a quick attack with a dribble, and Suzuki and Hirayama combined to enter the right area. Shigematsu, who followed up, made a heel pass. Mokuhara crossed. Otake jumped in from the far side, but was entangled with the defender and couldn't finish. Just before the end of the first half, Suzuki also dribbled and expanded to the right side. Mokuhara sent a pass to the area, and Hirayama in front of the goal became the decoy, allowing Shigematsu, who was free in the left area, to take a shot. This was also a decisive opportunity, but the ball that was struck was blocked by the Komadai defender... Despite creating chances, they were unable to break through the physical defense of Komadai. The first half ended scoreless and they headed into the second half.

Hanyu returns, Matsushita's FK and Hirayama's header push Komadai to hold on

　In the second half, Hirade and Otake were replaced by Tokunaga as a defensive midfielder and Hanyu as a left midfielder. They faced the game with a formation where Matsushita played as a left fullback. Hanyu made a comeback for the first time since the 8/8 Sec. 17 match, and his speed and big movements put pressure on the Komadai goal from the beginning. In the 50th minute, Tokunaga and Hirayama passed the ball in the Komadai area, and Mokuhara, who had made a run behind the Komadai defenders from Tokunaga's through pass, took a shot but it was saved by the GK. In the 51st minute, Suzuki on the left passed to Hirayama in the center, who took a shot but it was saved by the GK in front of the goal.

　At 53 minutes, Tokunaga gets a strong middle from the right CK. Suzuki kicks and Hirayama heads, but it is caught by the GK. However, at 58 minutes, Hirayama is fouled just outside the left area and gets a FK. Matsushita aims directly for this and the ball shot from his right foot beautifully hits the net on the right, GOAL! Finally, they take advantage of the set piece opportunity and take the lead.

　However, Komadai also applied a tough press and sent the ball to the front line, and launched a counterattack centered on set plays. In response, Tokyo concentrated on their defense. In the 70th minute, they launched a counterattack from a set play situation by Komadai. Although Hayashi's pass to Shigematsu on the front line was cut off, Mokuhara quickly sent a left throw-in and Hayashi broke through on the right front line. In the end, he sent a pass to Hirayama running on the opposite side, but it narrowly missed.

　In the 73rd minute, immediately after, Hayashi picked up the opponent's DF clearance on the right side and sent an early cross to the goal. Hirayama headed in the pinpoint cross and scored!! They finally added a goal in the flow of the game. In the 78th minute, Maeda made his first appearance, replacing Suzuki. In the end, Komadai used player substitutions to thicken their front line and launch a power play, but they calmly shut down any counterattacks. Despite a tough game, they won 2-0 and advanced to the 3rd round of the Emperor's Cup. In the 3rd round, they will face Giravanz Kitakyushu.

　【Player Comments】《Hayu》"Before my return, I wanted to try it out in practice matches, but due to the consecutive games, I had to limit my playing time. However, I felt the tension of playing in a tight 0-0 situation. Still, I was able to move more than I thought and I think I did my job well. (Watching a few games from the outside) I want to understand the relationship between the giver and the receiver and be able to make plays that are unpleasant for the opponent."《Hirayama》"(About scoring) During practice, I often received crosses from Hayu. I think that paid off. Not only the staff and teammates, but also the people who always support us from the stands, I am happy to be able to respond to them with a goal and I want to do my best to score in the next game as well. Komadai has always stuck to their style of soccer. We were also stimulated by the tough competition. In the next Nabisco game, we need to score, so we want to aggressively and actively go for it."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "Our goal today was to advance to the next round. That was our only and biggest objective, so I'm glad we were able to achieve it. With the busy schedule in the summer and considering the injured players and the big game on the 8th (2nd leg of the Nabisco Cup quarterfinals), we had to make some last-minute decisions in terms of our lineup and game strategy. We knew that Komadai would come at us with a strong mentality, even with just one day of rest, so we were expecting a 0-0 score at halftime. We sent our players out with the confirmation to keep the score at 0 and to score in any way possible in the second half to close out the game, even if it didn't go according to our time and pace."

　From the stands, there were voices saying "What are you doing against college students?" However, I believe that our fans and supporters understand the difficulty of our situation and today's game. We didn't panic and thought that we just need to move on when the final whistle blows, and the players played with a solid game plan. (About the players who were substituted in the second half) Tokunaga had some stiffness in his legs and was at risk. We didn't want to risk a relapse, so we didn't use him as a starter today and took precautions. Hayashi's injury is also getting better and he can play up to 45 minutes. We also wanted to get him used to the game, so we used him for the maximum amount of time today."

　[Komadai Akita Coach's Press Conference Summary] "It was a result based on our abilities. We had the feeling that if we could have executed our concept a little better, but there was a difference in strength. (We were pushing in the first half, but?) We were able to do it in the first half, but in the second half, Tokyo used player substitutions and Yuzuru Hayami, who has a lot of movement, came on. From there, we were unable to win with height and were forced to run long distances as the ball was moved. We felt the difference in strength in how we stopped the ball, took positions, and created space. They were able to precisely exploit the open spaces while passing the ball. If we can also play like that, it would be great, but we still have few players who can create and see the game as a whole."

　However, since it is an official game rather than a practice match, the professionals will give their all with the goal of winning. The players probably felt things that they couldn't understand just by hearing them. They may have noticed and learned various things such as the speed of their movements, the speed of the ball, the accuracy of their kicks, and the preparatory movements before making a move. (What was lacking in order to score points?) Maybe we didn't have enough determination to keep going without giving up. It is difficult to continuously compete for 90 minutes, picking up loose balls and fighting for them. I think the players did their best, but what was lacking was the ability to continue for 90 minutes. If we keep going, anything can happen in a competition. We also thought that we might be able to score a goal or find an opportunity to win.