Tokyo Castle Fukui's first pre-season match of the season!

　With the start of the league season just two weeks away, a preseason match was held against J2 Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. In his second season as head coach, Hiroshi JOFUKU aims to continue the "Moving Football" philosophy and build upon the team's progress, while also taking on new challenges as a team and as individual players, with the goal of winning titles. After training camps in Guam and Miyazaki, this was a great opportunity to test the team's progress in a real match.

　Nagatomo and Imakono, who joined the Japan national team's activities from the Miyazaki camp, are in good spirits. While Shioda and Cabore are absent from the team, the team's condition is improving as they continue to play practice matches. Today, the starting lineup will consist of goalkeeper Kantoda, defenders Tokunaga, Sahara, Shigehira, Nagatomo, midfielder Imakono at the bottom, Bruno QUADROS in front of him, and wing players Hayabusa and Kajiyama, with Hiraoka and Kondo as the two top players.

　Sapporo, on the other hand, will be playing in J2 this season and has welcomed new coach Ishizaki. Like Kashiwa, who led the team until last season, they aim to play pressing football by putting pressure on the opponent's ball holder from a high position based on their abundant physical strength. Although they have many injured players and cannot play with their best lineup, we should be able to see the "New Sapporo Football".

　Despite the wind, the match started at 2:02pm in Sapporo with a temperature of 25.5℃.

Demonstrating a fast-paced passing soccer, Kajiyama scores the first goal!

　Tokyo attacks with a passing game that has been in sync since the start of the match. In the opening minutes, they earn two right corner kicks, with Hayashi and Kajiyama taking the kicks, but they are unable to finish. In the 3rd minute, they steal the ball in their own half and quickly launch an attack, with Kondo dribbling up and taking a strong shot from outside the box. However, his first shot of the day goes over the bar. In the 8th minute, Nagatomo → Kondo makes a move on the left side and earns a free kick outside the left area. Kajiyama takes the free kick and sends it back towards the center, where Imakano runs in from the right and takes a direct shot, but it goes wide.

　At 15 minutes, Nagatomo made an attacking run and earned a corner kick. Kajiyama's left corner kick was headed by Konno, but it went wide. In the 20th minute, a direct pass was connected and Hayashi, who had moved up to the center, aimed for goal with a powerful right-footed shot from the right area, but it was saved by the GK. In the following 22nd minute, starting from Kondo's post, Kajiyama and Bruno connected in front of the opponent's area, and Hayashi took a shot. It was a well-controlled shot, but it lacked power and was caught by the GK.

　Tokyo completely dominates the midfield. Then, in the 25th minute, midfielder Bruno QUADROS heads the opponent's goalkeeper's kick forward. Forward Akamine wins the ball in the air against the opponent's defender and heads it down. The ball rolls to Kajiyama who was pushing forward and takes a shot. The ball grazes the right post and bounces back into the middle, scoring the first goal. After that, they continue to attack with passing football, but are unable to score another goal. On the other hand, they create opportunities for the opponent to counterattack, but do not allow them to take a shot. As a result, the first half ends with 8 shots to 2 in favor of Tokyo, showing their dominance.

Unable to stop Sapporo's momentum since the start of the second half, resulting in a comeback loss.

　Tokyo made substitutions in the second half, replacing Kajiyama and Kondo with Suzuki and Hirayama. They continue to push for another goal. However, Sapporo starts the second half with strong pressure, quickly attacking and trying to steal the ball. Then, in the 47th minute, MF Danilson takes a left-footed shot from about 25m in the center. It catches Gonda off guard, and he can't move in time. The equalizing goal is scored. In the 51st minute, Tokyo's Gonda makes a long feed to Hirayama, who heads it down and Suzuki breaks through. He takes the ball into the area and shoots, but it goes wide to the right of the goal.

　59 minutes, this time from Sapporo Central FK. MF Clayton lures in MF Danilson and his left foot explodes! The shot slips through the hands of Gonda and into the net, allowing the opponents to take the lead. Tokyo wants to counterattack, but they can't pass like they did in the first half due to Sapporo's tough marking. In the 69th minute, Hayashi and Konno make a high pass on the right side. Tokunaga times it perfectly and takes a shot from inside the right area, but it goes just wide to the right. In the 75th minute, Ohata and Nakamura are substituted in for Hayashi and Akamine. Nakamura takes the right SB position, while Konno and Tokunaga play as defensive midfielders. Kanazawa and Ohata are the left and right MFs, and Hiraoka and Suzuki are the two top players.

　With 10 minutes remaining, fatigue begins to show in Sapporo. Then, in quick succession, they get a chance from a corner kick, but Otake is unable to finish. In the 87th minute, Otake and Suzuki make a dribble into the area from the left side, but are unable to take a shot. In the 88th minute, Otake's through pass to Imakawa in the center is called offside. In additional time, they get three more corner kicks, but are unable to take a shot. The match ends with a final score of 1-2.

　【Player Comments】《Kajiyama》"It was hotter than expected. The substitution in the first half was according to the original plan. This season, I am playing as an attacking midfielder during attacks and dropping back to the side during defense. Today, I think I was able to do fairly well in terms of aiming for the space behind the forwards and supporting and making runs when the ball was played to the top. My focus is to try to get into the box as much as possible even when I am physically tired. Also, I try to time my runs early and start moving as soon as the ball is played to the side. (What did you think about the second half after you were substituted?) I think the front line was often isolated. We tend to rush forward too much, which was also a problem last season. It's something that can be seen from the outside, but it's not always easy to notice on the pitch. If I can adjust my movement before the ball is played to the front line, those issues can be resolved and it will make things easier. I want to be able to contribute to the attack as an attacking midfielder by calming down the game. I think that's what is expected of me this season. I also want to continue challenging myself."《Akamine》"I was conscious of making runs into the box easily. Today was the last day of our training camp, so the team was fatigued, but there were things that we were able to do and things that we couldn't do. As a team, we still have room for improvement in terms of our common understanding and coordination. Personally, I made a lot of mistakes. However, as a forward, I think it's important to keep making those runs patiently. If I do that, the passes will come. Yota's goal was a result of his good movement. It was something we had practiced during the camp. As we head towards the start of the season, we want to fix the issues that came up today and continue to adjust. We have a lot of support in Tokyo, but it was also great to have many friends and family come to watch us in Okinawa. Thank you very much."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference *Question and Answer Format] "(What are your thoughts on today's match?) I feel sorry for the fans who came to support us from far away and the people in Okinawa who were looking forward to this match. However, in terms of the content, I don't think we should be too pessimistic. The way we played when the opponent put high pressure on us in the first 15 minutes of the second half is something we need to work on, but I don't think we should be completely pessimistic about it. (In the previous match, you worked on the tactics in great detail, but did you see that intention in the first half?) Actually, we had a feeling that we could score 2 or 3 more goals at any time. However, we couldn't score any additional goals due to the issue of precision. It's also a result, but it's also a challenge that we only scored one goal. I also think it's a problem that we went into the second half with the feeling that we could score at any time.

　(The first half was pretty good, but did you intentionally change the members in the second half? Was there also an intention to try various combinations and use a lot of players?) Yes, that's right. When we consider the time and number of practice matches we have left, there were things we wanted to try in a well-organized preseason match, and things that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Including that, there may have been some negative aspects, but specific challenges such as individual tasks, team combinations, and how to handle high pressure situations have emerged. It was like being given a wake-up call, and I think it was good for us. We won against Kashiwa and Jounan Ichigo in Miyakonojo, and there was a continuation of that in the first half today. It was a great achievement to have the feeling that we could score at any time. (I think it would be ideal if we could play the same kind of soccer in the second half as we did in the first half...?) There are players who joined late and haven't regained their game sense, and there are also players who are not yet in good condition. We won't rush to conclusions after just one game, but of course we want them to come back as soon as possible, because the team can't fight with just 11 players. Raising the level of the team is very important. We will take today's game as a challenge and work on it together as a team.

　(What do we need to work on in the next two weeks before the opening game?) Today, mentally, I think we were able to show that "we haven't accomplished anything yet" through our results. That's something to be grateful for. Even if we surpass our performance, we can't just rely on pretty words when it comes to serious games. We need to be able to adapt to various situations and fight. We were able to learn that, so in the next two weeks, we want to pursue both the mental aspect and the quality of soccer that we are striving for, solidify our team, and make good preparations.)

　[Sapporo Ishizaki Coach's Press Conference Summary] "In the preseason match, we had the chance to play against J1 powerhouse FC Tokyo. In the first half, I think the players were afraid of Tokyo and couldn't play their own soccer. In the second half, when they played with courage, they found their rhythm. The shots were also great, and we scored two goals. I think we need to play the same kind of soccer as the second half from the first half. However, we are currently training in Kumamoto, but the temperature in Okinawa is completely different and it was quite hot. Still, in the second half, they fought with a lot of heart. We still have two weeks, so we want to improve on today's issues and prepare for the opening match."