Grab the first final round appearance with a strong desire for victory!

　The Emperor's Cup semifinal will be against Kashiwa Reysol. In the quarterfinals on the 20th (Sat), they achieved a come-from-behind victory against Shimizu with a calm game plan despite conceding the first goal. As coach Jofuku says, "There is a good sense of tension and we are able to relax just enough. In the middle of the league season, there was a time when the tension became too high and we became too rigid. We will use that experience and aim for the top in the end, and now it has become a natural state to fight for the top." They want to grab victory with a strong determination towards the New Year's Day final.

　Kashiwa, on the other hand, has advanced to the semifinal round by defeating Kusatsu, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. They have a lot of energy on both offense and defense, and their sharp counterattacks are their strength. Up front, FW Popo and MF Alex consistently create opportunities, while the team as a whole pushes forward and MF Suganuma and Ota make quick runs from the sides, launching powerful attacks. In order to counter this, it will be important to match their energy and increase ball possession, while also limiting Kashiwa's counterattacks. Additionally, breaking through Kashiwa's strong defense, led by GK Sugano, will be crucial. Taking control of the sides and pulling out the DFs who are holding down the center will allow for exploiting the open spaces.

　Tokyo, Taira SHIGE is suspended due to accumulated warnings. Fujiyama will team up with Suhara. In addition, Ishikawa has fully recovered from his injury and has joined the reserve members. "There is no need to waste energy or be overly eager. We have built up what we have achieved so far without wavering, so we are focusing only on showing that. I want to contribute to the team and achieve results, and I have confidence in that," he said with determination. Suzuki, who is on loan from Kashiwa, also said, "Tokyo can take action against Kashiwa's strong soccer and can also play reaction soccer. We want to win by playing our usual soccer while accurately reading the flow," emphasizing the importance of fighting with a calm mind.　　

　Manager Jofuku declared strongly, "Regardless of the outcome, the daily training we have done so far will never be in vain. It's about having the drive to fight every day for 365 days. We want to see how much of the soccer we have built up can be shown. The players themselves will give us a satisfactory performance." They will stay focused, show a stronger determination than Kashiwa, and calmly play their own soccer to achieve victory! The match started at 1:06 PM in Tokyo, at the sunny Ecopa Stadium.

Suzuki scores with a middle shot! Take the lead and end the first half.

　Both teams were unable to create decisive chances due to the intense pressing at the ball. In the 7th minute, Cabore → Kajiyama made a through pass to Akamine in the area. It was a great opportunity, but it was offside. In the 9th minute, Kashiwa's FW Suganuma crossed from the left side. Ota in the center tried to shoot, but it went over the bar. In the 15th minute, Kashiwa's MF Popo crossed and MF Alex ran into the goal area, but his header was saved by Shioda.

　Tokyo starts to control the flow of the game in the middle as time passes. In the 18th minute, Sasaki dives to head the ball from Kajiyama's liner, but it hits an opponent player. Tokyo then takes a short corner from the loose ball, and Suzuki shoots from a difficult angle inside the box. It hits the opponent's defender and falls to Akamine, who volleys it but misses the target by a large margin. On the other hand, Kashiwa also shows persistence and pushes forward with strong attacks, but Tokyo counters with focused defense. It becomes a tense and intense match where neither team can let their guard down for a moment.

　At the 31st minute, Tokyo's Kajiyama made a through pass to Cabore from a counter attack behind the opponent's defense. Although it was cleared once, Kajiyama picked it up again and Suzuki received the ball in the center and took a powerful shot. This pierced through the Kashiwa goal, giving Tokyo the lead. With the momentum on their side, Tokyo calmly controlled the game. They created a solid block, defended well, and quickly launched attacks by stealing the ball. Towards the end of the first half, Kajiyama took two powerful shots without any danger, and the first half ended with a 1-0 lead.

Despite fighting until the end, we were defeated after allowing a comeback in the second half.

　Kashiwa started the second half by sending in FW Fransa to take the lead. Tokyo also followed the instructions from the coach during halftime and did not let the opponent take control of the game from the start. In the 54th minute, Cabore headed away Shioda's goal kick and passed it to Akamine, who took a shot but missed to the right of the goal. In the 60th minute, they connected a loose ball from a right free kick and Cabore made a perfect through pass behind the opponent's DF. Hayashi ran into the area but couldn't take a shot as he was closed down by the DF. In the 63rd minute, Suzuki broke through on the left side and crossed the ball. Cabore tried to hit it with his left foot but missed the target.

　Both teams concentrated and attacked each other quickly, and the intense offense and defense continued. In the 68th minute, Kashiwa's left cross was connected to the center by midfielder Alex, and forward Fransa broke through with a perfect trap and shot. This went through between Shioda's legs and tied the game. Tokyo, who wanted to counterattack, substituted Emerson for Hayabusa immediately after conceding a goal, and Iwakawa for Suzuki in the 73rd minute. It became a fierce battle to score one point each. In the 75th minute, Kajiyama took a shot from outside the box after a scramble in front of the goal. However, the Kashiwa goalkeeper caught it right in front of him.

　In the 82nd minute, Kajiyama dribbled in from the right side and passed to Emerson, who was free on the left after pulling the DF. He took a shot, but it went over the bar... Unable to take advantage of the chance, they couldn't score an additional point. Then in the 88th minute, Lee, who came on as a substitute for Kashiwa, took advantage of a momentary gap in the Tokyo DF and took a middle shot. It went into the top right corner, giving them the lead. Tokyo immediately substituted Fujiyama for Kondo and pushed Sato forward, trying to make a power play in the remaining time, but it was blocked by Kashiwa's focused DF and the time was up. They couldn't make it to the final for the first time and ended up in the Emperor's Cup Best 4, finishing all the schedules for this season.

　【Player Comments】《Suzuki》"Playing against my former team Kashiwa, I tried to approach the game with the same mindset as always, but there was still some awareness. I was happy to score today, as I wanted to contribute to the team's goals. I had been practicing shooting from outside the box since our training in Kodaira. It was a good goal, just like in practice. It would have been great if the team could have won. But in the end, we lost because something was lacking for Tokyo. We need to build on this and make it meaningful. I want to take this opportunity to grow as an individual and as a team. Next season, we will aim for an even higher position in the league and finally win the Emperor's Cup. We will use today's disappointment as motivation to improve."《Nagatomo》"Not being able to score another goal was a factor in our loss. We also couldn't keep up with our marking and there were moments where we could have pressed more. I think that's where we lost the game. It's sad that the football season ends in December. We had set a goal to play football together until New Year's Day, so it's disappointing. This year, I experienced a lot of things. Personally, it wasn't always easy, but I think I was able to grow by thinking about various things. I want to contribute more to the team and be able to lead them with my voice. I'm grateful to the supporters for coming this far and buying tickets for New Year's Day. I feel ashamed. Next year, I want to show the fans that we will fight even harder and play in a way that will make them happy."

　【Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference】"It's very disappointing. We had a lot of supporters come from Tokyo and we approached the game with a strong mentality, but it's very disappointing that we couldn't make it to the final round. Congratulations to Manager Ishizaki. I don't think we were inferior in terms of content. Our defensive and offensive plans were almost on target in the first half, and the start of the second half wasn't bad either. However, we were undone by FW Emerson, who we were most concerned about, and in the end, the vital area was left open and MF Lee scored a wonderful goal. Of course, there were reasons for that, and we weren't able to respond. It's a chance we don't often get, so we wanted to be finalists, but we couldn't. We have to use this frustration and the frustration of the final J-League match next year, both as individuals and as a team. That's what it means to gain experience. Reysol played a very spirited game. I hope they can win the championship in our place. (What was the plan after being tied?) The positions of Hayashi and Suzuki required a lot of hard work, so the key was how to add an accent there. We were tied just before putting in Emerson, but we were planning to make the substitution whether we were tied or not. We wanted him to be the accent, to create our own time. And when Suzuki got tired, we wanted to put in Ishikawa and have a fast attack up front."

　[Kashiwa Ishizaki Coach's Press Conference Summary] "We won against Hiroshima in the last extended game and tried to fight in the semifinals with that momentum, but MF Ohtani and MF Sugiyama were unable to play due to injuries. However, the substitute players did their best. It was a very difficult situation to be behind, but it was good that we were able to turn the game around in the second half. We were able to create some decisive opportunities, but if we can reduce those, I think we can have a better fight. FC Tokyo is truly amazing, and either team could have won, but I think the goal that MF Lee scored was driven by his desire to win the game. We only have two days until the final, but I want to prepare well and aim for the victory. (Why did you put in FW França at the beginning of the second half and FW Lee in the middle of the second half?) We wanted to score quickly after being behind, but our attack wasn't in rhythm. So we put in FW França to calm down the ball. However, when he comes in, everyone just looks at him. MF Lee is a player who can surpass FW França and jump forward. We wanted to create a situation where the ball would go to MF Lee when the opponent was focused on FW França. The first goal was scored by FW França and the second goal was scored by MF Lee, so it was really good that the two substitutes scored. (A word for the final) Only two teams in Japan can play on New Year's Day. I want to savor this joy and win in the end to share the happiness with everyone."