The Emperor's Cup has started towards the final title acquisition of the season.

　The Emperor's Cup, which has already had its 1st and 2nd rounds, will now see the participation of J1 teams starting from today's 3rd round. For Tokyo, this will be the last tournament of the season. In the past 3 years since their promotion to J1, they have been defeated in the first round by J2 teams such as Kofu, Yokohama FC, and Shonan, so they cannot afford to make the same mistake again.

　The opponent is Honda FC, a JFL seed. They have faced each other many times during their time in JFL as Tokyo Gas, and have always put up a good fight. They are currently always in the running for the JFL championship and have the strongest amateur team. They cannot be underestimated, but as professionals competing in the top league, Tokyo must show their superiority. They cannot afford to stumble easily on their way to winning the title. Amaral starts on the bench. Jean is out due to injury, so Fujiyama is playing center back and Yusuke Kondo is starting at the top as the game begins.

In the 4th minute, Yusuke KONDO scores a goal to take an early lead, but...

　Kondo Yusuke connects the kickoff ball and attempts to break through the left area, winning a corner kick. In the 4th minute, Miyazawa passes to the space on the right side of the front line. Although it didn't reach Ishikawa, it hits the opponent's defender and crosses the end line. Miyazawa then takes the right corner kick and passes it short to Ishikawa, who crosses from the right side. The ball goes over Toda's head in the center of the goal, but Kondo Yusuke follows up and pushes it in with his left foot for a goal! Tokyo has already taken the lead.

　After taking the lead, it seemed like we had the rhythm, but Honda also kept looking for chances without getting discouraged. In the 12th minute, DF Abe, who was free in the far post from a right FK, tried to score but the shot went over the goal. In the 20th minute, MF Maeda made a through pass to Furuhashi who broke through in front of the goal from a quick attack. Fujiyama closed in and didn't allow a shot. However, right after that, Ishikawa received a back pass in the opponent's half and Honda's MF Kawashima intercepted it and sent it directly to FW Furuhashi. Furuhashi advanced with the ball, and when he saw no pressure, he aimed for the goal from a mid-range shot. The ball was sucked into the top right corner of the goal. With this clean shot from Furuhashi, who is also the top scorer in the JFL, we were tied.

　Tokyo made crosses in the 26th and 27th minutes, with Kelly and Ishikawa. In the 29th minute, Kelly was surrounded by two defenders on the right side, but managed to pass the ball to the front line with a heel pass. Toda met the cross, but the GK caught it. In the 40th minute, they earned four consecutive corner kicks, but Yusuke Kondo's shot went over the goal. They couldn't quite get into a rhythm and the first half ended in a 1-1 tie.

Tokyo, who is pushing ahead, continues to chase Honda without giving up.

　In the second half, Amaral was substituted for Miura. Tokyo took a gamble by making Miura a one-man midfield. However, as Tokyo picked up the pace, Honda also increased their tempo. In the 47th minute, Honda was held up on the right side by Furukawa and allowed a cross, but Doi barely managed to hold off Nitta, who was free in front of the goal. In the 51st minute, after cutting off a pass from Miura to Kaji, Tokyo launched a quick counterattack and Kawashima took a shot after the Tokyo defense cleared the ball. In the 54th minute, Uruno was able to penetrate the area from Nitta's post.

　However, in the 55th minute, Yusuke Kondo, who picked up the opponent's DF clearance, ran up the left side with speed and crossed the ball after carefully observing the front of the goal. Kelly, who was waiting on the far side, scored a goal with a well-aimed header! They added another goal early in the second half. However, in the 62nd minute, they allowed Honda DF Yoshimura to make a decisive play by crossing the ball for Maeda to jump into. In the 63rd minute, Yusuke Kondo's shot was caught by the opponent's GK.

　Substituting Toda for Wu (= Chan) as a defensive midfielder in the 65th minute. Just as they were trying to push Honda aside with Chan's energy and vertical attacking, in the 68th minute, Amaral cleared Honda's corner kick. Yoshimura picked it up and allowed a dribble breakthrough into the area, where a cross was made. Tokyo DF cleared it, but the loose ball was shot by DF Mukojima and Maeda in succession. In the chaos, the ball was kicked into the goal by Abe.

　Tokyo, who had once again caught up with the tie, substituted Abe for Yusuke Kondo in the 75th minute. They began to create decisive chances again. In the 80th minute, Abe caught up with a pass from Kaji to the front line, competing with the DF, and made a negative pass. Ishikawa ran in at top speed, but was just a step too late. In the 85th minute, Abe intercepted Honda's quick attack and dribbled for a shot with speed. Then, Chan headed from the left corner kick. And in the 86th minute, Honda Maeda received a second warning and was sent off. Against the 10-man Honda, in the 87th minute, Chan's long throw was connected by Amaral, and Kelly took a decisive shot from the right side of the goal, but the opposing DF covered and cleared it. Immediately after, Kelly's volley shot from the center of the goal was also blocked by the fine save of the opposing GK Nakamura. Ishikawa's FK, Kanazawa's shot, and Kelly's shot from Amaral's drop in stoppage time were all unable to break through the concentrated defense of Honda. The game entered extra time with the V-goal system.

The match ended in a draw after 120 minutes, but we were able to secure a hard-fought victory in the penalty shootout.

　Tokyo, who wanted to take advantage of their numerical advantage, had the first chance with Honda. In the 3rd minute of extra time, Yoshimura picked up a loose ball from a right corner kick and took a decisive shot. However, the Tokyo defense cleared it with all their might. In the 7th minute, Abe received a vertical pass from Miyazawa and took a shot. In the 10th minute, Kanazawa's long shot was caught by the GK. Honda also tried to counterattack, but the defense centered around Doi prevented any shots. In the second half, the game mostly took place in Tokyo's half, but they just couldn't score. In the 3rd minute of extra time, Chan and Amaral launched a quick attack, but Kelly's shot was saved by the GK. In the 9th minute, Amaral dropped a cross from Kaji and Abe took a shot from close range on the right, but the GK made a fine save. In the 10th and 11th minutes, they continued to attack in waves, but ultimately the game ended in a draw after 120 minutes and went into a penalty shootout.

　PK shootout first kicker is Honda. Furuhashi, Mukojima, Abe, Masuda, and Yoshimura all scored, and Tokyo's Amaral, Kelly, Abe, Kanazawa, and Ishikawa also scored without giving in. However, in sudden death, Tokyo's goalkeeper Doi saved the ball kicked by Honda's 6th kicker, Nakamura. On the other hand, Tokyo's Miyazawa kicked the ball perfectly into the top right corner of the goal, finally ending the long battle. Despite a close victory, they advanced to the 4th round against Vissel Kobe on December 20th in Marugame.

【Player Comments】《Yusuke KONDO》"The scene of the opening goal was when Toda-san competed for the ball and I managed to get my foot on it. As for Kelly's assist for the goal, I just lifted it to the far post, thinking someone would be there to finish it. It was physically tough, but I've been scoring even in practice matches recently and my condition was good. I want to keep working hard in the next match."《Doi》"We ended up playing at the opponent's pace and honestly, I'm really tired. It would have been better if we could have attacked more easily, for example, from the outside. I thought Honda's mentality was stronger and everyone was good at taking penalties. After saving one, I felt like I couldn't save any more and I really wanted the next kicker (Miyazawa) to score."

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "We were lucky to win in the penalty shootout, but that was the only positive aspect of our performance. Throughout the season, it was our worst game. The atmosphere was different from usual. As you can see from the results of other matches, it was difficult to get into this tournament, especially in the first game. I thought Honda was a well-organized and excellent team, but even with one less player and facing difficulties, everyone gave their best effort. On the other hand, Tokyo may have been trying to play too easily or comfortably. We took the lead and I thought we could continue like that, but once they equalized, things got strange. We were winning in the second half, but then we became too relaxed. In the past, we have been in Honda's position and won, but the fact that we have lost in the first game for three consecutive years in J1 is because we end up feeling relieved after the league games. The players who supported us in today's match were Kondo, Fujiyama, and Wu, who have not had many opportunities to play until now. On the other hand, players like Shigetaka, Ishikawa, Kaji, and Kelly, who have just returned from the national team, were not in good condition and that, along with their mindset, may have contributed to the way the game turned out. We felt the difficulty of the Emperor's Cup. However, even if we had lost, I think we were lucky to win in the penalty shootout. I see it as a chance given to us by God, and we must play well in the next game. Whether it's players who can't play due to national team duties or foreign players, we must approach the game with determination."

[Honda・Manager Yasuma's Press Conference Summary] "Since the beginning of this year, we have set a goal to defeat J-League teams. Even though we were told it was close, it was frustrating that we couldn't break through the wall. I want to thank the players who gave their all. Even though we were down to 10 players, if we reduced our FW, we would have been too defensive, so we slid our positions back to defend in the first half of extra time and then returned to a 2-top formation in the second half. It's a shame we couldn't make one more substitution. FC Tokyo is a team I have been fighting against since my active days as Tokyo Gas, and I approached them with respect. The transition from defense to offense is so fast that I have never experienced it before, so we focused on sliding vertically to defend and also on containing Kelly. We narrowed down our focus to these two points. I didn't think we could defend for 90 minutes, so we wanted to bring it to a late attack and win with aggressive soccer. I think we did well with these two points. However, even though we contained them, we couldn't win. Amaral is still great, and when we were about to go for it in the second half, the atmosphere in the stadium changed. It's frustrating that we couldn't break through the solid defense, led by players like Fujiyama. But playing against J-League teams is a valuable experience and everything becomes a goal. We want to improve our abilities and raise the level of our team even more."