Finishing the camp with a victory over Shimizu

　Only 2 weeks left until the first round of the Nabisco Cup qualifying league (3/8, vs Yokohama FM @ Yokohama International). Although there will be a practice match against J2's Yamagata next week on 3/2 (Sun), this will be the last match against a J1 team before the season starts. Today marks the final day of the training camp that has taken place in Ishigaki Island and Gotemba, and Shimizu is facing the perfect opponent to confirm the results of the camp. This preseason match is not only a great barometer to measure the team's current situation, such as individual player conditioning, tactical understanding, and team balance, but also a match where results are expected.

　In the starting lineup for Tokyo, Oizumi is replaced by Ozawa as GK due to injury, with Kanazawa, a new addition on the left, Jean and Shigeta in the center, and Fujiyama on the right in defense. In midfield, Miyazawa and Asari are the defensive midfielders, with Ishikawa on the right and Kelly on the left. The forward line consists of Toda and Abe as the two top players. On the bench, 17-year-old Kajiyama, who has been with the top team since this season despite being a member of the U-18 team, is joined by Amaral and Kaji.

　On the other hand, Shimizu has a strong lineup with defensive players such as Morio and Ito, who are at the level of the Japan national team, and a midfield with skilled players like Hiramatsu and the Japan national team's Mitsushu, and a powerful formation with TUTO's two top players, An from the South Korean national team and Urawa. At 1pm, the kickoff whistle echoed through the chilly mountain stadium with a temperature of 10℃.

Jean's powerful header takes the lead

　Tokyo was the one who fiercely pressed forward at the same time as the kickoff. The two top players, Toda and Abe, with speed, and Ishikawa in the second row, also pressed fiercely. However, after 2 minutes, they gave a free kick to Shimizu, and the ball kicked by Mitsumoto drew a sharp arc and entered the goal, but GK Ozawa boldly jumped out and escaped with a punch to prevent a pinch. Ozawa, who had a sense of tension in the locker room before the game after a long time of starting, gained confidence in this play and showed stable play throughout. A "Ozawa call" was heard from the stands for his great play that blew away the anxiety of missing Tsuchi.

　Shimizu's attack has been creating rhythm by utilizing the excellent keeping power of Yasu and TUTO, who become posts on the front line, and then having players like Mitsumaru and Hiramatsu come in from behind and expand to the opposite side. In particular, when Yasu drifted to the side and kept the ball, Tokyo players were pulled in and dangerous situations were often created by passing to a free player in the center.

　Meanwhile, Tokyo scattered the ball from Kelly and Miyazawa, with Ishikawa dribbling from the right, Toda and Abe penetrating the space from the left, or Kanazawa joining the attack and attempting to break through from a wall pass with Kelly. However, the defense line of Shimizu, centered around new foreign player DF Emerson and Morio, remained strong and the time period where they could not bring the ball to a shooting scene continued.

　At the 14th minute, they earned a free kick on the right side, which Miyazawa aimed with a powerful left foot, hitting the opponent's defender and resulting in a corner kick. In the 15th minute, Miyazawa took the corner kick again, and Jean, who had broken free in the center, scored the opening goal with a powerful header. With this momentum, Tokyo continued to connect passes directly, starting from Kanazawa on the left side, then Kelly, then Kanazawa again, then Abe, and finally Toda on the right. Toda took a dribble and then took a powerful shot, but unfortunately it hit the right post and did not go in. In the 30th minute, Abe broke through on the left side and attempted a curved loop shot with his right foot, but it narrowly missed the crossbar. In the 36th minute, Fujiyama on the right side joined the attack and crossed the ball, which Toda beautifully headed near the goal, but the ball went just wide to the left. Despite both teams having a similar number of chances, Tokyo went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Miyazawa shines in the last minute! Super goal leads to a determined draw

　As the second half began, as expected, Shimizu, who was one point behind, started to attack. In the 47th minute, Yasu broke through the left side and put a pinpoint cross in front of the goal, which Hiramatsu jumped into and took a diving header shot, but it missed to the right of the goal. They managed to survive this critical moment, but Shimizu's intense attacks continued afterwards.

　While Tokyo was unable to create any decisive scenes, Toda and Abe repeatedly tried to break through the front line, putting silent pressure on the Shimizu DF. In the 53rd minute, Abe made a dash for a long pass from Ishikawa on the counter. Toda broke through the Shimizu DF and caught the ball, but the goalkeeper caught it just a moment too soon, preventing a goal. In the 9th minute, Amaral came on for Toda, and in the 56th minute, Amaral broke through the right side and sent a cross to the free Abe in the center. Abe calmly shot with his left foot from a one-touch, but unfortunately hit the left goal post, missing an additional point.

　The wind shifted towards Shimizu after missing this decisive chance. In the 57th minute, they easily allowed a goal to Yasu and were tied, and in the 75th minute, they allowed an additional goal to Kitajima and were finally reversed.

　On the other hand, Tokyo also made a move. In the 82nd minute, 17-year-old Kajiyama was substituted for Asari. Kajiyama is currently a second-year high school student and belongs to FC Tokyo U-18, but he joined the top team this season. Although he is a member of the U-17 Japan national team, his abilities were shrouded in mystery, but he demonstrated his strengths in the position of defensive midfielder. He calmly distributed passes without being flustered by Shizuoka's press. Kajiyama's characteristic is "not losing the ball", but even at this level, it was not a problem for him. He only played for 8 minutes, but he had "0" pass errors. With Kajiyama's addition, there were also situations where the opponent was pulled by Kajiyama, leaving his partner Miyazawa free.

　The match went on with Tokyo trailing by one point, and in the 87th minute, Kanazawa stopped Santo's charge with a second yellow card. However, this good decision to stop the (prepared for expulsion) foul by Kanazawa led to a dramatic make-up drama. The game entered stoppage time, and Tokyo was in a desperate situation, one point behind with 10 players, but here Kajiyama's play earned a free kick from about 25m in front of the goal. When Miyazawa aimed directly at this, the ball went over Shimizu's wall, sharply curved and hit the right post for a goal! A dramatic equalizer was scored at the last minute. In the end, the game ended in a draw, but it was a game with many gains, such as being able to confirm the individual and team's readiness and showing perseverance until the very end.

【Player Comments】《Miyazawa》"(The cradle performance I showed after scoring was) because one of the training staff had a child. We promised to do it before the game, so I'm glad we could do it. I had confidence in that free kick and it went exactly as I imagined. I want to study more and aim for more goals than last year."、《Ishikawa》: "(There was no discomfort in the partnership with Fujiyama, who I played with on the same side for the first time) but personally, I needed to be more creative in receiving the ball today. There were some moments where the timing didn't match for the whole team, but we all have the same image, so I think it will improve in future practices."、《Kajiyama》"I was a little nervous before the game, but once I got in, it was fine. I was happy with the support from the fans and I was able to play with joy."

[Manager's Comment] "Our goal was to see how well newcomers Abe and Kanazawa would function as a team, and although they are not at 100%, they have adapted well to the team and I am confident that they are valuable assets. If we only consider today's game, it would have been better to keep Toda on the field, but I substituted Amaral to improve his condition. In the end, I think we did well to hold on to a draw from that situation, and it was a good result to have 17-year-old Kajiyama come on and improve our rhythm, leading to the equalizing free kick. Also, it was good to be able to test Ozawa due to Doi's injury. It was a confidence boost for him to play the full 90 minutes, and it was important that we didn't lose and ended with a draw."