Emperor's Cup, the final event of this season

After two weeks since the end of the league, the 80th Emperor's Cup, the final tournament of this season, has begun. The tournament has already reached the 2nd round, and FC Tokyo, who competed in J1 this season, will make their appearance starting from today's 3rd round.

The opponent is Ventforet Kofu from J2. Although they did not perform well in the J2 league, their determination to bet on the final tournament should be strong.

Tokyo, GK Doi and MF Sato and Asari, who fought in J1, are injured, and today, the defensive midfielder is Nihei and Kina, and GK Horiike is starting.

Tokyo's dominance faces Kofu's defensive wall

Early in the game, Sako sent a long ball to the right side, where Masuda ran into space and crossed from just near the goal line. The team's aggressive attitude to attack from the side, starting from the position of the defensive midfielder, gave hope for today's game. However, in the 2nd minute, Kofu's FW Fujita dribbled up from the midfield and took a shot. This was the first shot of the day and showed no hesitation against the J1 team.

Tokyo took only 3 minutes, Amaral's post-play, TUTO and Seigo KOBAYASHI's direct pass, and finally Masamitsu KOBAYASHI broke through on the left side from the penalty area with a last pass from Fujiyama. However, his close-range shot from the left goal post was blocked by Kofu GK Ito.

Tokyo dominates the ball. Even if Kofu defends and clears, Kina, Naito, and Fujiyama pick it up and connect, and the game progresses in Kofu's territory. In the 11th minute, from a quick restart, Kobayashi took a clean shot from outside the penalty area, but Amaral's follow-up was blocked by the goalkeeper, and they missed a chance.

On the other hand, Kofu also came close in the 12th minute when Fujita broke through from a long ball from the defender, faked out Komine, and took a strong shot, opening up the shooting lane. They are aiming for their few chances.

Tokyo continues to attack, but they start to feel stuck as they have too much freedom with the ball. There is no space in front of the goal, making it difficult to take a shot.

At 18 minutes, the ball from a free kick was passed to Amaral who broke through the defense and had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but they collided. At 22 minutes, a cross from Naito on the right side went up to Amaral in the center, but his header shot was contested by the defense and missed the goal.

As the game continues, the four midfielders and three defenders of Kofu continue to defend tenaciously. In the 32nd minute, after a quick restart, Sekii sends a cross into the space on the right side. Sandro picks up the loose ball in front of the goal and sends a final pass to Amaral, but his shot from the goal area misses the target. In the 38th minute, Amaral's header from a left corner kick is cleared by the opposing defender just before the goal. Kofu tries to connect with this ball, but Kobayashi's header also fails to find the net. In stoppage time, Kofu's Fujita drops a pass from near the halfway line to midfielder Dobashi, who is waiting free in front. Naito manages to cut off the pass, and the first half ends with a score of 0-0.

Kofu, who couldn't make a decision and took advantage of one chance

Even in the second half, Kofu's tenacious defense remains unchanged. In the 46th and 49th minutes, Tokyo earns consecutive free kicks, but TUTO's powerful kick narrowly misses the goal. On the other hand, Kofu's aggressive pressing from the front disrupts the flow and prevents them from connecting as they would like.

In the 54th minute, Sandro intercepted the ball in the midfield and launched a quick attack on Kofu, but was saved by a brave dive from Tokyo's DF Sandro and GK Horiike just before the shot. Tokyo's attack became monotonous against the focused Kofu defense... In the 12th minute, Mochida tried to break through with a dribble in the center of the penalty area, but without support, Kofu stole the ball and launched a counterattack. As time passed, the momentum of the game shifted rapidly between offense and defense.

In the 63rd minute, Tokyo substituted Kagawa for Kashiwagi, and immediately after, they substituted Kina for Kina, and in the 67th minute, they brought in Koike. In the 68th minute, they connected a short pass from the right corner kick, and finally Amaral, who was free in front of the goal, took a soft touch volley shot, but the ball went over the goal. In the 70th minute, Koike also took a middle shot, but it went straight to the goalkeeper.

Both teams gradually eased off their pressing, resulting in many situations where the opponent was left free. In the 67th minute, Kofu's newly substituted MF Shimei made a breakthrough in front of the goal and earned a corner kick. Watanabe headed Arai's kick and Nakata quickly kicked it into the left corner of the goal, scoring. In an instant, Tokyo found themselves behind.

Unable to break through the goal...

In the 68th minute, FW Toda was substituted for the injured Sakai. They tried to increase the number of players in the front line and score a goal, but in the 77th minute, TUTO dribbled past a defender and took a shot, but it missed the goal. Tokyo, who were struggling against Kofu's solid defense, tried to break through by running from the second line. In the 80th minute, Toda made a free run from near the halfway line and received a ball from behind, but Kofu's goalkeeper came out and caught it. In the 81st minute, TUTO dribbled past two defenders in the right penalty area and took a shot, but it was saved by the goalkeeper.

After that, Sandro and Naito were brought up to the front line to counterattack, but they were unable to create effective chances with their combination play. In the 85th minute, MF Amaral received his second warning and was sent off, leaving Kofu with 10 players, but the situation remained unchanged. On the contrary, in front of Kofu's desperate defense, Tokyo began to make more mistakes due to their impatience. In stoppage time, despite a long throw from Fujiyama and a header shot from Amaral, they were unable to break through and the final whistle blew with the score still at 1-0.

"In this period, amidst the chaos of players being fired or staying, there is a current situation where it is difficult to concentrate due to motivation, but we have overcome that and even the members who were fired have shown professionalism until the very end." (Manager Tsukada). "That's why I want to play as long as possible in this team." (Nakata) said, as they were defeated by the fighting spirit of Kofu. And Tokyo has ended their entire season.

"Coach Tsukada's comment"

"We tried to get through the first half without conceding any goals. There were a few close calls, but we were also saved by the opponent's missed shots, and the rhythm of the DF was born among the players."

I think that was the key to victory. In the second half, while the opponent was trying to score, we were aiming for one chance. The substitutions also worked well at crucial moments, and as a result, we were able to defend and score one goal, just as we planned.

"Coach Ooguma's comment"

"I think that if we lose in a battle against a J2 team, it's because of this pattern. There were times when we conceded goals from counter attacks or set pieces, and we missed many chances and our two strikers were unable to use the narrow space effectively. It's a shame that we couldn't score against a team that was sitting back and our two strikers were particularly stuck and unable to score, which led to conceding goals at that time. As I have been saying since the beginning of spring, if we don't have the ability to adapt to different teams, we may face defeats like this. We need to change our mindset and improve our individual abilities and player depth even more."