2nd Stage Opening, Challenging Yokohama F.Marinos Aiming for Complete Victory

Tokyo finished the 1st stage in 6th place. After about a month-long interval, today they face Yokohama F.Marinos, who achieved stage supremacy. This is an important opening match that will affect the future, and they want to ride the momentum with a win.

In the first stage, Yokohama sank to a single counterattack from Tokyo. However, against the champion team eager to repay the debt, everyone is tightening their focus, thinking, "It won't go as smoothly as it did back then." How will they snatch victory amidst this? Additionally, I want to pay attention to how they will address the issues raised so far—goals conceded from restarts, midfield structure, and the isolation of forwards—as they head into the second stage.

The starting lineup included the newly joined Tadatoshi MASUDA. He is on loan from Kashima and has been with the team for less than two weeks, but Coach Okuma has high expectations, stating that he is a player who can break through when the team is defending. He replaced Yukihiko SATO, who was injured and rested, and took his place as right midfielder, with the kickoff taking place at Japan National Stadium in the rain.

Don't miss the opportunity, TUTO's skillful goal takes the lead!

In the first minute, Yokohama created a chance as MF Shunsuke Nakamura's free kick was met by DF Komura. From the start, they tried to control the ball and take the pace, but Tokyo quickly regained possession with fast checks from the front line and calm defense, bringing the match to an even contest. In the fifth minute, Masuda boldly aimed for the goal with an overhead kick from a long cross by TUTO. Perhaps this gave them momentum, as Tokyo quickly transitioned and attacked, threatening the Yokohama goal. In the eighth minute, Amaral connected a direct pass to Kobayashi Masamitsu, who shot but unfortunately hit the goalkeeper Kawaguchi directly, showing a good intent. Then in the thirteenth minute, TUTO pressured Yokohama's passing source in midfield, and the loose ball was timely opened back to TUTO on the right side by Kobayashi. With speed, TUTO evaded three opposing defenders with a feint and cut inside to shoot! Tokyo took the lead with a typical counterattack early in the match.

However, after that, Yokohama continued to attack. In the 14th minute, MF Miura delivered a sharp cross to FW Sotoike, who headed the ball. In the 23rd minute, from another left corner kick by Miura, Komura connected with a header, creating a near-miss situation, but it just went over the goal line. In the 26th minute, Edmilson received a floating ball, trapped it with one touch, and shot freely past Komine. However, Doihy made a nice save! They managed to escape a critical pinch.

Tokyo picked up loose balls well, quickly passing to the front line centered around Asari. They launched counterattacks from the sides but failed to reach the goal. In the 41st minute, Kobayashi dribbled the ball into the penalty area from a throw-in and unleashed a powerful shot with his left foot, but it was blocked by the goalkeeper, and the first half ended with a score of 1-0.

Koike scores his first goal in J1, a valuable additional point, and Amaral pulls ahead.

Since the start of the second half, Yokohama's Nagayama created a chance on the right side. The shot he took after running into the penalty area from Tokyo's left side was narrowly deflected by Sandro just before the goal, resulting in a corner kick. Two minutes later, Nagayama shook off a DF and sent a ground pass towards the goal. However, it just missed reaching MF Endo, who had dived in. Still, Yokohama launched a fierce attack to bounce back from the deficit, with DF marking becoming stricter and more intense. However, in the 50th minute, Koike, Amaral, and TUTO executed a speedy series of passes that exploited a gap in Yokohama's DF. Then, Koike broke through behind the three defenders who had pushed forward, receiving a perfectly timed through pass from TUTO and dribbling in to take a shot that hit the right corner of the post and went in for a goal!! Koike, who always contributes with his dedicated defense, scored his first goal in J1, which became a valuable additional point that disrupted Yokohama's momentum in the second half. This play was also a step forward from the issue that Coach Okuma had previously mentioned: 'Don't just rely on the two forwards to challenge from long distances in midfield. Use more players.'

Yokohama substituted MF Nagai for Nagayama in the 52nd minute. They became more aggressive, and in the 55th minute, Nakamura jumped in from the center to head a cross from the right. Shortly after, Tokyo's Amaral and TUTO approached the goal with a counterattack from a quick restart, but neither could score. The back-and-forth battle continued. Yokohama tried to build their attack from the back line and display their original attacking style, while Tokyo's line gradually stretched. They could no longer connect to quick attacks with numbers, but they maintained their concentration in play. In the 82nd minute, Miura's direct free kick was saved by the crossbar. Yokohama had already substituted MF Harada for Yuric, and in the 85th minute, they brought in FW Okayama for Soto. They used all their substitution slots to try to break through, but they couldn't create any decisive moments. In stoppage time, TUTO, who was injured from a fierce foul, was replaced by Toda, and it seemed they would hold on. However, shortly after, Naito misjudged a cleared ball from the DF line. The alert Amaral broke free and calmly scored the third goal, leaving the pursuing DF behind!

A testament to growth, a complete victory fighting evenly or better against the champion team!!

At this time, Amaral's foot after the shot hit the head of the diving GK Kawaguchi, causing an injury. Yokohama replaced their GK with Komura. This accident resulted in a long stoppage time of 8 minutes, filled with a flurry of yellow cards, but Tokyo brought in FW Kamino in place of Kobayashi. They calmly fought through to the end of the match. With a clean sheet victory, they made a good start to this stage.

Compared to the 1st stage, Coach Okuma mentioned that "the way we fight will not change significantly. We cannot change it." In other words, there are no secret strategies to win, but rather, "we will correct our issues step by step, steadily build our team strength, and fight through each match." Today, being able to hold our ground against the 1st stage champions, even when pushed back, is a testament to that growth. This marks the beginning of the 2nd stage, raising expectations for future battles.