Pay back the debt of the 1st stage and break out of the losing streak!

On April 1st this year, Tokyo, who had won their first three games of the season and had the chance to set a new J-League record (four consecutive wins at the start of the season) with a win in their match that day, traveled to Kashiwa's Hitachi Stadium to face Kashiwa Reysol. Despite a tough game where they fell behind twice, Tokyo managed to equalize each time and even put up a close fight in extra time, but ultimately conceded a winning goal just before the final whistle. Facing a strong opponent who had steadily built up their record under coach Nishino, including winning their first Nabisco Cup last year, Tokyo can take confidence from the fact that they were able to give them a run for their money until the very end. While they have only managed one win (2-1 in August 1993 at Edogawa) in the seven games they have played against Kashiwa since their days in the JFL, if they can play the same never-give-up style of football they showed in the 1st stage, they have a good chance of winning. In the 2nd stage, Tokyo have faced a tough situation with five consecutive wins followed by two losses, so it was crucial for them to win today's match in order to break out of this bad streak.

Conceded a goal out of nowhere due to the absence of key players.

The match venue for this day is Ishikawa Athletics Stadium in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, which is the third away game of the season in Tokyo. Before the match, goalkeeper Doi, who achieved his 100th appearance in the J-League, was presented with a bouquet. Is there some kind of fate that the opponent is Kashiwa Reysol, who belonged to the same team until last year?

Tokyo faced the game with a difficult lineup, missing their ace Amaral due to injury, in addition to the double pivot of Asari and Kina. While it was expected that the absence of Amaral, although a different type, would be sufficiently covered by the in-form Kamiya, the absence of Asari, who maintains the defensive balance, and Kina, who also handles game-making, was a cause for concern as they cannot be easily replaced.

The match started with a strong pace from Kashiwa. Kashiwa showed their dominance with excellent post-play and scoring ability, targeting Kitajima from both sides with quick crosses to show their momentum. In the midfield, they tried to control the rhythm with a variety of passes centered around the genius MF Masaru Kato. Before the match, coach Okuma had said, "The key to victory is how we can stop Kato, the game maker for Kashiwa." It was immediately clear that passes from Kato were something to watch out for. Kato, who never held onto the ball for too long, would quickly pass to the left side technician Hirayama, the energetic and speedy Kato who would make runs behind the defense, and the sharp passes to Kitajima who would be waiting in front of the goal.

Tokyo has been targeting midfielder Hashimoto as the source of this Kashiwa pass, but they have not been able to catch him and ultimately ended up being broken down from here. In the 18th minute, the "watch out for" player Ohno made a dribble and reacted to it, shaking off his mark and rushing towards the goal. Just then, Ohno made an exquisite through pass and Hashimoto, even though he fell in an awkward position, managed to take a shot and score a goal. The timing of Ohno's through pass, Hashimoto's running course and finishing ability, we ended up conceding the opening goal from the most dangerous pattern that we had to be careful of.

Start counterattack using the left side space

Tokyo woke up with this one point. In this game, it seemed that which team could take advantage on the side would be one of the key points, but after conceding a goal, Tokyo started their counterattack from this "side attack". Kashiwa was playing with a 3-back formation, so when the side half shifted to attack, space naturally opened up there. Coach Okuma pointed this out in the pre-game meeting, and from around 20 minutes into the first half, the players were able to grasp Kashiwa's speed and attacking patterns, and started to exploit this space. Especially on the left side, Seigo Kobayashi intentionally made runs into that space, and created chances through combinations with left back Fujiyama and big side changes from Yukihiro on the right. In the 27th minute, a pass went from Seigo on the left to TUTO in the center, and then to Naito who had moved up on the right side, and Naito took a powerful shot but unfortunately missed to the left of the goal. In the following 28th minute, Fujiyama dribbled up the left side and passed to top player Kamiya. Kamiya shook off the defender with one touch and was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his shot unfortunately missed. In the 29th minute, Seigo on the left side broke through again, and passed a ground ball with speed to the center. Kamiya faked a shot and let it go through, and then Yukihiro took a powerful left-footed shot, but it went straight to the goalkeeper. In the 35th minute, Fujiyama dribbled up the left side and passed to Seigo in the center. Seigo took one dribble and then swung his left foot, and the ball went straight towards the Kashiwa goal, but hit the right post. In the 43rd minute, Kamiya dropped the ball into the post and Seigo charged forward with a dribble. He was brought down in the penalty area, but it was not called a penalty.

On the other hand, after the 18th minute goal, Kashiwa, who had been pushed back by Tokyo, also had a chance in the 30th minute when Ohno dribbled up and passed to Kato on the left side. Kato received the pass and took a powerful left-footed shot, but the ball hit the post and did not go in. In the 44th minute, Kato broke through on the right side and crossed to the opposite side, where he took another shot, but it was cleared off target.

In the first half, Tokyo conceded one goal, but the number of shots was equal at 8-8 and Tokyo completely dominated in terms of content, making it impossible to predict the outcome as the second half began.

Sunk by a devastating red card...

In the second half, Tokyo continued to attack from the sides. Yukihiro from the right and Seigo Kobayashi from the left made aggressive moves to create chances. On the other hand, Kashiwa also fought fiercely. In the 2nd minute, Hirayama took a powerful shot from a free kick, but Tsuchi made a fine save. In the 10th minute, another strong shot was taken from the front of the goal, but Tsuchi caught it firmly. The intense back-and-forth battle, filled with tension, showed that both teams understood that the next goal would greatly influence the outcome of the match.

However, the unexpected situation was what decided the game. In the 22nd minute, Masuda, who had come on for Yukihiro in the second half, fell for Kashiwa's provocation and received a red card. Tokyo was tied, in a position to turn the game around, and at a crucial time of "from now on," they faced the worst situation. It was not only a self-destructive act as an individual player, but also as a team. Tokyo was now in a very difficult situation where they had to fight with 10 players while being one goal behind.

The decisive second goal came nine minutes later. Despite being one man down, Tokyo still had to attack, and they were caught off guard by "watch out for" Ohno from a counter attack. He took a shot from the center, and despite Doi's desperate save, they conceded the second goal without putting up much of a fight.

Still, Tokyo never gave up until the end. And they fought until the end. In the 37th minute, Kamiya made a run from Kobayashi's through pass and faced the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation, but was denied by the opponent's fine play. In the next minute, TUTO broke through the left side and sent a ball to the center, where Kobayashi unleashed a powerful low shot that threatened the Kashiwa goal. In the 40th minute, Sandro's header from a set piece, and in stoppage time, TUTO's powerful shot after dribbling past two defenders on the left side, stunned the Kashiwa defense, but unfortunately did not find the back of the net. And with that, the time was up. Tokyo's fierce attack ended here. With this, Tokyo suffered their first three consecutive losses of the season. The team's strength was undoubtedly affected by the numerous injuries. The players fought well, but due to the lack of creativity in the midfield and the lack of effective passes to the front line, TUTO, who should have been able to compete in the FW position, was forced to drop back. TUTO showed a lot of individual skills, but at the same time, he demonstrated his high ability to break through the defense. Kobayashi and Fujiyama also showed technical superiority over Kashiwa, and the efforts of the defense, including the goalkeeper, were also felt. Although the result of "victory" was not achieved, there were many chances and they were not heading in the wrong direction. This is the crucial moment. If the team can come together again and aim for the same goal, the results will surely follow.