Defeated the strong Nagoya, winning the final match

　In this match, which is the final round of the 1st stage, we will face Nagoya Grampus at home.

　In the previous match, Tokyo sank with a V-goal against Kobe away, marking their second consecutive loss and a lack of energy. In contrast, Nagoya is currently on a five-game winning streak, showing a starkly different situation. However, this is the final match held at home. They want to avoid a third consecutive loss at all costs and aim to finish with a victory. The starting lineup is the same as the previous match, and the summer heat has eased considerably as they welcomed the kickoff at 7 PM.

Aiming For Victory In First Stage Finale

Nagoya Grampus Eight visited Tokyo Stadium for the final game of the first stage. Grampus, in form and riding a five game winning streak, would surely prove tough opposition for the slumping hosts as they sought to end the stage on a high note. With TOKYO unchanged from the previous week, the game kicked off on a balmy summer's evening.

Ishikawa's decisive shot opens the scoring

　Connecting the ball from the kickoff, Ishikawa immediately sends a cross from which Amaral takes a header shot. Tokyo shows an aggressive attitude right from the start, dominating possession of the ball. In the 7th minute, Ishikawa cuts in from the right side and delivers a cross along the goal line, but the opposing goalkeeper Narasaki catches it. However, Nagoya also responds with a vertical pass into the space on the left side. There, the current top scorer, FW Weslley, catches up and takes a shot at an exquisite angle, but this ball is saved by Doi.

　In the 10th minute, Amaral connected with Kelly in front of the goal, and Toda, who ran behind the center DF from the left side, took a shot but it went just slightly to the right. In the 14th minute, Ishikawa broke through the DF line to meet a long ball from Kaji and took a shot, but it went over the goal. In the 18th minute, Amaral, who drifted to the right side, connected with Kelly, and Toda tried to meet the grounded cross in the center, but the opposing DF cleared it a step faster. In the 22nd minute, Kelly sent a sharp cross from the right side, but it was cleared by the DF.

　Tokyo struggled against Nagoya's well-balanced defense but approached the goal starting from the right side. Nagoya was not allowed to create any chances, but in the 24th minute, from a quick restart, Nagoya forward Vastić shot from outside the penalty area. The ball struck the bottom right of the post, causing a moment of concern with his skillful individual play.

　In the 26th minute, Miyazawa aimed for a goal from a free kick, and in the 30th minute, Kelly passed the ball forward while being surrounded by three defenders after Jean's interception, but Ishikawa was just offside by a fraction of a second. The match progressed within Nagoya's territory, but Nagoya launched sharp counterattacks at opportune moments.

　However, in the 38th minute, Ishikawa picked up a loose ball that had hit the opposing defender in front of the goal and advanced into the attack. As he entered the right penalty area, he took a decisive shot that grazed the hands of goalkeeper Narasaki and went into the goal! With Ishikawa's stunningly powerful shot, Tokyo took the lead.

　After that, in the 40th minute, Nagoya's Vasitić took a powerful shot from a free kick in front of the goal, but Doi made the save. In the 44th minute, Weslley toyed with the defenders on Tokyo's left side, and Vasitić dove to connect with a cross that was parallel to the goal, but the shot hit the crossbar. Tokyo did not allow any goals and went into halftime.

Ishikawa Cracker Gives TOKYO The Lead

Straight from the kick off Ishikawa found space and curled in a cross to Amaral who headed narrowly wide. TOKYO began in aggressive and confident manner, controlling possession and probing for an opening; Ishikawa sped to the byline in the 7th. minute but Narazaki in the Grampus goal held his cross. A long ball from his throw out saw Golden Boot leader Ueslei streak into space and lash a shot goalward. TOKYO keeper Doi saved well.
Shortly after some neat interplay between Kelly and Amaral let in Toda whose shot under pressure trickled agonisingly wide. A long ball from Kaji then found Ishikawa sneaking behind the defence but he blazed his shot over the bar. TOKYO strung together some fluent moves with Kelly much involved but the Grampus defence dealt with the final ball on every occasion. The visitors nearly took the lead in the 24th. minute as a quickly taken free kick found Vastic in an unpromising position outside the area. He let fly though and Doi could only watch as the ball cannoned back off a post.
The game settled into a pattern of TOKYO taking the initiative whilst the visitors bided their time and looked to counter attack. Half time was beckoning when a great piece of opportunism gave TOKYO the lead. Ishikawa chased down a deflected attempt on the right, burst into the area and although pushed wide by a defender unleashed a ferocious drive that Narazaki, clearly surprised by the pace and power of the shot, could only help inside the post.
Grampus, stunned by the goal, burst into life and Doi made a flying save from a Vastic free kick two minutes later. The TOKYO keeper was helpless in injury time though as Ueslei produced some sleight of foot on the right to shake off a defender and curl a long cross to the far post where Vastic met the ball at shoulder height with an acrobatic jumping volley. The ball careened off the bar and somehow TOKYO had held on to the lead.

Conceding a goal at the start of the second half leaves issues unresolved

　Recently, Tokyo has been facing the issue of conceding goals in the second half and suffering comeback losses. At halftime, Coach Hara said, "Concentrate again in the second half!" and it was expected that sufficient attention would be paid today. In the 48th minute, Ishikawa cut the ball in midfield, and Toda connected it, leading to a shot from Miyazawa who ran in from behind. Unfortunately, it went straight to the goalkeeper, but it showed a good attacking shape.

　However, it was just after that. Nagoya passed the ball from the goalkeeper to midfielder Takizawa, who sent it to the left side of the front line. Nakamura received it, dribbled into the center, and just as he entered the penalty area, he cut back outside, evading the marking defender Shimohe, and took a shot. Although Dohi got a touch on it, the force was tremendous, and it was sucked into the goal, leveling the score.

　Once again, Tokyo conceded a goal early in the second half. However, they did not crumble here. In the 49th and 53rd minutes, Miyazawa picked up a cleared ball and boldly took a shot. In the 58th minute, Amaral headed a cross from Kaji, but it was just off target.

　However, Nagoya's three-back defense is strict, and the match gradually reaches a stalemate. In the 69th minute, Amaral attempts to connect with Kaji's cross in the center but is surrounded by defenders and cleared. Miyazawa picks this up and tries to score from mid-range for the third time, but it goes to the left. In the 71st minute, Ishikawa's shot from a dribble goes well wide of the goal. In the 76th minute, Kelly also advances with a dribble and shoots, but it goes straight to the goalkeeper.

　Tokyo, having lost its decisive power and unable to score a second goal, substituted Fukuda for Toda in the 76th minute. They hoped this would be the catalyst to break the monotonous rhythm.

The Old Story

TOKYO were desperate to avoid a repetition of recent games where a lack of concentration had seen them concede early second half goals on the way to disappointing losses. Manager Hara exhorted the players to maintain their focus and indeed they began the second period brightly with Ishikawa intercepting a loose ball in midfield and finding Toda. Toda found Miyazawa in turn but his shot was straight at Narazaki. Still, it was a promising start.
Disaster struck, however, just two minutes later. Grampus midfielder Takizawa controlled a goal kick and rolled a pass into space on the left where Nakamura raced onto the ball, faked inside Shimotaira and fired in a shot. Doi got a hand to the ball but was unable to prevent it crossing the line for the equaliser.
TOKYO didn't crumple and Miyazawa went close with good efforts in the 49th and 53rd minutes, while Amaral powered a trademark header fractionally wide five minutes later. Grampus stiffened their back line and the game became something of a stalemate with TOKYO reduced to shooting from distance.
Fukuda replaced Toda after 78 minutes in an attempt to inject some fresh spark into the attack.

Nightmare stoppage time, sinking due to the difference in decisiveness

　Kelly was placed on the left side, with Fukuda and Amaral as the two forwards aiming for a goal, but the match turned into a back-and-forth of interceptions, resulting in a rapid exchange of offense and defense. In the 78th minute, Nagoya took a free kick from the left in front of the goal, and Vastić shot. This was saved by Doi, who deflected it to a corner. In the 85th minute, Amaral dove for a cross from Kaji, and in the 89th minute, Fukuda took a long-range shot. However, both went over the goal. After that, Tokyo continued to press towards the Nagoya goal but struggled to attack, and it seemed they would enter extra time without creating any decisive scenes.

　However, it was after entering stoppage time. Weslley received a cleared ball from Tokyo in midfield and passed it directly to Vastić on the right side. Vastić advanced with a dribble and passed it back to Weslley, who had followed up. Weslley initially drifted to the left side to maintain possession but sent a cross in front of the goal. It was a soft and gentle ball, but this cross was pinpoint. Vastić, diving in while competing with the defender, perfectly headed it in for the go-ahead goal. The combination play of Nagoya's two forwards broke through Tokyo's defense.

　After that, not giving up for the remaining time, Jean also pushed forward, showing a furious attack from Tokyo, but it was already too late and time was up. In the final match, they suffered a frustrating comeback loss. They ended the 1st stage in 10th place with 17 points.

　Coach Hara reflected on the 1st stage and spoke about the attacking football they aim for, saying, "We had moments where we played aggressively, using the field widely and not matching the opponent's feelings to win the ball back. However, after the restart of the 1st stage, we struggled to apply pressure in the heat, and the opponent pulled back, preventing us from utilizing our speed. As seen today, we still have issues with counterattacks after we attack. The direction is not wrong, but we need to improve the precision of each aspect to become stronger." He promised to approach the 2nd stage with a renewed mindset.

[Summary of Coach Hara's Press Conference] "In the last match, we lost to Kobe in an unpleasant way, which made us a bit hesitant, so we aimed to be more aggressive. I knew that Nagoya has wonderful players like Weslley and Vasitić up front, and they would be looking to score from those positions, so we decided not to be afraid and to use both full-backs to spread the ball. We talked about taking shots with confidence. In the first half, especially on the right side, Kaji, Ishikawa, and Kelly were working well together, and we actually created a good goal from that."

　However, in the last few matches, even with sufficient caution, we have conceded goals in the second half. Today, I think there were more chances for Tokyo, but in the end, we were scored on in that way. It's just a small margin, but I believe there are still areas where we are lacking.

　The ball has been kept quite well, but we need to improve our accuracy. I want to make up for this frustrating feeling together with the players as we head into the 2nd stage.

[Summary of the press conference by Nagoya's coach VERDENIK] "I want to dedicate today's victory to the nutritionist who has been in charge of our meals for the past six years. There are hardly any teams in the J-League that have a dedicated nutritionist, and no club has paid as much attention to meals as Nagoya has. I believe today's victory was possible because we had the energy left in our bodies to defeat the opponent at the very end."

　The match was a game with different content in the first and second halves, but I believe that winning the last two matches despite not playing well shows that we are gaining strength. In the first half, the opposing team was very aggressive and full of fighting spirit, playing in front of our goal. At halftime, we aimed to further boost our motivation and turn the game around. To do that, we decided to increase our physical exertion by about 30 percent and enhance our concentration. If possible, we would aim for counterattacks; if not, we would hold possession and attack. While individual strength can sometimes decide the match, today it was Weslley who made the difference. I think Vastić's individual ability shone through as well.

　The result of finishing 3rd in the 1st stage proves that our concept is correct and that we have trained diligently. At the same time, it also demonstrates that we have good foreign players. This serves as a great motivation for the 2nd stage, but we want to strive for even higher goals.

Nightmare In Injury Time

Kelly moved to the left and Fukuda lined up alongside Amaral as TOKYO went in search of a winner. Some loose midfield play by both teams saw the game open up and frantic end-to-end action ensued. Doi saved another Vastic freekick in the 78th minute, Amaral got his head to a Kaji cross in the 85th, and Fukuda fired over soon after. TOKYO seemed predestined not to score and extra time seemed a certainty when, against the run of play again, the nightmare recurred.
A TOKYO attack broke down and the ball was cleared to Ueslei. He found Vastic on the right and set off upfield, received the ball back and floated a delicate, hanging cross into the area for Vastic to head firmly past Doi.
TOKYO had been undone by superb combination play from the Grampus strike force.
In the time remaining, TOKYO threw themselves forward but to no avail and the game ended in defeat. The first stage finished with TOKYO in 10th position on 17 points.

Manager Hara:
I felt that during the early part of the season we were able to achieve our intended style of play: force opponents to adapt to our style, use the whole pitch and win the ball aggressively. However, after the restart, in the summer heat we failed to pressure opponents, impose ourselves and use our speed. Today was a perfect example of that, the way we are vulnerable to counter attacks. We are going in the right direction but need to be stronger in all areas.
Following the way we lost to Kobe last week we knew we had to be more aggressive today. Ueslei and Vastic are great players and we were prepared for them; we felt that if we could bring our sidebacks into play we had a chance. In the first half we did with Kaji, Ishikawa and Kelly combining well. Our goal was a result of that work. But again we gave away a goal early in the second half and although we created more chances came up short once more. We are better able to maintain possession than before but need to raise our game in all areas. Hopefully this bitter experience will spur us on in the second stage.

Grampus manager Verdenik:
" I want to dedicate today's victory to our nutritionist. No J-League team takes more care of the players' diet than Nagoya and that was the main reason the team had enough energy left to find a winning goal in injury time. The game today was a classic match of two halves. TOKYO were very aggressive in the first half and forced us to play in our own penalty area; in the second half we increased our running by 30% and aimed to hit them on the counter. The game was finally decided by individual skill, that of Ueslei and Vastic. Our third place finish proves we have the right approach and we're looking to improve even further in the second stage ".