Defeat Nagoya in good condition, win the final round

　The final match of the 1st stage will be played at home against Nagoya Grampus Eight.

　In the previous match, Tokyo was defeated by a V goal in the away game against Kobe, and they have lost two consecutive games. On the other hand, Nagoya is currently on a five-game winning streak, showing a contrasting appearance. However, this is the final match to be held at home. They must avoid a third consecutive loss and aim for a victory. The starting members are the same as the previous match, and the summer heat has eased considerably. The kick-off will be at 7pm in the evening.

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.

Opening goal with Ishikawa's bold shot

　Connecting the ball from the kickoff, Amaral suddenly shoots a header from Ishikawa's cross. Tokyo shows an aggressive attitude from the start and dominates the ball. In the 7th minute, Ishikawa makes a cross from the right side to the goal line, but the opposing GK Narazaki catches it. However, Nagoya also quickly passes the ball vertically to the left side from this play. There, current top scorer FW Weslley catches up and takes a shot with an exquisite course, but this ball is saved by Doi.

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

　Tokyo, who struggled against Nagoya's well-balanced defense, approached the goal from the right side. Although Nagoya did not create any chances, in the 24th minute, Nagoya FW Vastic took a shot from outside the penalty area after a quick restart. The ball hit the bottom right post, and his skillful individual play momentarily made us hold our breath.

　In the 26th minute, Miyazawa aimed for a goal from a free kick, and in the 30th minute, Kelly passed the ball forward from Jean's interception, despite being surrounded by three defenders in front of the goal, but Ishikawa was offside by a slight timing. The game continues in Nagoya's territory, but Nagoya takes advantage of the opportunity and launches a sharp counterattack.

　However, at the 38th minute, Ishikawa picked up a loose ball that hit the opponent's DF in front of the goal and advanced to the front line. The shot he took with all his might as he entered the right penalty area grazed GK Narasaki's hand and went in! With Ishikawa's eye-opening powerful shot, Tokyo took the lead.

　Afterwards, in the 40th minute, Nagoya Vastitch's shot from a free kick in front of the goal was also powerful, but it was saved by Tsuchi. In the 44th minute, Weslley outplayed the Tokyo defender on the left side and crossed it parallel to the goal, where Vastitch jumped in and hit it with his body, but the shot hit the crossbar. Tokyo did not concede a goal and went into the second half.

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 suprised 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.

Conceded goal at the start of the second half leaving a challenge

　Tokyo, who have been conceding goals in the second half recently, have a challenge of overcoming a comeback loss. At halftime, coach Hara said, "Let's focus again in the second half!" and it was expected that there would be enough attention paid today. In the 48th minute, Ishikawa cut off the ball in the midfield and Toda connected it, and Miyazawa ran in from behind and took a shot. Unfortunately, it hit the goalkeeper's face, but it showed a good attacking form.

　However, it was right after that. Nagoya passed the ball from the GK to MF Takizawa on the left side of the front line. Nakamura, who received the ball, dribbled towards the center and then cut outside when he entered the penalty area. He then passed by Shimodaira, who was marking him, and took a shot. Although Tsuchi touched it, the momentum was strong and it was sucked into the goal, equalizing the score.

　Tokyo conceded a goal early in the second half once again. However, they did not collapse here. In the 49th and 53rd minutes, Miyazawa picked up a clearance and took a daring shot. In the 58th minute, Amaral headed in a cross from Kaji, but it narrowly missed the target.

　However, Nagoya's 3-back check was strict, and the game gradually became a stalemate. In the 69th minute, Amaral tried to connect with a cross from Kaji in the center, but was surrounded by defenders and cleared. Miyazawa picked up the ball and attempted a third shot, but it went to the left. In the 71st minute, Ishikawa's shot from a dribble went well wide. In the 76th minute, Kelly also dribbled and took a shot, but it went straight to the goalkeeper.

　Tokyo, who was also abandoned by their decision-making ability, substituted Fukuda for Toda in the 76th minute in an attempt to break the monotonous rhythm and hopefully gain a second goal.

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.

Sinking in the difference in scoring ability during the nightmare of stoppage time

　Kelly placed on the left side, with Fukuda and Amaral as the two top players, aimed for the goal, but the game was a fierce exchange of interceptions, with intense changes between offense and defense. In the 78th minute, Nagoya had a shot from Vastic from a free kick on the left side of the goal, but Tsuchi saved it and it went out for a corner. In the 85th minute, Amaral jumped in on a cross from Kaji, and in the 89th minute, Fukuda took a middle shot, but both were above the goal. After that, Tokyo continued to threaten Nagoya's goal, but struggled to attack and couldn't create any decisive scenes, leading to the expectation of entering extra time.

　But it was after entering the stoppage time. Weslley, who received the clear ball from Tokyo in the midfield, passed it directly to Vastic on the right side. Vastic dribbled up and passed it back to Weslley, who had moved to support again. Weslley, who had initially drifted to the left side, sent a cross into the box. It was a soft and gentle ball, but this cross was pinpoint accurate. Vastic jumped in and headed it in, despite competing with the defenders, scoring the go-ahead goal. With the combination play of Nagoya's two top players, Tokyo's goal was finally broken through.

　After that, Tokyo showed a fierce attack with Jean also rising up and not giving up for the remaining time, but it was already too late and the time was up. In the final round, they suffered a frustrating comeback loss. They finished the 1st stage in 10th place with 17 points.

　Former coach reflects on the 1st stage and talks about the attacking soccer they aim for, saying "There were times when we were able to play aggressively and aggressively, not adjusting to the opponent, and using the field widely. However, after the restart of the 1st stage, we couldn't put pressure on the opponent in the heat, and sometimes we couldn't use our speed. As we were done today, there are still challenges in the counterattack after attacking. The direction is not wrong, but we need to improve the accuracy of each one and make it stronger," he promised to approach the 2nd stage with a new mindset.

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "In the previous match against Kobe, we lost in an unpleasant way and our confidence was a bit shaken. So, we tried to be more aggressive. We knew that Nagoya had great players like Weslley and Vastic who could create scoring opportunities, so we didn't want to be afraid and tried to spread the ball using our fullbacks. We also talked about taking shots with confidence. In the first half, especially on the right side, Kaji, Ishikawa, and Kelly were able to create good chances and we even scored a great goal from there."

　However, in the past few games, even though we were paying enough attention, we ended up conceding in the second half. Today, I think there were many chances for Tokyo, but in the end, they were able to score in that way. It was just a small margin, but I still think there are areas where we are lacking.

　The ball can be kept quite well, but we need to improve our accuracy. We want to take back this frustrating experience with the players towards the 2nd stage.

[Nagoya Verdenik Coach Press Conference Summary] "I would like to dedicate today's victory to the nutritionist who has been in charge of our meals for the past 6 years. There are very few teams in the J-League that have a dedicated nutritionist, and no other club is as conscious about meals as Nagoya. I believe that today's victory was also due to the energy that remained in our bodies to defeat the opponent until the very end."

　The game was different in the first and second half, but I think that in the last two games, even if the content was not good, we were able to win, which means that our strength has improved. In the first half, the opposing team was very aggressive and full of fighting spirit, and they played in front of our goal. At halftime, we raised our motivation even more and tried to turn the game around. To do that, we need to increase our physical activity by about 30% and improve our concentration. We talked about aiming for counterattacks if possible, or keeping possession and attacking if necessary. Sometimes individual strength can make a difference in deciding the game, but today it was Weslley again. I think Vastic's individual strength was also effective.

　The result of finishing 3rd in the 1st stage is proof that our concept was correct and that we have trained well. It also proves that we have good foreign players. This will be a great motivation for the 2nd stage, but we want to aim even higher and do our best.

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 fullbacks 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, we 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 ".