Challenge Away Games with Confidence!

　After a 2-day break from the Nabisco Cup match against Kashiwa, the league match in Sec. 5 will be played away against Kashima Antlers. Today marks the 1/3 point of the 1st stage. In addition to playing back-to-back matches in high temperatures and humidity, Kashima has a high home win rate. Tokyo has a record of 2 wins, 1 draw, and 3 losses in past matches, but has yet to win away. Despite the tough conditions, coach Hara is determined to "play sharp football in the hot and humid weather. Switch quickly between offense and defense, play confidently away, and win with our own style of football."

　Tokyo's starting lineup is the same as the previous round of the Nabisco Cup. Kashima's FW Yanagisawa and MF Motoyama, who were out due to injury, have returned to the bench. The game started with Tokyo's kickoff.

Allowed an early lead

　Both teams maintained a compact formation from the start, preventing each other from creating space and competing. Tokyo earned a direct free kick in the first minute and a corner kick in the second, but neither were able to be converted into a goal due to Miyazawa's kick being met in front of the goal. In the 5th minute, Ishikawa attacked from the right side after a cross from Abe, but the ball was stolen in front of the goal and received a counterattack from Kashima. Kashima connected this ball and MF Fernando passed it to the right side. MF Aoki took a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, but Tsuchiho made a save. Jean cleared the rebound, but it rolled just outside the penalty arc and allowed Fernando to take a free shot. Fernando easily scored in the bottom left corner, resulting in an early goal being conceded.

　The opening goal was a heavy burden on Tokyo. Against the fast-starting Kashima, they were unable to defend and were pushed back by connecting passes. In the 8th minute, Kashima DF Narahashi took a middle shot. In the 11th minute, FW Hirase jumped out behind Tokyo DF and took a shot from the left side cross. Tsuchi was pressed and made a fine play, but the loose ball was picked up and swung left and right in front of the goal, and MF Ogasawara ran in from behind and took a shot. Tsuchi saved it, and finally escaped with a CK.

　However, Tokyo also had a chance. In the 22nd minute, Abe → Asari connected and Kelly entrusted Amaral in the center and rushed to the goal. Amaral swung to the right side and ran to the goal, dropping Ishikawa's cross with his head. Kelly, who received the ball with his back to the goal, shot a heel kick from a close distance from GK Sogahata, but unfortunately hit it straight. In the 24th minute, Kelly dribbled through the opponent's DF in the penalty area. He became 1-on-1 with the GK, but the GK's footwork was a step faster and he caught the ball.

Unable to score a goal in the decisive moment

　Although it was difficult to create a rhythm in the first half, we continued to attack towards the end. In the 42nd minute, Asari passed to Amaral on the right side. However, Kelly's shot was weak and easily caught by the goalkeeper. In stoppage time, Amaral competed for a cross from the left and Ishikawa took a shot from the left side, but it missed to the right. We went into the second half still trailing by one point.

　The instructions from Manager Hara during halftime were "Abe, try to take the lead further up. We have chances, so let's attack without wasting time in front of the goal." Following those instructions, in the 49th minute, a pass from Miyazawa was sent to Abe who was trying to break through the defense, but it was offside. On the other hand, Kashima was unable to win the ball in a high position, and even when they sent long balls to the front line, they were unable to pick up the second ball, leading to a vicious cycle.

　At 60 minutes, Kanazawa entered the penalty area from the left side and avoided the DF, but the shot went to the left of the goal. At 61 minutes, Abe seemed to break through the front line on Kaji's cross, but the ball was cleared by Kashima's Narahashi. At 64 minutes, Baba was substituted for Abe. Tokyo gradually gained rhythm, but were met with Kashima's persistent DF.

It's difficult to bring it to a finish. In the 71st minute, Miura was substituted for Asari. They tried to regroup, but Kashima also brought in Honda for Hirase at the same time, strengthening their defense.

Exploited and defeated by a skilled player

　In the 72nd minute, Miyazawa received a throw-in from the right side and shot while circling around to the center. He then got two consecutive CKs, but Ishikawa's shot went over the goal. In the 76th minute, Toda was substituted for Miyazawa, who had been injured by a kick to the inside of his left ankle during the previous shot. Amaral, Ishikawa, and Toda were placed in the front line, with Kelly and Baba in the midfield, and Miura as the one-man anchor to score a goal. In the 77th minute, Baba shot off target after competing for the ball with Toda in a counterattack. In the 78th minute, Toda broke through the DF's defense and received a pass from Kanazawa with perfect timing, but was stopped by DF Ooiwa's quick and tenacious defense. In the 79th minute, Toda broke through again on Amaral's through pass from the left side, but was called offside. The game continued in Kashima's territory, but they struggled to create any decisive scenes against Kashima's defensive play, which was sitting back and defending.

　Kashima made a substitution, bringing in FW Yanagisawa for Ogasawara and DF Ishikawa for Fernandez with 5 minutes remaining. In the 87th minute, Tokyo attempted a quick counter attack, but their shot was blocked by a strong defensive effort. Then in the 89th minute, Yanagisawa took advantage of a gap in the defense and dribbled towards the goal. Although Kashima's defender Kaji initially stopped him in the center, the ball fell to Honda on the left side. Honda then passed it to the right side where Eurel was waiting, and he scored a goal. Despite their overall strong performance, Kashima conceded a second goal and the game was essentially over.

【Player Comments】《Shigenobu》"We were overwhelmed by the voices and atmosphere of the stands, and our own voices couldn't get through. Since then, we've been trying to make connections through actions..."《Kanazawa》"We were trying to focus and get into the game, but we couldn't establish a rhythm after the first goal. In the second half, we were well defended. It would have been better if we could have attacked more from the sides..."

【Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference】"We failed to start the game well. Kashima pressed us more than we expected and we lost most of the second balls. They scored in the first 5 minutes and it threw us off. We managed to create some chances but couldn't convert them, which is something we need to work on. However, I don't think the overall performance was bad. We were just beaten at the beginning and the end. I don't think Kashima played particularly well, but they were able to hold on with just one goal. That's my honest impression. We have another game coming up soon, so we need to switch our focus and prepare for it."

[Kashima Cerezo coach's press conference summary] "In the first half, we had the lead and created chances, so we should have scored 2 or 3 goals. We expected the opponent to aim for a draw away, but in the second half, our players were fatigued and gave the opponent space. Tokyo was able to shake us up with side changes and their fullbacks were pushing up. We gave the players who were moving to the sides and coming into space, like Kelly, too much time and our build-up became weaker. The opponent started changing players around the 20-minute mark in the second half, and honestly, I thought that Tokyo has some good young players coming up. They started using the space in front of our center backs, so I instructed the team to focus on the center. We also switched to a back four to prevent the opponent's fullbacks from pushing up."