GAME RESULTGame Result

Sec. 9 2003/5/17 (Sat)
Audience 15,509 people 
Weather cloudy, no temperature 15.3 degrees humidity 66% 
Referee: Kazuhisa Osada Assistant Referees: Rikio Ito / Masaaki Shimomura Fourth Official: Tsutomu Anazawa

J1 1st Sec. 9

Ajinomoto

HOME

FC Tokyo

2-1

Match Finished

First half1-0

Second Half1-1

AWAY

Oita Trinita

FC Tokyo Oita Trinita
16' Yoshiro ABE
47' Kelly
Scorer 79' Daiki TAKAMATSU
78' Yoshiro ABE → Yuta BABA
89' Fumitake MIURA → Ryuji FUJIYAMA
89' Amaral → Mitsuhiro TODA
Player Substitution 53' Katanosaka Tomohiro → Arimura Mitsufumi
67' Yamazaki Tetsuya → Uchimura Keihiro
76' Rodrigo → Andrazinho
12 Shoot 8
1 CK 2
23 FK 27
31' Akira KAJI
89' Kelly
Warning 29' Katanosaka Tomohiro
43' Komorita Tomoaki
88' Miki Ryūji
Exit
FC Tokyo Starting Lineup
GK 1 Yoichi Doi
DF 20 Ryo Kaji
DF 3 Jean
DF 2 Teruyuki Motoniwa
DF 17 Kanazawa Jyo
MF 10 Mizura Fumitake
MF 18 Naohiro Ishikawa
MF 19 Kelly
MF 16 Miyazawa Masashi
FW 14 Yoshiro Abe
FW 11 Amaral
FC TokyoSubstitute
GK 22 Hideaki OZAWA
DF 8 Ryuji Fujiyama
MF 34 Yosuke Kajiyama
MF 30 Yuta Baba
FW 13 Toda Mitsuharu
Oita Trinita Starting Lineup
GK 1 Yuto Okanaka
DF 33 Tetsuya Yamazaki
DF 3 Sandro
DF 2 Takashi Miki
DF 4 Tomoaki Katanozaka
MF 28 Tomoharu Komorita
MF 15 Takashi Umeda
MF 9 Takayuki YOSHIDA
MF 8 Teragawa Noto
FW 10 RODRIGO
FW 13 Daiki TAKAMATSU
Oita TrinitaSubstitute
GK 29 Koji Eguchi
DF 23 Mitsufumi Arimura
MF 5 Tetsuro UKI
MF 26 Keihiro Uchimura
FW 11 Andrazinho

[Player/Coach Comments]

We cannot afford to lose, our first J1 match against Oita!


 As we enter the second half of the 1st stage, we will face Oita Trinita, who have been promoted to J1 this season. This will be our first match against Oita in J1, and although they are currently in 14th place, they showed their resilience in the previous match against Kashima, earning a draw. As coach Kobayashi mentioned, this will be an exciting match and they are feeling confident. Their strong defense and counter-attacks are powerful, and they should not be underestimated.

 But as a "senior in J1", I can't afford to lose. I want to finish the last home game before the 1st stage suspension with a victory. Asari will be suspended for this round due to accumulated warnings. Miyazawa and Miura will play as a double pivot. In addition, Ishikawa will return to the starting lineup as the right MF for the first time in 4 games. Amaral and Abe will form a two-top formation and kick off.

Abe scores with Ishikawa's through pass, taking the lead!


 As the battle for possession continues in the middle of the field from the start, it was Oita who had the first chance. In the 4th minute, they connected passes to build up their attack. A through pass reached MF Julian who had snuck behind the Tokyo DF. However, the shot was quickly blocked by the Tokyo DF. In the 6th minute, Tokyo also had a chance when Ishikawa crossed to Kanazawa who headed the ball, but it went over the goal. In the 11th minute, Ishikawa dribbled through the middle and passed to Abe on the right side. Midfielder Miyazawa ran in from behind to take a shot from the cleared cross, but the ball went to the right. In the 16th minute, Ishikawa's cross reached Abe who had run free into the penalty area from the left side, but his trap was too big and the shot was blocked by the goalkeeper. And then, right after that. After winning the ball in their own half, Kaji passed to Ishikawa who then passed to Abe, who had perfectly timed his run to break through the Oita DF from near the center circle. Receiving the ball near the penalty area, Abe calmly took it into the box and scored with his right foot! With the excellent combination play between Ishikawa and Abe, they were able to take the lead with a goal in the early stages.

Kelly's skillful goal adds another point!


 At 24 minutes, Kelly heads a cross from Kaji on the right side, but it narrowly misses the goal on the left. At 28 minutes, Abe jumps on Kelly's long pass, but is called offside. Tokyo, who took the lead, tries to widen the pitch and aim for an additional goal, but they did not completely take control. However, at 36 minutes, the ball connects to MF Umeda, who is free in front of the area, from the post of Oita FW Takamatsu, but Kanazawa quickly blocks the shot with his body. After that, Jean bounces back Oita's crosses, and Morinaga and Kanazawa show a concentrated defense against their runs behind. In stoppage time of the first half, Morinaga cuts off Terakawa's free entry into the penalty area with a sliding tackle. Oita did not create any decisive chances and ended the first half with a one-point lead.

 "Tokyo wants one more goal." They aggressively press from the front and push Oita back. Then in the 47th minute, Kelly, who received a throw-in from Kaji on the right side, aggressively charges into the penalty area and evades two opposing defenders who came to mark him, and shoots with a right-footed toe kick from the right front of the goal area. The ball pierces into the left corner and GOAL!! Reminiscent of the amazing goal that Brazil's Ronaldo showed against Turkey in last year's World Cup semifinal, Kelly's brilliant shot adds another goal at the perfect time!

 Tokyo, who gained momentum with this goal. From here on, the game was fast and intense for both teams. In the 59th minute, Ishikawa received a pass from Kaji and broke through the front line. He crossed with speed, but it was cut off by the defense and did not reach Abe. Next, Ishikawa received a pass from Kanazawa's attack and took a ground middle shot. In the 63rd minute, Ishikawa received a long ball from Miyazawa and continued to create chances with crosses from the right side.

Oita made a comeback with one point, but failed to win at home.


 However, Oita was not silent. In the 67th minute, MF Uchimura was substituted for DF Yamazaki. They changed to a 3-back formation, putting Uchimura on the left MF to face Ishikawa, and moved Terakawa to defensive midfield to strengthen the midfield. In the 71st minute, Terakawa took a middle shot, signaling a counterattack. In the 73rd minute, MF Komorita picked up a clearance in front of the goal and took a powerful middle shot, but Doi saved it and Kanazawa cut off Umeda's shot on the rebound. On the other hand, in the 75th minute, Abe became a wedge while drifting to the right side, and Ishikawa ran in from the right and took a shot. However, unfortunately, it hit the bar and missed the goal.

 Oita made a substitution in the 76th minute, replacing FW Rodrigo with FW Andrazinho, while Tokyo made a substitution in the 78th minute, replacing Abe with Baba. Shortly after, Tokyo took advantage of a loose ball in the midfield and quickly turned it into an attack. Ishikawa sprinted up the right side and delivered a perfect cross into the box. Baba was left unmarked on the far side and headed the ball towards goal, but his first touch shot narrowly missed to the right, missing a golden opportunity.

 And it was just a minute later. Tokyo, who had cut off Oita's attack in their own zone, turned to counterattack, but Oita cut off Baba's pass on the right side. Connecting with Andradinha in the center, they passed to the front line. FW Takamatsu, who received the ball in front of the goal, dribbled past Jean with a one-touch and scored. It was a regrettable goal to give up. In the 84th minute, Ishikawa received Miyazawa's ball on the left side and took a powerful dribble shot, but it went just to the left. However, Oita quickly developed from GK Okanaka and quickly moved to the front line. Andradinha stuck in the penalty area and Uchimura, who ran in from behind, took consecutive shots, but both were blocked by Jean and Shigeta in front of the goal. In the 86th minute, Andradinha took a shot from Takamatsu's post, but it was blocked. In the remaining minutes, the situation was tense, but in the 89th minute, Fujiyama was substituted for Miura to strengthen the defense in the midfield and protect the lead until the end. It was a game where they struggled against Oita's counterattack, but they were able to secure 3 valuable points with 2 goals.

【Player Comments】《Abe》"I have to be able to play anywhere on the field, but playing as a FW in a two-top formation makes it easier to get closer to the goal. I did get caught offside, but I think it's important to keep making those runs behind the defense."《Ishikawa》"(The pass that led to Abe's opening goal) was because Abe-san had the same image in mind as me and led me, so all I had to do was make the pass. It was a tough game at 2-1, but I think our build-up play was good. If I had scored there, it would have been even easier."

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "Oita is a team that defends well as a whole and launches counterattacks. We expected to be pushed back, so we started with Amaral and Abe as the two forwards, and Kelly as the attacking midfielder. In the previous match, we were able to hold onto the ball to some extent with Amaral as the lone forward, but we struggled when the opponent came back while we were holding onto the ball for too long, so we tried to keep it simple. We actually wanted to move the ball more and break through from the sides. Abe scored the opening goal in his most skilled way early on, but we wanted to score another goal, preferably in the first half. We had a lot of shots and corners in recent matches, but today we only had 12 shots and 1 corner. It wasn't a great performance, but we were able to get the 3 points we desperately wanted. We need players like Baba and Ishikawa to score and help us get a third goal. When Amaral scores, it will also give the team momentum. We will prepare well for a week and face the strongest team, Ichihara, in the next match."

[Summary of Oita Kobayashi's press conference] "Tokyo has many attacking players and it's their home game, so I thought they would come with a lot of pressure and attacking football from the beginning. As a result, I thought there would be space in the midfield, but they had a very solid start. The pitch was deep and both teams seemed to have heavy legs, so it was a cautious start. In the midst of that, Oita made many mistakes, but I think we were able to make a good start. However, we were caught off guard and conceded the first goal. We had some good moments in the first half and I thought that even if we were behind, the opponent's legs would tire in the second half and we could have a chance if we put in attacking players. However, just as I was thinking that, we were dealt a big blow by Kelly's individual skill and conceded the second goal. Still, we changed our system and went for a goal at 0-2, but our dribbling in the midfield was scattered to the sides and we were able to play simple football. The momentum of needing to score a goal and Tokyo having to defend tilted in our favor. We wanted to play like that from the beginning. It was a heavy game, but I want to commend the players for not giving up and scoring one goal."