Ichihara in great shape and an exciting match to watch

　The 10th round, which marks the 2/3 mark of the 1st stage, has arrived. This round will be the last before a 6-week break, and the final match before the break will be an away game against JEF United Ichihara.

　Ichihara has achieved a leap forward under the new coach Ivica OSIM, who took office this season, with "running soccer" and is currently in second place. In 9 games, they have scored 23 goals, which is tied for the league's top with the first place Iwata. In particular, FW Choi Ryong-zu, who is at the top of the goal scoring ranking, is in good shape. It is expected to be a tough away game, but it will not be easy to win. We hope for a good game that will lead to the remaining 5 rounds. We also want to face Ichihara, who is said to be "the strongest now", without hesitation in order to enter the break period in a good shape.

　Tokyo, who will be without Kelly due to accumulated warnings, will kick off with a formation consisting of Amaral and Abe as the two top players, Ishikawa on the right side of the midfield, Toda on the left, and Miura and Miyazawa as a double pivot.

Defend well against Ichihara's attacks and create chances from counters

　Immediately after the start, Tokyo showed an aggressive attitude by pressing from the front line, but they were soon drawn into Jeff's fast pace and dominated the game. Taking advantage of that gap, in the 6th minute, they connected a clear ball from Shigeno on the end line and quickly expanded to the right side. Miyazawa ran in on the cleared ball from Ishikawa's cross and took a middle shot. In the 11th minute, Jean made a long pass to the front line. Toda followed up with a shot from outside the area, but it went over the goal.

　Despite dominating, Ichihara was unable to create any decisive chances, but in the 14th minute, MF Abe took the first shot of the day from midfield. In the 16th minute, they attacked from a throw-in and had two consecutive shots. They picked up a clearance from Tokyo DF and launched a wave of attacks. In the 18th minute, DF Milinovic took a shot from a short corner. It hit a DF and the loose ball was about to be shot by MF Sandro, but Doi jumped in. The ball rolled in front of the goal, but Jean cleared it just before it reached the goal. With a fantastic cover, Tokyo escaped a decisive pinch.

　At 20 minutes, Ishikawa dug deep on the right side and crossed, but Toda's header was caught by the goalkeeper. At 21 minutes, Miyazawa aimed for a direct goal from a free kick of over 40 meters, but hit the crossbar. Tokyo created some close chances, but in the flow of the game, all second balls were picked up by Ichihara, making it a difficult situation. Sato and Abe, the two central midfielders, showed sharp attacking movements, and right midfielder Sakamoto was pushed in by crosses from wide attacks. At 31 minutes, Choi headed in Sakamoto's cross. At 35 minutes, Sandro passed to Sakamoto who entered the penalty area, but the cross was cut off and resulted in a corner kick. At 37 minutes, a quick counter attack with a side change allowed a free shot for Choi just outside the box, but it missed the target. At 42 minutes, Abe and Sato combined in front of the goal, and Sandro returned the ball with a header, but Doi caught it.

Toda's shot was unfortunately offside.

　The cross was thoroughly bounced back by Jean and held up with a concentrated defense. In the 43rd minute, Ishikawa received a pass from Kaji on the right side of the area and immediately crossed it. Toda, who had run in freely from the center, headed the ball. It was a perfect timing, but the ball went slightly to the right. In stoppage time, Kanazawa, who had moved up the left side, connected with Toda, and Abe, who received the cross in front of the goal, competed and Kanazawa ran in again for a shot. However, it curved to the left, and the first half ended with a 0-0 tie.

　Tokyo, who defended well against Ichihara's fierce attack and found chances on the counter, bet on the victory in the remaining 45 minutes. However, it was Ichihara who got the first big chance in the second half. In the 47th minute, Sato stole the ball from a fierce collision in the midfield and dribbled forward. He then passed to the left side, where MF Murai made a one-touch through pass to the front of the goal. Cui, who ran in free, took a shot but it curved to the right and was saved. However, Tokyo gradually started to pick up second balls and create chances. In the 56th minute, Miura sent a long pass behind the defense line and Abe received it while avoiding the mark, but he couldn't get a shot off. In the 58th minute, Kanazawa jumped into a scramble in front of the goal after clearing a cross from Kaji, and took a shot. The shot from close range was saved by the opposing GK Kushino, but Toda picked up the rebound and the ball shook the back of the net. However, it was unfortunately ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.

Get valuable 3 points

　At 70 minutes, Ichihara's Milinovic advances and feigns a middle shot, then passes to Choi in the penalty area. Choi gets into shooting position, but Jean cuts it off. Today, Jean has stood in front of Choi every time. From that play, Tokyo launches a quick attack and Abe jumps in with a header from Ishikawa's cross, but the ball goes just to the right. Both teams had chances and the back-and-forth battle continued.

　In the 72nd minute, Bamba was substituted for Amaral, who was not in good shape. In the 74th minute, Ichihara also substituted Sandro for speedy FW Hayashi. Immediately after, Ichihara dropped a cross from the left to MF Hanyu, who headed it down, and Choi shot freely from the right side of the area, but it went to the right of the goal. In the 75th minute, Tokyo picked up a loose ball in the midfield and connected with a quick pass from Baba to Miyazawa in front of the area, who then made an exquisite through pass behind the defense line. Toda ran into the goal area, overtaking Miyazawa, and faced GK in a one-on-one situation, but was stopped by GK Kushino's sharp movement just before reaching the goal.

　Tokyo substituted Toda for Suzuki in the 81st minute, and Ichihara also substituted Murai for MF Yamagishi in the 82nd minute. Both teams used their substitution cards to try and create chances, but neither were able to find the finishing touch before time was up. The intense battle ended in a scoreless draw. However, Ichihara fought off the fierce attack and never gave up until the end. They were able to secure a valuable point.

[Player Comments]

"Toda" "In the first half, we were pushed by the opponent's pace, but in the second half, we were able to attack from both sides. That was a plus for today's game. However, I couldn't score because of my own fault. I'm sorry." "Mori" "We didn't intend to defend by pulling back, but we were pushed back by being run at. However, during the game, we thickened the center, including the defensive midfielder, and tried to defend by pushing the opponent out to the outside and fighting. In that sense, we were able to defend according to the plan."

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "Ichihara is a team with high scoring ability, they run long distances and are good at fast attacks. So I thought if we could slow down their attacks and force them into a slower pace, our counterattacks would be effective. In the first half, Kelly was not playing and their defensive midfielders were able to stay side by side, which allowed them to pick up second balls. We also kicked the ball too much, but we made adjustments towards the end of the first half and tried to tire them out and win in the second half. I think we were able to create chances from counterattacks and from the sides. Ichihara was definitely strong and had momentum. I think we fought well without Kelly. We want to play attacking football and press from the front, but this season we also need to be patient and endure away games. We haven't changed our style of play. We have created more clear chances and I don't think our direction is wrong."

[Summary of Ichihara-Osim's press conference] "It didn't go well until the end. We were playing well, but it's a shame that we couldn't score. The result reflects reality. It probably wasn't expected to get this many points in these 10 games. However, there is still something missing when facing a team that completely defends. Today, we played well and took risks to attack. It's easier for the opponent to defend with 6 players and counterattack than to constantly attack. Constantly attacking is exhausting. So I think the opponent was able to play easily today. However, FC Tokyo was a really good team among those we have seen so far. If it was the previous JEF, we would have lost 0-1 today. In that sense, I think we are growing."