Nabisco Cup preliminary league opens

　The Nabisco Cup kicks off today. Tokyo will face Kashima, Kashiwa, and Kobe in the D group in a home and away format, with the top 2 teams advancing to the final tournament in September. It will be a long battle with the league games in between, but first we must focus on the opening match and gain momentum for the following league games. In addition, U-23 Japan national team players Shigetaka Mori, Kojiro Nakano, and Takuya Ishikawa, as well as JFA/J.League designated players Tokunaga will return to the team from this battle. Japan national team players Tsuchi and Kaji will be absent due to injury, as well as Kelly and Jean, but this can be considered the official start of the team for this season.

　Tokyo started with rookie goalkeeper Shioda, and on defense, Tokunaga, Fujiyama, Shigeno, and Kanazawa from the right. In the double pivot, Konno and Miyazawa, with Ishikawa on the right and Toda on the left. Lucas and Abe as the two forwards. On the bench were Endo, Wu, Miura, Kobayashi, and Baba, a completely different lineup from the league games. Kashima also had Japan national team goalkeeper Sogahata and MF Motoyama absent, but they have yet to lose with 1 win and 1 draw in the league so far. New signing left back Aiba is also in good form, making the battle on the right side with Tokyo another key point to watch. The match kicked off at 3pm in the afternoon at Ajinomoto Stadium, surrounded by the spring weather.

Lacking focus, carrying a 2-point deficit

　But the whistle blew, and it was only 1 minute and 20 seconds into the game. Kashima cleared the long ball on the left side. As they tried to counterattack, the loose ball was picked up by MF Nozawa, who made a perfect cross to FW Hirase, who was running behind Tokyo's right side. The Tokyo DF had pushed up their line, and Tokunaga chased after Hirase, but Hirase was able to enter the area with a one-touch while being pushed by his body. The shot was beautifully placed in the bottom right corner of the goal. As Tokunaga later reflected, "It was my mistake. Our senses were different, and they were able to slip in easily." This self-destruction at the beginning of the game was a fatal blow to their start.

　Tokyo, who immediately tried to counterattack, still had plenty of time. In the 6th minute, Toda's shot was headed by Lucas. In the 9th minute, Abe broke through the left side from Shigeta's long feed, and Ishikawa jumped in on the ground cross. In the 15th minute, Lucas competed for Ishikawa's soft pass in front of the goal, and Toda slid in, but both were unable to shoot due to collisions with the defenders. In the 16th minute, Miyazawa aimed directly for the goal from a free kick.

　Tokyo is actively trying to attack, but they often lose the second ball to Kashima and are vulnerable to counterattacks. In the 17th minute, Tokyo tried to attack again after an interception. Kashima midfielder Ogasawara stole the ball on the right side and passed it to Hiraishi on the outside. Hiraishi then sent a lofted pass to the space behind Tokyo's defense, where forward Fukai ran up from the midfield and volleyed with his left foot to score. With just two passes, Tokyo created a chance that Shioda couldn't do anything about, and they quickly found themselves two goals behind.

Regaining composure, but unable to score against Kashima

　Tokyo gradually regained its composure and began to pick up second balls and find its rhythm, but they were unable to break through Kashima's goal, which they no longer had to push for with a two-point lead. In the 25th minute, Lucas fiercely checked Kashima's final line of passes. He stole the loose ball and found himself one-on-one with the GK, but his shot narrowly missed to the right of the goal. In the 29th minute, Kashima's GK Ozawa cleared Shioda's long feed, which Lucas picked up and took a looping shot, but it also went wide. In the 34th minute, they had two consecutive CKs. In the 36th minute, Kanazawa crossed from Miyazawa's side change. Abe headed it, but it narrowly missed to the left.

　At 39 minutes, Toda broke through the DF and created a great chance, but the shot was saved by the opposing GK. Kanazawa picked up the loose ball and took a shot. It was blocked by the DF, but they connected again and Kanazawa was free to take another shot from a cross by Ishikawa in front of the goal. They dominated the ball and won the battle on the side, launching a fierce attack. However, Lucas' header at 40 minutes went over the goal. Towards the end, Ishikawa made a deep run on the side and Abe almost scored with a heel kick in front of the goal. However, despite taking 14 shots, they couldn't hit the target with 9 of them and went into the second half trailing by 2 points.

Lucas scores his first goal! Threatening Kashima's goal until the end with a passionate play.

　In the second half, Tokyo continued to dominate the ball and attack, while Kashima continued to counter with long balls to exploit the space behind the defensive line. In the 49th minute, Ishikawa passed to Lucas, who then passed to Abe for a shot from the center of the goal, but it was saved. However, chances became scarce against Kashima's defensive tactics. In the 60th minute, Bamba was substituted for Toda. Bamba's ability to hold onto the ball and his aggressive attitude towards goal helped create a more attacking rhythm. In the 67th minute, he dribbled from the right side and took a shot. In the 68th minute, Lucas passed through to Bamba, who broke through in front of the goal, but his touch was slightly off and he couldn't take a direct shot.

　Substituted Miyazawa for Kure in the 71st minute, and Abe for Kobayashi in the 75th minute. In the 74th minute, Kashima combined with a long ball from the right side, and Hiraishi flew out freely in the left area and shot, but Shioda made a nice save. The defense also came together as one, and Tokyo launched a counterattack with all their might. Kure and Kobayashi both boldly headed towards the goal. And in the 85th minute, Tokunaga dribbled from the right side towards the center, and his last pass hit the Kashima defender and fell in front of the goal. Lucas, who quickly reacted to this, calmly kicked it in with his right foot, and it's a goal!! Although he hadn't scored until now, Lucas' passionate play finally resulted in his first goal, and the stadium heated up with joy.

　Tokyo, who gave their all in the remaining time including 3 minutes of stoppage time, pushed towards Kashima's goal. They put their bodies on the line for each play and their determination was evident. However, they were unable to break through and the final whistle blew. Despite the loss, it was a game where they were able to regroup and each player gained valuable lessons and achievements within the 90 minutes.

【Player Comments】《Imano Player》"I wanted to gain trust by playing my own game, but it wasn't good. The press didn't work well and I felt like I was being kicked whenever I went. When we conceded the first goal, I wanted to immediately turn things around without looking down, but it became a tough situation. There are a lot of challenges such as combinations rather than a sense of accomplishment. I want to clear them one by one."《Baba Player》"I tried to receive the ball in my area and create space to work with Lucas. Lucas and the others understood that well and collected the ball for me, so it was easy to play. (I regret) making a mistake in the decisive chance. However, I think my field of vision has expanded compared to last season. I want to make use of it in the future."

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "In the first 20 minutes, we were sleeping or rather, our start to the game was bad. We expected Kashima to come at us hard from the beginning, so they easily threw the ball in. Then Hiraishi scored and we became flustered. It wasn't that we were broken down, but rather, in the heat of the moment, we lost out on challenges and conceded a goal, causing chaos. The Olympic players returned, but Jean got injured and some of our Japan national team players were absent, so half of our team changed. We won't know if things will go well until we try. I thought it might be difficult to create a rhythm so easily, but there were still some slight issues with our passing and tempo. However, after conceding two goals, we woke up. Lucas was full of determination to score and Baba returned from surgery, although he may not be in top form yet, he showed us his usual play. Kobayashi also played with overflowing emotions in his first official match in two years, so there were many positives. If we had scored one goal earlier, I think we could have caught up. There are still 5 more matches in the qualifying round, so we can make a comeback. Today, our team was almost like a new combination, but we want to build strong combinations and improve our team's playing style. We will switch our focus to the league matches."

【Kashima Cerezo coach's press conference summary】"We wanted to win the opening game firmly, and it was a big away win against FC Tokyo, an attacking team. Tokyo has become a really good team even without Kelly and Jean. We were able to start well, but after the two goals, we became more defensive. The mistakes in the defense became more noticeable, and we started to get scared, so we started to put the ball directly from the goalkeeper. We tried to pick up the second ball, but we ended up kicking the ball before pushing up, and the opponent picked it up instead. We should have stayed calm there. Tokyo's Ishikawa has speed and dribbling skills, and he was able to attack Kashima's left side well. As a result, Arai was too conscious of not leaving too much space between the center and the full-back, and ended up dropping back. In the first half, the ball didn't settle down in the front line, so we instructed that at halftime, and in terms of mentality, Kashima was better in the second half. It's true that Tokyo had more ball possession, but I think the difference in whether we were able to capitalize on our chances led to the result. (We had never won at Ajinomoto Stadium before) I believe that there is no such thing as impossible, and with effort and luck, we were able to overcome the wall. I think that not knowing what will happen is the fun of soccer."