Who will win the top battle in the final round of the 1st stage?

　The final match of the 1st stage. Tokyo, who is currently in 4th place with 6 wins, 5 draws, and 3 losses and 23 points, will face Urawa Reds at the away Saitama Stadium 2002. On the other hand, Urawa Reds are in 5th place with 22 points. In the midst of a fierce battle for the top spots, a win would bring Tokyo up to 3rd place, while a loss could drop them down to 7th place. However, Tokyo achieved a dramatic victory in the previous match. On the other hand, Urawa suffered a comeback loss to Gamba Osaka and should have the momentum on their side. Moreover, they have been undefeated with 4 wins and 3 draws since the 8th match, so they would like to end this final match with a victory to show their culmination of this stage.

　Kanazawa, Asari is injured, and the key defender Jean is suspended due to accumulated warnings. With the defense line missing key players, Fujiyama, who is playing his 100th J1 league game, will start as left back, and Mashima will make his first league start as center back. On the other hand, Urawa will be without their ace Emerson, who is suspended, and MF Suzuki, who is injured. Both Tokyo and Urawa will be missing key players on defense and offense respectively, but the match will be played at the almost full Saitama Stadium 2002, with the temperature exceeding 30 degrees and the humidity making it even hotter. The match started with Urawa's kickoff.

Endured a tough situation and created a chance from a set piece, but...

　The first shot was taken by Urawa. In the first minute, MF Mitsudomoe aimed for the goal from the middle range. In the third minute, Tokyo's Masujima took a heading shot from a right FK. In the fourth minute, Masujima's long feed was received by Suzuki and a CK was taken from his cross. In the eighth minute, Suzuki took another CK and Inano jumped in with his head. In the 13th minute, Toda received a pass from Baba in the center and, while falling, connected to the left side. Baba then headed in Inano's cross, but it was saved by the opponent's GK and resulted in a CK. In the 20th minute, Suzuki kept the ball on the left side and Kaji overlapped on the outside, but unfortunately it was offside.

　However, Urawa FW Tanaka and Nagai's bold invasion into the area, as well as Mitomo's attacks coming out to the front line, gradually led to a situation where they were pushed back. In the 15th minute, Nagai's early cross was dropped by Mitomo with his chest in the area, and FW Tanaka took a shot. In the 25th minute, Tanaka went around from the right side to the center and sent a last pass to the left side, where Mitomo took a shot. Tsuchi was able to escape with a punch. Even in the midst of this, Tokyo created chances from set pieces. In the 22nd minute, Suzuki aimed directly for the goal from the right side, and in the 27th and 28th minutes, he took two consecutive CKs. Imakano headed the ball in front, but it went over the bar.

　At 30 minutes, MF Hasebe, who received a pass from Urawa DF Yamada, moved forward and took a free shot from near the penalty arc. At 33 minutes, a right cross was continuously put in, but Mashima, Kaji, and Fujiyama cleared it in the center. At 34 minutes, Shigeno escaped to a corner kick after dribbling past Tanaka in the area. Although they were pushed back for a long time, at 40 minutes, Lucas was fouled on the right side and Suzuki took a powerful shot that skimmed the ground from the resulting free kick. Immediately after, there were two corner kicks. At 43 minutes, Baba sent the ball into the goal area from a right free kick, but was unable to score a goal.

Allowing an own goal, the start of the counterattack is thwarted.

　Tokyo, who defended well against Urawa's attacks, shone in their defense. However, in the 44th minute, Urawa's Tanaka passed through Santoshu and took a decisive shot from inside the area. Doi made the save, but Urawa continued to attack. In the 45th minute, DF Torio headed a corner kick from the right, but Miura blocked it in the bottom left corner, seemingly avoiding danger. However, they quickly lost possession and MF Yamase crossed from a throw-in on the right. Moriga tried to head the sharp ball away, but ended up scoring an own goal. Tokyo conceded a goal just before the end of the first half, giving Urawa the lead.

　In the second half, Tokyo boldly attacked the goal in an attempt to make a comeback. They created another chance from a set piece. In the 46th minute, Baba and Lucas combined to win a corner kick. In the 47th minute, Baba took a free kick. In the 48th minute, Suzuki dribbled past the opponent's defender and took a powerful shot towards the center. However, it was saved by the GK. However, it was Urawa who created the first decisive scene in the second half. In the 53rd minute, MF Yamase dribbled into the right area, splitting between Morishige and Kaji, and took a shot that hit the post. Tanaka took the rebound shot, but it went over the bar.

　However, Tokyo continued to persist and tried to turn the tables by stealing the ball, but in the 60th minute, Miura's pass was intercepted by Urawa's Hasebe. Hasebe dribbled towards the goal and drew in the Tokyo defenders, then passed to Santo who had advanced on the left side of the area. Santo sent a ground pass to the front of the goal. This ball was cleared by Masushima, but the rebound fell to Santo's feet again. He scored it perfectly, resulting in a goal. Tokyo's counterattack was thwarted and they were now down by two points.

Despite Konno's retaliation, the current stage ends in 6th place.

　Tokyo, who had substituted Baba for "wanting to run into space and create chances", brought in Abe in the 54th minute. In the 63rd minute, Kajiyama was substituted for Toda, and in the 66th minute, Miyaura was substituted for Miyazawa. They made their final move and aimed for victory with all their might. Then in the 70th minute, Urawa's Tanaka received his second warning of the day and was sent off. Tokyo, with one more player, pushed forward towards Urawa's goal with Lucas and Abe in the front line, Suzuki on the left side, and Kaji in the right midfield.

　In the 75th minute, Tsuboi from Urawa DF cleared Miyazawa's sharp side change pass. Suzuki picked up the loose ball and crossed it, but it went out of bounds. In the 79th minute, Miyazawa picked up Abe's cleared cross and took a shot from the right area, but it missed the goal. With a wide development, in the 80th minute, Suzuki received Miyazawa's side change pass from right to left and was fouled in the left area, earning a free kick. Then, Inoha calmly kicked Miyazawa's kick into the goal from the center! They closed the gap to one point!

　However, it was just after the goal was scored. Immediately, Shigetani and Urawa players collided while trying to restart. Shigetani was judged to have committed a violent act and was sent off with a red card. He himself became an accident that disrupted the start of the counterattack. With a total of 10 yellow cards and 2 players sent off, the 10 vs 10 battle was an intense one. As the ball went back and forth in front of both goals, Urawa's fast attacks were cut off by Doi and Fujiyama, and they turned to the attack. However, despite repeatedly threatening the Urawa goal from right throw-ins in stoppage time, they were unable to score and the game ended 2-1. This defeat lowered their ranking and they ended the stage in 6th place.

【Player Comments】《Miura》"We gave up the first goal and let Urawa control the game. The second goal was due to my pass being intercepted. The way we conceded the goal was bad. It was important for us to regain control and score, but it's difficult when we're always on the back foot. However, we need to switch our mindset here and move forward positively for the next game."《Mashima》"Losing is just frustrating. We couldn't control the game well as a team. There were chances to make good passes, but we could have timed them better. We were able to anticipate the opponent's dribbles to some extent, but our defense when they cut inside may have been too weak. We didn't get everything right today, so we want to use what we couldn't do today to our advantage for the next game."

[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "In the hot weather, we were heavily burdened by the goal we conceded just before the end of the first half. In the second half, we tried to counterattack by sending Abe into space, but unfortunately we conceded a second goal in an unlucky manner. Muroshima had closed off the space in a decisive moment, but the ball ended up in front of Santoshu again. We managed to score one goal and the players showed a willingness to attack, but it became more difficult after Morinaga's red card. Jean, Kanazawa was absent, and the final line was unstable, but Muroshima showed his potential, and Kaji and Fujiyama also showed their qualities, so I don't think they were bad. However, we just didn't have enough strength until the end. We want to aim for a more scoring form. If we had won today, we would have been in third place, but even if we lost, the difference was only a little. Even if we were in third place, unfortunately there is still a gap between us and first and second place. We have to change that. However, in the first stage, we were without Kelly and Ishikawa, but Baba, Kajiyama, and Suzuki have stepped up. It was a valuable experience for young players to gain experience while there were many injured players. Morinaga also showed both strength and weakness, but he has been supporting the team without any injuries, including his red card today, and that is something we can appreciate. Konno is also getting used to it, and the real battle is yet to come. We want to make the team even stronger so that we can compete for titles in the Nabisco Cup and the Second Stage."

[Urawa Buchwald's press conference summary] "We were able to enter the game in a good shape, but FC Tokyo also came aggressively and I think they had more chances first. As the game progressed, we were gradually able to dominate and ended the first half with a 1-0 lead. The goal may have seemed lucky, but we had many chances before that, so I think it was a fair result. In the second half, we were able to continue our attacks in a good shape. We also scored the second goal in a good way. We should have scored the third and fourth goals as well, but in that situation, Tanaka received his second yellow card and we were left with 10 players. However, even with one player down, we continued to concentrate and attack instead of just defending, which was fantastic. We were able to end the stage in a good way by winning in the final match like this."