An important match to turn the tide in the 2nd stage

　The league match since August 29th. In the 2nd stage, Sec. 4, we will face Vissel Kobe at home. Last week, we had a great victory in the quarterfinals of the Nabisco Cup and advanced to the best 4, but we are currently in 11th place in the league. The match record against Kobe this season, including the Nabisco Cup, is 3 wins, showing a good compatibility, but Kobe is currently in 9th place. In the 2nd stage, FW EMBOMA, MF HOLVI, and FW HIRASE have joined and are taking on a new challenge. EMBOMA, of course, has a fear of the secondary attack launched by FW HANATO and MF KOJIMA, who gather marks on him, and there is no material that can be taken lightly. Today's match, which will be the first win for both teams in this stage, will be an important match for the future battles.

　In this round, Tsuchi and Kaji, who played for the Japan national team in the World Cup qualifier against India on the 9th, were in the starting lineup. Kajiyama, who temporarily left the U-19 Japan national team's activities and joined the team, was unable to make the squad due to injury. Yusuke Kondo, who started for the first time since the final match of the 2nd stage last year, will lead the team as the top striker, with Kelly behind him. The match started with a kickoff in Tokyo.

Although we took the lead with a PK early on, we were caught up to a tie.

　The game started early. In the first minute, a quick attack was launched from their own half, and a pass was made to Yusuke Kondo who broke through the left space. Although it was initially cut off by the Kobe DF, they regained possession in the opponent's half and crossed from the left side. Kelly neatly headed the ball down in the center, and Yusuke Kondo entered a shooting position from the penalty area. In response to this, the opponent's DF Kitamoto showed the sole of his foot and made a tackle. This play resulted in a foul in the area, and Tokyo was awarded a penalty kick. Kelly calmly scored, giving Tokyo an early lead.

　Kobe has 3 DFs on the member table, but MF Hojel enters as a left back in a 4-back formation. Tokyo, with Kaji and Kanazawa aggressively attacking and gaining an advantage on the sides, had a shot from Kobayashi in the 4th minute in the right area. However, they were unable to convert any decisive chances after that.

And it was in the 13th minute. In the midfield, Kobe MF Horvi passed to Embooma, and Horvi once again passed a floating ball to the front line. Hado dropped it with a header and connected it to MF Park, who went up the right side. Park cut in to the end line and crossed to the center. Tokyo DF was marking Park, but they couldn't catch Hado in front of the goal, and he easily scored a header, resulting in a goal. They were quickly caught up to a tie.

Yusuke Kondo gets his second PK today! Kelly scores to take the lead.

　However, Tokyo, who tried to keep their rhythm without getting flustered, took control of the ball in their own half at the 21st minute. Baba made a through pass from near the halfway line, which Yusuke Kondo caught up to and headed straight towards the goal. In response to Kondo's powerful run, Kobe's defender Kitamoto had no choice but to foul him in the penalty area, resulting in Kondo earning his second penalty kick of the day. Kelly once again confidently scored the go-ahead goal. Kitamoto received his second yellow card and was sent off, prompting Kobe to substitute Park for Tsubouchi at the 24th minute. Tsubouchi played as a right back, Hado as a right midfielder, and Kojima as a left midfielder, with Emboma as the lone striker.

　However, against the 10-man Kobe, Tokyo was unable to create any decisive scenes while dominating the ball with ease. On the contrary, in the 40th minute, a highly accurate FK from Kobe Holvi resulted in a header shot from Hojel that narrowly missed the right post. In the 44th minute, Holvi was held up near the left end line and passed into the area, but this was skillfully intercepted by Shigetaka. Despite ending the first half with a score of 2-1 without allowing any additional points, we have struggled in the past against 10-man opponents and have some lingering concerns about a similar situation this time around.

Abe's two consecutive goals put Kobe in the lead!

　In the second half, we confirmed that we will be aggressive in both offense and defense during halftime, and we will try to decide the game by taking the next goal early. Fujiyama replaced Kaji, considering the match-up with opponent MF Kojima. However, we were not able to dominate Kobe immediately. We also saw scenes where Kobe's attacking force, centered around Emboma, attacked us, and in the 54th minute, Emboma headed in a cross from the deep left side. In the 55th minute, Tokyo took three consecutive CKs, but could not score. In the 57th minute, Abe was substituted for Kobayashi, and we went all out. However, against the one-man down Kobe, Tokyo's play was sloppy throughout. Even if we took the ball, we couldn't create a finish. In the 68th minute, Abe's volley with his left foot from Baba's right cross was the first shot of the second half.

　Finally, with this shot, Tokyo began to take control of the game. In the 69th minute, Fujiyama boldly attacked and drew a foul, earning a free kick. Yusuke Kondo took a direct shot from 22-23m, but it went just over the goal. In the 72nd minute, Kondo broke through the defense and faced the goalkeeper one-on-one after receiving a long feed from Fujiyama. However, his shot went just wide to the left. They missed a big chance for a third goal. With 10 players, Kobe tried to take advantage of their one chance by feeding the ball to Emboma up front. On the other hand, Holvi and Hashido were also free at times, creating a back-and-forth battle where either team could score at any moment. Finally, Abe's goal was born. In the 80th minute, they quickly counterattacked after stealing the ball from the opponent's corner kick. Kelly dribbled down the right side and passed to Baba, who faced off against the Kobe defender and used a feint to get past him. Baba then sent a ground cross from the end line. Kelly let it go through and Abe, who was waiting in the left side of the box, took a one-touch shot with his right foot! The ball pierced into the top left corner of the goal, scoring!! Tokyo displayed their characteristic attacking pattern and Abe's strength in one-on-one situations. They scored a third goal to pull away from Kobe.

　Tokyo, who regained their rhythm, deployed an aggressive attacking soccer. In the 83rd minute, Miyazawa was substituted for Miura. In the 86th minute, Abe received a last pass from Kanazawa and Miyazawa's pass exchange on the left side and shot from inside the area. In stoppage time, Miyazawa advanced up the center and connected with Kelly on the right, and Baba picked up the ball on the left side and shot from just outside the goal. Both shots were saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. Although they couldn't score a fourth goal, they launched a fast-paced attack in the final minutes and won 3-1. They earned a valuable 3 points that will lead to future success.

【Player Comments】《Kondo》"When I looked forward, I aimed for the goal myself, and when the pass came to my feet, I thought about playing easily and using the surroundings. As a team, we may have been too conscious of the fact that the opponent was down to 10 men in the first half. In the second half, I couldn't keep the ball where I should have, so I have regrets. (There was a big chance against the GK in a one-on-one situation?) I was able to break through in front of the goal, but I was only thinking about avoiding the GK because there was a possibility that a weak shot could be stopped. If I didn't score there..."《Abe》"I entered the pitch with the mindset of scoring and actively attacking in one-on-one situations. I don't think I've changed anything (compared to the 1st stage), but I feel like I can contribute to the game even as a substitute. I believe that if we can fight each game with importance, the results will come, and I'm happy that it has resulted in goals. The next game is more important than the future."

　【Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference】"Doi and Kaji have returned from the national team, but they only had one day of practice yesterday and didn't have enough time to get used to the team. I thought Doi might be a bit rusty, but he was the most focused during yesterday's practice and I wanted to take a chance on his experience. Kaji was tired, so I planned to use him as much as possible and make substitutions depending on the situation. Kajiyama and Kelly's partnership was finally starting to come together, but he injured his knee during the U-19 national team training camp and couldn't play today. We had been relying on Abe and Yusuke KONDO as our two main players in the second half, but today it was important to see how much Yusuke could do from the start. Kobe has changed their lineup from previous matches, with players like Emboma, Horvi, and Hirase who have individual strength. If we let them get going, it could be a tough match. We were particularly wary of their set pieces, as they have strength and patterns. We scored an early goal, but in soccer, when you score during this time, you often can't play as well as usual afterwards. I had a bad feeling about it. We were tied and I thought we might get a bit of energy, but as soon as the opponent's player was sent off, our rhythm got worse again. So even with the opponent down to 10 players, we talked about going after the ball and using Abe to try and score a third goal. The ball didn't reach Abe for a while, but his goal sealed the game. It wasn't a great performance, but we were able to bring the record to 2 wins and 2 losses from a losing start, so we'll start paying back our debt from here. We want to take each game seriously and keep racking up wins."

　[Kobe HASEK coach's press conference summary] "We have been preparing for this game for two weeks. There was no fault or mistake in Kobe. However, we conceded a goal easily at the beginning. In a short amount of time, the flow of the game changed completely. After that, we were targeted in space and were countered, and (Kitamoto player) received a second yellow card to stop it. We conceded a goal from a mistake in the second half, but the players fought well until the end. There is nothing to say to the players."