Facing Oita at home amidst a tough schedule

　The 12th round of the 2nd stage will be played at home against Oita Trinita. After facing Hiroshima away on October 31st, the team will have a tight schedule with only 2 days of rest before the Nabisco Cup and this round. Despite winning the cup 3 days ago, players such as Shigenobu, Miura, Kelly, and Ishikawa will not be playing today due to their condition. The starting lineup includes DF Masushima, MF Miyazawa, Suzuki, and FW Yusuke Kondo. The center backs are Fujiyama and Masushima, left MF Toda, right MF Suzuki, with Baba in the attacking midfield and Yusuke Kondo leading the front line.

　Currently, Oita is in 13th place with 10 points, but they are only 3 points behind Tokyo. In the previous match, they achieved a victory against Kobe and their form is improving. It is important to be cautious of their attacks, especially their speed in the front line led by FW Magno Alves, which focuses on counterattacks. Tokyo, on the other hand, has not won in their last 5 matches in the league, with 3 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses. They will be looking to accumulate points by using fresh players and aim to return to a 50-50 record. The weather is refreshing and sunny, with a temperature of 20.1 degrees, making it the perfect day for soccer at Ajinomoto Stadium. The match began with Oita's kickoff.

Although starting with a bold play,

　Shortly after the start, Yusuke KONDO steals the ball in his own half and breaks through in front of the goal on a long pass from Miyazawa. Although he did not manage to shoot due to a handball, his aggressive play gave a glimpse of a promising game. In the 3rd minute, Kanazawa takes a powerful shot with his right foot from Miyazawa's left side FK, but unfortunately it is saved by the goalkeeper. In the 8th minute, Baba connects a direct pass to Norio SUZUKI and attempts to break through in the right area. Then in the 9th minute, Miyazawa, who had drifted to the right side, boldly dribbles and shoots. In the 12th minute, Baba crosses from Miyazawa's interception, but they are unable to finish.

　Tokyo gradually lacks combination and play accuracy in a situation where they cannot make a decisive move to dominate the ball. In the 14th minute, Oita MF Umeda broke through the midfield competition and took a shot in the area. However, in the 23rd minute, they managed to take a CK from Suzuki Nori's cross, but failed to score with two consecutive CKs. In the 27th minute, Miyazaki picked up a loose ball from Mashima's long feed and took a middle shot. In the 28th minute, Suzuki Nori dribbled through the central space and took a ground shot, but failed to score.

　After that, the attack was monotonous as the starting point could not be created on the front line. In the 30th minute, Oita connected the loose ball from a long ball and Magnol Alves took a middle shot, but it went off target. In the 36th minute, Magnol Alves intercepted in the midfield and dribbled up, taking a shot from the left area. This was saved by Tsuchi and went out for a corner kick. In the end, Oita couldn't create chances while taking control of the pace, and the game was carried over to the second half with a score of 0-0.

Regaining the pace, expectations for goals are rising!

　In the attack, the instructions from coach Hara at halftime were "The defense from the front line is weak. Fight more, run more. You can't win by taking it easy." In the 48th minute, Norio Suzuki takes a direct shot from a free kick from the right side of the midfield, but it goes over the goal. In the 49th minute, they quickly restart and attack the Oita goal, but Noriyuki Suzuki's shot from inside the area hits Baba. Tokyo makes the first move in this development. In the 50th minute, Lucas is substituted in for Yusuke Kondo.

　Then, with this substitution and increased movement, the rhythm began to emerge. Immediately after attacking from a set play, in the 53rd minute, Norio Suzuki, who had been playing as a left MF since the end of the first half, made a move in the area. In the 54th minute, Lucas, who had received a fast pass from Baba, ran up the center and dodged the DF to take a shot. However, it went over the goal. In the 56th minute, they received a counter from Oita, and the ball was passed to Umeda, who was free in the area, thanks to Magnowaubes' individual skill, but they were saved by a mistake. In the 57th minute, Tokyo's wave attack. Lucas fought on the right side and stuck with it, sending a ground cross to the front of the goal. Baba, who received it, was surrounded by DF and couldn't make a perfect shot, but Miyazawa picked up the rebound and took a shot. Toda followed up on the rebound, but unfortunately it was offside.

　In this flow, Oita replaced FW Nishiyama with FW Takamatsu in the 61st minute, and Tokyo substituted Kajiyama for Miyazawa. Tokyo, known for their ball control, had a chance in the 67th minute when Toda dropped Suzuki Nori's left cross and Kajiyama received it for a final pass to the side. Baba took a shot, but it went over the goal. Shortly after, Suzuki Nori made another sharp left cross. In the chaos of the DF's clearance, Imakawa took a shot and won a corner kick. In the 68th minute, from a free kick, Imakawa made a diving header on Kaji's early cross from the far side. Unfortunately, it narrowly missed the left goal, but Tokyo showed their attacking style in quick succession.

Lucas' opening goal was not enough as they were caught off guard and ended up with a draw.

　In the 70th minute, Abe replaced Baba. In the 72nd minute, Lucas, who was free in front of the goal, took a left-footed shot from Suzuki Nori's negative cross. Although he didn't meet it, expectations for a goal increased. In the 75th minute, a short right corner kick was connected, and Kajiyama cut in from the end line to the area from a feint, and made a negative cross. Abe was close to it, but couldn't take a shot. Oita's counterattack was prevented from reaching the finish line with concentrated defense.

　Kajiyama, Norio SUZUKI, and Abe make a good accent and attack, and in the 82nd minute, Imakawa catches up with Abe's pass to the open space on the right side and crosses with a low trajectory! Lucas, who ran near the ball, kicked it directly and scored. They finally took the long-awaited lead with an ideal development! Immediately after, Norio SUZUKI quickly and strongly passed the ball to the front line after taking it in their own half. Lucas shoots while being surrounded by defenders, but it is a weak shot and the goalkeeper catches it. The expectation for an additional goal increased, but in the 84th minute, MF Matsubashi came in for MF Komorita.

　After that, Tokyo was caught off guard by a half-hearted pass in the Oita field and was counterattacked. MF Yoshida passed to Magnol Alves, who ran up the right side and crossed. FW Takamatsu kicked the one-bounce ball with his right foot volley and scored in the lower right corner of the goal. While Tokyo was pushing forward, Fujiyama was distracted by Magnol Alves and Mashima was late in responding to Takamatsu, resulting in an equalizer. In the remaining time, including 4 minutes of stoppage time, Tokyo tried to take the lead, but in the 89th minute, Kajiyama's through pass to Lucas in the area was blocked by the defense. In stoppage time, Abe's left throw-in was connected by Kajiyama and Lucas, and Toda dropped the ball off the post, which was then shot by Konno. However, it missed to the right and the game ended. Despite attacking throughout the second half, Tokyo conceded a goal and ended up with a draw. They missed out on what seemed like a victory and only gained 1 point.

　【Player Comments】《Konno》"The balance in the midfield wasn't good today. We weren't able to pick up loose balls well. As for our attack, we weren't able to vary the pace and couldn't quite break through, but with Lucas coming in, we were finally able to create some space and play our usual attacking style by spreading the ball to both sides. The opponent gave us a hard time with their simple long ball attacks after Takamatsu was subbed in."《Doi》"We knew we couldn't afford to play poorly just because we won the Nabisco Cup in only two days. The lineup was a bit different, but it was a game we had to win. We couldn't quite control the pace in the first half, but we thought we could score in the second half. However, after scoring, our defense started to drop back and we couldn't hold on to the win. It's a shame. In the next match, we want to improve our finishing accuracy and win with everyone attacking and defending. The award ceremony was a great joy and I want to thank everyone. (Regarding the national team) I want to continue to showcase myself and work hard as usual. If I have the chance to play in the match, I've been undefeated in the first round, so I want to do my best to not lose."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "We had the Nabisco Cup Final on Wednesday, and today Jean was suspended, and Shigetaka and Ishikawa were not able to recover their condition, so we decided to take a bold move and put in young players like Mashima and Norio. We also wanted Lucas, who came on as a substitute, to change the flow of the game, but he was also tired, and Miura and Kelly were playing with a lot of motivation until the Nabisco Final, so we wanted to see how the young players would perform. We were hoping that they would play in a way that would take over their positions. We had a good start, but Yusuke Kondo and others may have become a bit stiff. In the second half, Lucas came on and the ball started to settle, and I think our rhythm started to come out. Oita tends to create chances with early crosses and when Magna Alves comes on, so if we don't take care of the ball, they can use the players left up front. We couldn't score for a while, but we took the lead in the 82nd minute and then we had to win while managing the time well. I think the young players still have some room for improvement in that aspect. However, in the previous league match, we went to Hiroshima and fought in the Nabisco Cup, and I think we played with our strengths of "anyone can play and the team will still function". In the process, individual challenges also emerged, and as a team, we want to continue to win games like today's."

　[Summary of Oita Hamburger Coach's Press Conference] "I think we had an interesting game. It ended up being a 1-1 tie, which I think is the best result we could have achieved. When I saw FC Tokyo's starting lineup today, I didn't think it would be easy. The players were different from the ones in the Nabisco Cup final, and they came with the mindset of taking their chances. Some people might think it's good for Oita that the lineup changed, but if we had played with the same players as in the Nabisco final, they would have been tired and unable to maintain their concentration. However, today we had fresh players on the field, which made it more difficult for us. We played a practice match against FC Tokyo during our pre-season camp, and they have really good young players. We are strong at home in Big Eye Stadium, but we may not have confidence when playing away. However, I am satisfied with today's result. We have 3 home games out of the remaining 4 matches, so I think we can get 3 points. We want to achieve good results at the end of the season."