Restart of the Nabisco Cup, with a new feeling

　The league matches are temporarily suspended, and the Nabisco Cup will resume after about two months. FC Tokyo, which belongs to Group C of the qualifiers, has already played two matches and is in third place with one draw and one loss. They are tied on points with Oita in fourth place. Due to the absence of Dohi and Kaji for the Japan national team match, they will be competing under challenging circumstances, but as the reigning champions, they cannot afford to be eliminated in the qualifiers easily. In Group C of the qualifiers, Kashiwa is leading with six points, but a comeback is still possible. They need to create a good momentum and aim for victory in the upcoming four matches. Above all, Chiba is the opponent that caused them to suffer a bitter defeat in last week's league match. Today, with the support of their home crowd, they want to achieve revenge.

　Although they will be missing Lucas, who has re-injured himself, Fujita, Miura, and Kanazawa are back. The starting lineup includes GK Shiota, with the DF line from the right being Fujita, Jaan, Moniwa, and Kanazawa. Konno returns to the defensive midfield to partner with Kurizawa, with Ishikawa on the right MF and Kobayashi on the left MF. The formation features two forwards, Danilo and Yusuke KONDO. Coach Hara stated, "In last week's league match, we conceded the first goal and immediately tried to equalize, which led to a second goal against us due to a counterattack. We are too anxious in our attack. When we can't execute a quick attack, we want to keep the ball and use the width of the field to break through." He expressed hope for the starting roles of Danilo, who has a strong awareness of ball contests and going forward, and Kobayashi, who has good ball retention.

　Chiba currently has 3 points and is in 2nd place in the group. Today, FW Haas and DF Saito are absent, with FW Hayashi starting and MF Posek making his season debut. The lineup shows 3 DF, but in reality, DF Stoyanov and Abe form the center backs, with Mizumoto on the right and MF Sakamoto on the left in a 4-back formation. The match started at 15:03 at Ajinomoto Stadium in early summer weather, with Chiba kicking off.

Allowed the opening goal, but a patient first half

　After analyzing last week's league match, we chose to play in a compact formation with a deeper defensive line, not pressing the ball from the front in the first half today. It was a cautious start. Even so, in the 7th minute, Danilo cut into the area from the right, receiving a return pass from Ishikawa who moved to the center. Kurizawa connected with a middle shot after it was played back, showing good coordination, but the shot went over the bar. In the 17th minute, Kanazawa picked up a loose ball from Fujita's cross, connecting with Konno in the center and then Kobayashi on the left. In the end, Kanazawa, who had pushed up, delivered a left cross, but Danilo in the front line was offside.

　Although Tokyo had many chances, they allowed ball possession, yet they did not let Chiba create any decisive opportunities. However, in the 20th minute, Chiba attempted to attack with a pass sequence in the defensive line, where midfielder Popescu received the ball near the center circle and made a penetrating pass to the front line. Forward Lins flicked it on, and the advancing Popescu received the return pass, entered the area, and shot. Taking advantage of Tokyo's weak marking, they allowed Popescu, making his debut, to score the opening goal.

　After that, Chiba completely dominated the match. By taking the lead, they played it safe, patiently passing the ball around the defense line while looking for opportunities. In contrast, Tokyo was unable to go after the ball at all. Coach Hara also mentioned after the match, "I think it felt like a disappointing performance," but if you think about it calmly, it can also be said that they did not concede a second goal and the game unfolded as intended. The strategy was to let them attack in the first half and then, with the introduction of Toda and Miura in the second half, to go for the win and aim for a comeback.

Launched a fierce attack and created several chances, but...

　As planned, the rhythm changed dramatically with the introduction of Toda in the second half. Tokyo aggressively attacked, chasing from the front and stealing the ball. In the 46th minute, Yusuke KONDO boldly made a move from the left side and took a shot. The rebound went to Ishikawa, who was free in the right area, and he trapped it and took a volley shot, but unfortunately it went over the bar.

　In the 49th minute, Chiba's MF Popescu evaded the offside line and picked up the ball near the end line, delivering a left cross. FW Maki at the far post headed the ball towards MF Sato in the center, but it went over the bar. In the 53rd minute, Sato broke into the area and, while being blocked by a defender, turned and shot. It narrowly missed to the right. The match progressed, and Chiba also created similar chances, but no additional goals were allowed.

　In the 55th minute, a decisive scene for Tokyo. Kanazawa's big switch finds Ishikawa perfectly on the right. Ishikawa makes a move, and Kurizawa picks up the loose ball from the defender and delivers a floating cross into the center. Toda heads it but just goes over the bar. Immediately after, Miura is brought in for Kobayashi as a defensive midfielder, with Kurizawa moving to the left. With Miura's introduction, Konno also shows aggressive forward play, closing in on the Chiba goal.

　In the 65th minute, Ishikawa passes to Fujita, who runs into the right space. Fujita catches up near the end line and sends a short cross to the right of the area. As the goalkeeper comes out, Toda connects, and Yusuke KONDO takes a shot, but it goes over the bar. Once again, they are unable to capitalize on a big chance.

　At the 70th minute, Toda → Fujita advanced up the right side and took a shot. It had power but went over the goal. At the 76th minute, Kanazawa and Konno combined to regain possession, and Konno dashed into the left area. A final pass was delivered to Yusuke KONDO, but he couldn't take a shot. Tokyo completely recovered the loose ball and continued their attack. However, they couldn't bring it to a finish. At the 81st minute, tired Yusuke KONDO was replaced by Baba as a forward. At the 84th minute, Ishikawa, who had drifted to the left, won a corner kick, and Baba took the kick, but the goalkeeper caught it. At the 87th minute, a right corner kick. Konno headed the ball from Ishikawa's kick, but it bounced and went over the goal. They kept launching fierce attacks with a sprint, but the goal remained elusive once again. Although they clearly gained momentum and counterattacked, the issue of lack of finishing ability was not resolved, and they ultimately lost without scoring.

　【Player Comments】《Toda》"We endured so much in the first half, so in the second half we tried to press from the front, close down spaces, and launch attacks. It’s not because I wasn’t on the field, but the match is a 90-minute battle. I wanted to work hard for Danilo, who was substituted. We conceded first, but I thought we could turn it around. Although we lost, we shared a common understanding of the plan to go with today’s game plan. If we had scored in the second half, it would have been exactly as planned..." 《Miura》"What the team needs now is results. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t deliver. Changing the momentum is my role. If I can’t be useful in tough times by doing that, it’s meaningless. I feel responsible. But the goal is definitely getting closer. We had chances to score two goals. There’s no point in looking down, so we just have to keep fighting." 《Kanazawa》"The problem was conceding in the first half as a result. If we hadn’t conceded that goal, things would have gone as planned. We want to keep playing the second half style of football and score to win. For that, sometimes we don’t have enough players in quick attacks. We want to fully grasp our rhythm during slow attacks. We want to resolve these issues."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "We lost to JEF in the league match a week ago, but they quickly launched the ball forward against our defense and collected the loose balls. Therefore, today we calmly let them keep possession and aimed to attack from the halfway line. We put Danilo in as the forward, expecting his ball retention skills, but the defensive approach was unclear, and as a team, we didn’t know where to press... that was how the first half went. I understood the players were frustrated and it was a tough situation, but forcing pressing from the front while the back line was dropping back would have played into JEF’s hands, making it easier for them. We wanted to avoid changing our tactics and having the team fall apart. In the second half, Toda and Yusuke KONDO pressed from the front, quickly changing the rhythm and trying to use the flanks. JEF was leading and probably didn’t take risks, but in the second half, good plays emerged with Konno and Ishikawa making runs and Fujita delivering crosses. The issue was not being able to score goals. The first half was disappointing, but if we don’t control where the ball comes from, our organized defense can’t function. We didn’t drastically change our approach; just Toda seriously going for the ball made a difference. This is the foundation of our team. I want to pursue scoring goals with the players using the style we showed in the second half."

　[Summary of the press conference by Chiba's coach Ivica OSIM] "It was two completely different halves. I think matches like today’s are a good opportunity both for the coach and the spectators. Because players who don’t usually get to play were given a chance, and everyone watching could see what they could do. Unfortunately, today turned out to be that kind of match. What we tried to do worked well as long as the players had the stamina to continue. But Tokyo targeted our technically inferior and less physically enduring players to take the ball. That was the content of the second half. Under such pressure, rather than being broken down, we gave the opponent chances due to our own mistakes, and they even took shots that could have easily become goals. In the end, we won, but winning twice against the same team in one week is truly difficult. One positive takeaway is that today we played without a libero for the first time, and Abe and Stoyanov played very well. Regarding the midfield, I can’t say much because there were problems on the sides."