Believe in ourselves - 2006 season opening

　The 2006 J1 League finally kicks off. Oita Trinita will be welcomed to the home stadium Ajinomoto, marking the start of a long season. Under new coach LORI, Tokyo has been preparing for about 40 days with the goal of "controlling the game by connecting passes". The focus will be on how well this style of play has been adopted by the team. Every year, the start of the season is a mix of excitement and anxiety, but coach LORI and the players have no pressure, saying "we just need to show what we have prepared in the game".

　Tsuchi, who has been worried about injuries so far, and Konno have been adjusting their aim on this day. On the other hand, Jean and Baba, who broke their fingers, are in the stage of carefully recovering. As a result, Rychely, who has not played in official matches so far, was appointed as one of the FWs. Lucas and Sasa are the top three, with Inoba at the bottom of the midfield, Kajiyama on the right, and Konno on the left. CB is Shige and Mashima, both SBs are Suzuki and Tokunaga. They will face the match with the formation of GK Tsuchi. The average age of the starting members is 22.91 years old, making them the youngest team compared to other teams. And coach Garo is also the youngest coach in the J-League. Tokyo, full of freshness, aims for victory with fresh soccer!

　Oita, on the other hand, has concerns about a decrease in strength as FW Magnoua Uves and MF Takayuki Yoshida leave the team. However, the team's strength lies in their all-out attack and defense. There are no changes in the DF lineup, and coach Chamusca, who is in his second season, aims to "fight with the power of the team united as one. If we can play with the rhythm we created last season." So far, the FW lineup has not been fixed, but the key will be how FW Takamatsu and new addition FW Osmar fit in.

　One of the highlights is how to avoid the opponent's press and connect the attack in order to attack each other. In addition, seven players will be on the bench this season, and both coaches will be paying attention to how they will make substitutions.

　Before the start of the match, a special guest performance by Mr. Coba (accordionist) and a greeting from Mr. Marco Bode (former German national team player) were held. After that, a bouquet was presented to Imakano, who will be playing his 100th J1 league match today, by Mr. Marco Bode. The highly anticipated opening match started at 1:35 pm at the sunny Ajinomoto Stadium with Oita's kickoff.

Sasa, Rychely takes advantage of the chance firmly!

　The start of the game saw a tense back and forth between both teams trying to gain control. From there, Tokyo gradually gained rhythm from their focused defense. Kajiyama and Tokunaga seemed to have the intention of using side changes to bring the ball up to the front line. In the 10th minute, Oita's right midfielder Umeda took their first shot. Tokyo also had a chance in the 11th minute, with a simple pass from a goal kick leading to Kajiyama taking a shot from the center, but both shots were off target.

　Tokyo, who had been dominating the ball, struggled to finish, but they were able to capitalize on a decisive chance. In the 14th minute, Imakano intercepted the opponent's ball in their own half and quickly sent a long feed to the left front space. Rychely, who caught up, boldly challenged the opponent's DF and crossed the ball in front of the goal. Sasa jumped and hit it with his right foot, scoring a goal! They were able to take the lead early in the game.

　Tokyo, who completely took control of the pace after taking the lead. In the 19th minute, Sasa sent a last pass from the right side of the opponent's field to the center, and Lucas boldly attempted to break through the opponent's DF and shoot. In the 21st minute, Suzuki ran up the left side and won a CK. In the 24th minute, Oita's left MF Motohara crossed and Tsuchi punched it out. MF Edmilson picked up the loose ball and shot at the open goal, but Imakawa calmly blocked it.

　In the 27th minute, Inaba cut off Oita's cross. From there, Lucas connected with Inaba again after the ball bounced off the opponent. Inaba quickly sent a long ground pass from his own half to the front line. Rychely rushed from the right side to catch up with the ball that had passed through the opponent's defense and shot it into the goal. The ball passed through the legs of the opponent's goalkeeper who had jumped out and went in! It was Rychely's first appearance and first goal in an official match. They quickly switched from defense to offense and scored another goal, widening their lead.

　After that, the defense centered around Shigetaka Morita, Masashima, and Inaba connected the ball and attacked with speed at key moments. In the 39th minute, Oita FW Takamatsu ran into the goal and FW Ozmarr's shot was cut off by Masashima. In the 43rd minute, MF Nemoto passed to FW Takamatsu in the area, but Morita firmly closed in and prevented a hit. The first half ended with a score of 2-0.

A calm game play led to a victory in the opening match for the 8th consecutive year!

　At halftime, coach Garo instructed us, "It's only been 45 minutes. Let's go for more goals." However, in the second half, it was Oita who came out on the offensive. In the 52nd minute, a shot was taken by DF Mikki, who was left free in the area from a left corner kick, but Tokunaga firmly defended and the ball went over the bar. In the 57th minute, the ball was stolen in Oita's territory and Oita MF Uchimura ran alone towards Tokyo's goal. He attracted the DF and made a last pass to FW Takamatsu, who came up from the right. Takamatsu cut back the Tokyo DF and took a shot, but it missed the target. With the help of the opponent's mistake, we did not allow a goal.

　At 63 minutes, Rychely made a move on the right side and sent a cross through the opponent's DF. Lucas received it in the right area, but his direct shot was blocked by the opponent's DF. Sasa picked up the rebound and took a free shot, but it went over the bar, missing the chance for an additional point. Oita made substitutions at 61 minutes, replacing FW Osmaar with FW Yamazaki and at 72 minutes, replacing DF Uemoto with MF Nishiyama, switching to a 2-back formation to launch a counterattack. At 69 minutes, Tokyo also made a substitution, bringing in Kawaguchi for Rychely. In response to Oita's aggressive play, Tokyo countered with Kawaguchi's speed in the open spaces.

　In the midst of a fast-paced attack and defense, in the 71st minute, Kawaguchi and Sasa led a thick attack from both sides. Ino, who had advanced to the left area, made a last pass to Lucas in front of the goal. However, the shot was blocked by the opposing GK. In the 73rd minute, Tokunaga on the right passed to Sasa in the center, who then passed to Lucas on the right side for a free shot. The GK blocked it, but Suzuki picked up the rebound and crossed it to the left. In the center, Kawaguchi headed the ball towards the goal. The wide attack using the sides threatened Oita's goal as planned, but the ball narrowly missed the top of the frame.

　In the 89th minute, Kawaguchi broke through the left side. Sasu met the fast cross, but the shot did not hit. Although they were unable to convert these opportunities into goals, they were able to handle Oita's attacks without losing focus. They maintained a calm game and shut out their opponents. The match ended with the 2 points scored in the first half, securing their 8th consecutive opening game victory since 1999 in J2.

　【Player Comments】《Rychely》"I am very happy with 1 goal and 1 assist. I want to continue contributing to the team. The shot that became a goal was a ball that I tried to hit to the GK and take a corner kick. It went through the GK's legs and went in. I want to dedicate this goal to Ishikawa, who is injured in his knee. During my own injury, not only Nao but everyone was kind to me, and I want Nao to recover quickly. I can't say I was calm last night... I called my family in Brazil and told them I would be playing in the game. I was a little nervous today, but I want to report this result to them over the phone."《Imano》"I was a little anxious, but we were able to score early and it became easier. We scored two goals, which was the fast soccer we played until last season. I think FC Tokyo can level up even more by utilizing our strengths and adding Garo's detailed passing soccer. It's only 50% of what we can do, but it's a big win. We will forget about today's victory and continue to improve."

　【Summary of Manager Garo's Press Conference】"We played a good game. We were able to see the results of our 40 days of training. I think our passing, which we have been practicing, was good, and we also showed fighting spirit. However, the season has just begun. We don't want to get too excited. We need to improve in various aspects and continue to raise our quality through training. Rychely was initially part of the sub team for the red and white scrimmage, but he showed good movement even when he joined the regular team. FC Tokyo is one team, and even if you are part of the sub team, if you show good movement, you can join the regular team. He is only 18 years old, but making your professional debut is a path that everyone goes through. I also scored in my professional debut, and I think he played well today. As for Kawaguchi, I considered his fatigue as he doesn't have much game experience yet. Like Rychely, I wanted to use his speed to go for a quick attack. As for Baba, Lucas did a great job defending today, so he must have been tired. There were only a few minutes left, but I asked Baba to take on the same role as Lucas."

　[Oita Chamusca's press conference summary] "In the first half, the quality was not good. The passes and the accuracy of the ball in the midfield were not good, and we conceded a goal from a mistake. In the second half, the speed increased and we had a good start. We were able to have a dynamic game. There were a few moments where we could have taken control, but we couldn't finish. We knew today's game would be very difficult and we knew FC Tokyo is an attacking and strong team, so the key was how well we could take advantage of our chances. We changed the system to a 2-back formation in the middle of the second half to be more attacking and I told the players to take risks. Substitute midfielder Nishiyama has a good long shot from outside the box, so I trusted his potential and took a chance on him. We pushed Tulio, our defensive midfielder, forward and put Yamazaki as a second striker. However, today the team's passing was not good and we couldn't move the ball from the midfield to the front. The ground was hard and that affected the quality of our passing. In the first half, we used a lot of high crosses, which is not our usual style of play. Tokyo played a different type of football from last season. This season, they have focused on attacking and have become a good team. Last season, they were compact in the midfield and focused on defense, playing on the counterattack. This season, I felt their first press was higher up the field. Today, we were not able to fully utilize Tokyo's capacity."