Nabisco Cup Opening!

　The 2006 Yamazaki Nabisco Cup has begun. Tokyo will face Urawa, Yokohama FM, Fukuoka in the A group qualifying round in home and away matches. In the final tournament, the top 3 teams from each of the 4 groups (A-D) and the 2nd place team will advance (and G Osaka has been decided to participate). Japan national team players, Doi and Shigetani, will be absent. The tournament will be held with a tough schedule of only 2 days between matches, starting from the previous league match. However, coach Garo stated, "We won't do anything special just because it's a cup match. We will aim for victory with our usual play."

　Urawa is currently in first place in the league and can be said to be in excellent form. Japan national team's DF Tsuboi, Mitsushu, MF Hasebe, and Ono are absent, and GK Tsuzuki and MF Yamada are also missing due to injury. Today, GK Yamagishi, DF Uchidate, MF Okano, Sakai, Soma, and FW Escudero made their first start of the season. With 6 players replaced, FW Washington and Escudero formed a two-top, with MF Ponte playing as an attacking midfielder in a 3-5-2 formation.

　In response to this, Tokyo is wary of Urawa's high quality regardless of who comes out (Manager Garo), and Inaba marks MF Ponte while Imakawa marks FW Escudero. Jean mainly responds to FW Washington. First, they do not allow the opponent to move freely with strict marking, and then look for opportunities to attack. The match started at 19:00 with Tokyo's kickoff at the chilly away Komaba Stadium.

Restricting Urawa with a tough mark

　3 minutes into the game, Bamba chases after a big side change from Tokunaga, but the ball goes out of bounds. Bamba injures his right hamstring and is replaced by Kurisawa. Despite the accident, he continues to play without being shaken. In the 6th minute, Tokunaga sends a deep cross. Kurisawa jumps in and at the same time, Lucas tries to make a play, but is blocked by the defender.

　8 minutes, Urawa's FW Washington dribbles and FW Escudero makes a through pass in front of the goal. Left MF Soma attacks and has a shooting chance, but Shioda bravely comes out and doesn't let him shoot. Urawa gradually takes control of the game, but they are under intense pressure and can't play easily. In the 12th minute, Suzuki is beaten by Urawa's right MF Okano and a cross is sent in from the right. Shioda initially fumbles, but is able to quickly regain his composure and hold off FW Washington from the far side.

　After that, Urawa repeatedly attacked from MF Okano's cross, but Tokyo also created chances from the side. In the 24th minute, they took the ball in their own half and Kawaguchi → Kurisawa went to the right front space. Tokunaga ran and won the ball, taking a corner kick. In the 37th minute, Suzuki made a move from an interception in the opponent's half and took a left corner kick. In the 39th minute, Suzuki crossed from Kajiyama's free kick, but the momentum was weak and the opponent's DF cleared it. Jean, who picked up the loose ball from a distance, tried to shoot but it went high. They tried to score from set pieces, but they were all blocked by Urawa's DF and they couldn't finish.

　FW Washington received a right cross from Urawa at 32 minutes and turned around in front of the goal to get into a shooting position, but Jean cut it off. At 42 minutes, FW Washington broke through behind Tokyo's DF and was passed by right MF Okano, but Jean desperately returned and did not hit the shot. Urawa's continuous attacks, centered around Jean, Mashima, and Inonami, did not lose focus and defended well, ending the first half with a 0-0 score.

Conceded after a chance, crying over the difference in scoring ability

　In the second half, it was Tokyo who first gained the momentum. In the 50th minute, Lucas received a vertical pass from Inonami and went into the middle. After passing through Kurizawa, Lucas passed to the right to Tokunaga, but it didn't go through. Tokunaga picked up the loose ball and cut into the middle again, sending a floating pass to the front of the goal. Although blocked by the opponent's DF, Kajiyama picked up the loose ball again and showed a good combination play with a middle shot. They were able to keep the ball in the midfield, and the momentum towards the front began to build, with Tokyo completely grasping the rhythm and creating numerous decisive chances.

　57 minutes, a big side change from left to right, and from the cross by Tokunaga who ran in, Kurisawa took a precise shot in the center, but was blocked by the opposing DF in front of the goal. In the 58th minute, Kawaguchi took off behind the DF, using his speed to shake off the opponent and rush towards the goal, but was stopped by the GK's fine play. From the right corner kick they won, this time Tokunaga took a header shot, but it was cleared by the opposing DF just before the goal. They created one chance after another, but were unable to convert.

　On the contrary, immediately after that, they were caught off guard. In the 62nd minute, Urawa DF Doriou made a long feed from near the center circle to the front line. FW Washington accurately played the post and connected it to FW Escudero who was in the area, and they scored a goal. In the 76th minute, Tokyo substituted Abe and Sasa for Kajiyama and Lucas. They switched to a three-top formation and launched a counterattack. Both teams continued to fiercely attack and defend as the lines stretched out, but Tokyo came close to scoring with their passionate play.

　At 80 minutes, Sasa -> Kurisawa steals a through pass to Sasa on the right side of the area and takes a corner kick. From that right corner kick, Jean is free and takes a header shot, but misses the frame. At 87 minutes, a free kick from a distant position in the opponent's territory. Kurisawa throws it to the front line and the opponent's GK catches it. The GK is pushed into the goal, but it does not count as a goal. At 88 minutes, Abe receives a feed from Mashima and breaks through behind the opponent's DF for a 1-on-1 with the GK. However, the shot narrowly misses the right post.

　And immediately after that, Urawa launched a fast attack and FW Washington received a pass from the right and made a last pass in front of the goal. MF Ponte ran in and took a shot. Shibata saved it once, but it was followed up by MF Sakai and they conceded a goal. In the end, despite creating many chances in the second half, they couldn't finish and ended up conceding 2 goals in a counterattack. Urawa had 11 shots while Tokyo had 14, but the difference in finishing power led to a loss in the Nabisco Cup.

　【Player Comments】《Mashima》"Jean was attached to FW Washington, and I was defending in a surplus form. It was a form that I had done before, so I was able to do it without feeling uncomfortable, but we conceded a goal when the mark was off guard. There was a rhythm to score the first goal before that. Kawaguchi-san was creating chances, so I tried to feed as well. There was a rhythm to score a goal at that time, so if we could have taken the lead there, the flow would have changed..."《Abe》"(My job today as a substitute) was to score in the late chance. It's a shame that I couldn't do it. (Before coming on as a substitute) it was decided that I would play as part of the front three, so I just went towards the goal. The midfield became stretched out and we couldn't pick up the second ball, and there were times when the ball didn't go in, but there were also times when we could create a second attack. We had to score there..."

　[Summary of Manager Garo's Press Conference] "In the first half, Urawa had more opportunities to keep the ball, but in the second half, we also had chances. I think it was a good game. In the second half, I think we had about six chances, but we couldn't finish them and unfortunately conceded two points. It's not always about winning if you have more chances, this is also football. In the first half, the reason we couldn't create chances was because we couldn't connect passes in the midfield. In the second half, we were able to connect passes and opportunities came. I think we dominated most of the second half, but in football, the team that scores wins. That's where our inability to score showed in the result. I think it was a difference in finishing. (Inohara and Konno seemed to drop back to the defensive line and it looked like a 6-back formation?) We didn't play any differently than usual. It may have looked that way because Inohara was marking MF Ponte and Konno was marking FW Escudero. But we were always thinking about attacking and winning as usual."

　[Urawa Buchwald Coach's Press Conference Summary] "Today was a typical cup match. We had to replace 4 representatives and 6 injured players from the starting lineup of the previous match, so the team had a different look. However, we were able to start off well and dominate the game in the first half. We had some great chances, but we couldn't convert them into goals. In the second half, FC Tokyo came at us with a strong attack and created several chances, but we were able to score when it was a good time for Tokyo. After that, both teams had good chances but couldn't convert them, and we were able to score an additional goal just before the end of the match. If you look at the full 90 minutes, I think the victory was deserved, but it was also a match that could have ended in a draw. I hope you all could feel the depth of the Reds today. Even players who have had limited playing time were able to perform close to the starting 11 when given the chance. The Reds are currently in first place in the league, and the teams we face are highly motivated. The matches will be tough, but that's the case for all matches in the future. For the opponents, they have to continue playing as if every match is the most important one of the year. In that sense, even with so many changes in the starting lineup, the players showed that they can fight well. (Regarding defense) It was good to keep a clean sheet, but especially in the second half, we lacked compactness and gave the opponent too much space. The players gave 100% effort to win in one-on-one situations, but I think we were lacking in compactness compared to the previous match."