Fighting with all our hearts, aiming for consecutive wins and a victory at home.

　Sec. 24 will be held at the Japan National Stadium as a home game, facing Vissel Kobe. In the previous round, we had a big win against Hiroshima. We pressed high and played a soccer that did not lose in both offense and defense, resulting in a victory. Although it will be a match in just 2 days, we want to continue our momentum and aim for consecutive wins by playing Tokyo-style soccer. Above all, this season, we have not been able to achieve a victory at home, so this is an important match. The players are also saying, "If we lose here, the meaning of the previous round's victory will be lost," and they are fully motivated.

　Kobe, on the other hand, is currently in 11th place with 29 points. In the 5 games since August, they have won against Iwata and Omiya, but have suffered consecutive losses in the last 3 games. However, even during these losses, they have been able to create chances through counterattacks from a solid defense, with MF Yoshito OKUBO leading the way. They have only been defeated due to their inability to convert these chances into goals, so they will surely come out with a strong attacking mindset in this away game. The player that must be most wary of is MF Yoshito OKUBO. Coach Hara has emphasized his "explosive speed and sharp movements" as a key threat.

　On the other hand, Tokyo will want to defend against Kobe's fluid movement from their two top players, the energetic FW Yusuke Kondo and the speedy FW Leandro, by marking them well and covering the space used by MF Yu Okubo. At the same time, they will want to press in the midfield and win the ball before it can be passed to the front line. If the press works as it did in the previous match, they should be able to dominate the midfield. From there, they will want to quickly create chances through players like Kajiyama and Fukunishi. They will need to win the ball and have everyone cover each other on both offense and defense in order to seize the opportunity to win.

　The starting lineup remains the same as the previous match in order to maintain the flow. Lucas, who has finished serving his suspension, is on the bench. The match started at 6:34 PM at the Japan National Stadium, where the temperature has dropped and a cool breeze can be felt, with Kobe kicking off.

Despite conceding the first goal, Konno scores an equalizer with great determination!

　Kobe connects the kickoff ball and left MF Yu OKUBO advances to the left area with a strong dribble, and crosses. Tokyo DF's clearance goes to the far side, and Kobe MF Julian is left free to take a header shot in the right area. Kobe created a chance for themselves by taking advantage of the mark's gap right after the start, but it missed above the goal. Tokyo, who escaped the pinch, immediately tried to grab the rhythm themselves and launched a counterattack by quickly pressing and stealing the ball.

　At 6 minutes, Konno, Kurisawa, and Fukunishi surrounded the Kobe ball in the opponent's territory and quickly switched to a counterattack. Fukunishi dribbled up and passed to Kurisawa running from the left to the center of the area. Kurisawa shot between the opponent's defenders, creating a decisive opportunity, but the GK made a save. Konno also tried to score by following up on the ball that fell into the area, but the angle was not good and the GK caught it again. Still, they maintained their pace and aggressively attacked with Kajiyama and Konno taking second balls. At the same time, Kurisawa used his abundant energy to maintain balance and push Kobe back.

　On the other hand, Kobe countered sharply. In the 17th and 18th minutes, they launched a quick attack, but the opponent also missed their shot and they were able to defend. Today, Tokyo has a high awareness of switching sides, and in the 19th minute, they stole the ball on their own right side, and Ishikawa → Kajiyama connected with Akamine, who then expanded to the left. They quickly passed the ball and in the end, Kajiyama ran into the box for a header from Kanazawa's early cross. It didn't hit, but they displayed a dynamic attack. In the 23rd minute, Imakano on the left side switched to the right. Ishikawa → Tokunaga, who went up on the outside, crossed with a liner. Akamine and the opponent's DF competed for it, and Ishikawa also closed in, but it was caught by the GK.

　25 minutes, Kajiyama is fouled by Kobe MF Yu OKUBO on the right side and earns a FK. Kajiyama's kick goes to Kurisawa on the far side. Kurisawa cuts back past the opposing DF on the goal line and makes the final pass. He sends a fast ball between the Kobe DF and GK, creating a decisive opportunity, but it is defended. Then, in the 27th minute, Kobe MF Botti is fouled near the left front line and corner, earning a free kick. From this FK taken by MF Botti, DF Kawamoto heads the ball with a high impact, scoring the first goal.

　However, Tokyo did not panic and switched their mindset to counterattack. In the 30th minute, Kajiyama scored a volley shot from Tokunaga's right cross. In the 36th minute, Ishikawa scored a direct volley from Kurisawa's left cross. In the 38th minute, Konno took a middle shot. In the 39th minute, Akamine dropped Tokunaga's right cross and Kurisawa picked up the opponent's clearance in the left area, making a final pass in front of the goal. Fukunishi pushed through the opponent's defense and scored, but it was ruled offside. Despite their attacking efforts, they couldn't score, but in the 44th minute, they won a FK and CK in succession, and finally, Konno headed in Kajiyama's right CK to score! Just before the end of the first half, Konno's passionate equalizer brought them back to 1-1 and they headed into the second half.

Lucas scored 2 goals from Akamine's assist, leading to a come-from-behind victory!

　In the second half, after aiming for the go-ahead goal, they aggressively and persistently attacked from the start. In the first minute, they attacked Kobe's goal and Ishikawa picked up the loose ball and crossed it to the right. It was cleared by Kobe's defense, but Kurizawa picked up the loose ball again and took a shot from outside the left area. In the 48th minute, Kajiyama ran to the front line with perfect timing from a quick restart by Konno and took a looping shot. However, both shots were off target. In the 50th minute, Lucas was substituted for the injured Fukunishi. In the 54th minute, from Shigeno's side change, Tokunaga → Ishikawa → Kajiyama connected with quick passing and won a corner kick. From this right corner kick, Lucas was left free and took a diving header, but it went wide to the left.

　After that, they continued to dominate the ball and progressed the game mostly within the Kobe team's territory, but they were unable to break through decisively. Kobe took advantage of the opportunity and countered. In the 60th minute, from Tokyo's corner kick, Kobe launched a counterattack. MF Yu OKUBO took advantage of his speed and aimed for a shot, but Shigetaka MOBATA blocked it. In the 65th minute, they lost the ball in their own territory and Kobe launched a quick attack. FW Leandro's shot from the left side curved to the right. In the 66th minute, FW Robert jumped in to MF Park's cross, but it went over the bar.

　Helped by a mistake, but couldn't catch the rhythm against Kobe. In the 68th minute, Akamine received a through pass from Ishikawa who had gone up the right side, and quickly passed it to the front of the goal. Lucas received it, broke through the area, and took a shot. It grazed the goalkeeper's hand and went in to the left. They took the lead. In the 74th minute, Asari was substituted for Ishikawa. He maintained the defensive balance and continued to attack without letting up. In the 81st minute, Akamine, who had moved to the right, sent a ground cross to the front of the goal. The opponent's defender slid in, but the ball fell to Lucas who took a shot. It went above the goal and they scored their third goal.

　Substituted Hirayama for Akamine in the 82nd minute. They continued to attack until the end without letting Kobe take control. However, in the 85th minute, Hirayama slid in for a header from Inano's cross, but missed the target. In the 89th minute, Inano dribbled and Hirayama turned and shot with his left foot, but the opponent's goalkeeper stopped it. They couldn't score another goal, but they showed a passionate performance and won 3-1. They earned 3 points at home for the first time since the June 20th game against Kofu.

　【Player Comments】《Lucas》"I was suspended for the Hiroshima game, but the team had a lot of momentum. We were able to continue that and have a good game this week. I think that was good. I don't think my movements were bad today. I've had a period where I couldn't score, but I want to take this opportunity to continue to actively aim for goals and contribute to the team's victory."《Akamine》"Lucas' first goal came from a fast pass from Ishikawa. As a result, he had more room to control the ball and his trap was successful. Konno has come into the defensive midfield, and together with Kajiyama, they have a good balance and the distance between players is close. I think we are able to stay calm and connect passes because we are able to keep Fukunishi and Lucas close. I always want to score when I play, including today. We have a two-week break, but first I want to win the competition within the team and then contribute to a victory."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "Lucas was suspended in the previous match, but we were able to play a good game, so we started with the same lineup today. Lucas is our ace, so we had the option to start him, but we wanted to keep the same rhythm and bring him in at a crucial moment. Fukunishi got injured in the offside scene in the first half, so we brought in Lucas earlier and it worked out well. Lucas hasn't been scoring lately, but I think coming in as a substitute gave him the opportunity to get back on track. This season, even when we won away games, we kept losing at home, so today we really wanted to play well and get a result. Kobe is a team with momentum, and MF Yu OKUBO has the ability to do the job on his own. But we thought that by changing sides, we could create a 2-on-1 situation and create chances. So we had Ishikawa and Tokunaga on the right, Kurisawa in the middle, and Kanazawa on the left, spreading out to attack. We were able to create some good opportunities. However, we conceded a goal from a free kick in the first half. During our losing streak, when we conceded a goal, we would suddenly become chaotic and our performance would deteriorate, but today we talked about continuing to do the same thing even if we conceded a goal, and we were able to hold on. And we were able to equalize right before the end of the first half, which I think was a big goal. It's just two wins in a row, but I'm glad we were able to win for the fans who came out to support us on the last Saturday of summer vacation. We will have four players missing for the national team and the Olympics, but we can also use this as a challenge to pair up Shigenobu and Evaldo in the next two weeks. Of course, we also have Fujiyama, so I think we can play even better football on a bigger scale. Today, everyone fought well and I was happy that we didn't give up even after conceding a goal."

　[Kobe Matsuda's press conference summary] "We wanted to stop the losing streak somehow. It was a very good start after a long time, but the goal we conceded just before the end of the first half was crucial. However, we regrouped and tried to switch our mindset for the second half. FC Tokyo played with a 1-top formation, with Akamine as the lone striker, but our midfield and defense were positioned to receive the ball from Fukunishi, Kajiyama, and Konno as soon as they switched to attack. So at halftime, instead of marking Akamine, I instructed the defense to push up to Fukunishi's position and create a more compact situation. However, FC Tokyo clearly had the upper hand in the second half. That's why the score ended up like this."