Aiming for victory with an aggressive fight away from home!

　In the second round of the league, we will face Albirex Niigata away. In the opening match, we created chances with our dynamic soccer, but ended up with a draw. In this round, we want to achieve a "result" at all costs. During this one week interval, we have been training to improve our coordination and accuracy at an even higher level. Despite being away, we want to aim for victory with an aggressive fight.

　Niigata, led by coach Jun Suzuki, is entering its third season with the goal of playing a dynamic style of soccer with both the ball and players in motion. While Tokyo and Niigata have similar playing styles, coach Shirofuku adds that Niigata has another strength. Their attacking strategy, utilizing long balls and the height of FW Yano and the runs of new addition FW Sandro, is a major characteristic of Niigata's play. However, they also recognize the danger of being controlled by Niigata's possession game and long balls, stating the need to press high and connect good attacks from strong defense in order to prevent Niigata from easily playing long balls.

　Tokyo, Satohara and Kondo have been injured, but on the other hand, as coach Jofuku says, "Getting results in practice leads to results in games," Kawaguchi, Akamine, and Yoshimoto are in good shape and have made the team. In particular, Yoshimoto started due to the need to counter Niigata FW Yano's height. He also said, "I want to be aggressive and not be afraid of making mistakes. I want to stop all the balls that Niigata kicks up front so that they don't fall behind. I want to focus on getting results." Cabore's condition has also improved and he has made the starting lineup. Although there are still concerns about coordination since he joined only 3 weeks ago, his individual abilities have already been proven in the opening game. We hope to see his first goal soon.

　Niigata will come to this round more aggressively aiming for goals at home, as they lost the opening match against Omiya without scoring. Coach Jofuku said, "Both teams will have a strong desire not to concede first. We need to see how the opponent plays," and will be cautious about the start of the match. Niigata is expected to attack with both full-backs in high positions. On the other hand, Tokyo will try to exploit spaces with their attacks. They will try to suppress the opponent's strengths and take advantage of their own strong points to seize the opportunity to win. The match started at 16:03 with Niigata's kickoff at the chilly Tohoku Electric Power Big Swan Stadium under cloudy skies.

Successfully scored 3 points and head into halftime

　Immediately after the start of the match, Niigata created chances by shooting, but they quickly took 3 points in the early stages by switching from defense to offense. In the 6th minute, Kajiyama sent a ground pass to the right front line, to which Ishikawa reacted and passed directly to the center. Emerson, who had run into the goal area, easily scored the opening goal. In the following 8 minutes, Ishikawa and Hanyu connected with a short pass from the left corner kick, and Ishikawa received the return and took a powerful shot. Cabore followed up on the rebound from the opponent's goalkeeper and scored! Emerson and Cabore both scored their first league goals from Ishikawa's assist, taking an early lead of 2 points.

　At 11 minutes, In the place where the opponent DF could not clear the kick to Shiota's front line, Imakano kicked it into the unmanned goal where Niigata GK also flew out cleverly, leading by three points. Tokyo's offensive continues after that. At 21 minutes, to Cabore who broke out to the right front line from Emerson. He lured the opponent's hand and got a FK. Kajiyama's shot directly aimed at this is hit by the opponent DF and goes to the right CK. At 22 minutes, in the midfield, Niigata ball is taken away, and Imakano → Hayashi → Cabore shoots freely from the left side of the opponent's field, but it is blocked by the GK's save.

　Gradually, Niigata regains momentum, but Tokyo calmly passes the ball and uses time. In addition, they aggressively steal the ball at a high position against the opponent's ball and do not allow them to create scoring opportunities. In the 34th minute, Ishikawa received a through pass in the opponent's half from a counter attack, quickly turned and dribbled forward. He passed to Emerson, who was free in the right area, but was unable to shoot as he was closed down by a defender. In the 36th minute, Yoshimoto headed Ishikawa's corner from the right, but it flew high above the bar.

　By the time 40 minutes had passed, Niigata had dominated the ball and launched a counterattack. However, they were able to respond firmly, led by Shigetaka Morinaka, and did not allow any decisive chances. In the end, they went into the second half with a 3-point lead.

Defeating Niigata's fierce attack, achieving the first victory of the season

　Niigata came out attacking in the second half. They threatened the Tokyo goal with speedy attacks. In the 52nd minute, DF Uchida's cross was perfectly met by MF Honda in front of the goal, but his header narrowly missed to the right, avoiding danger. Then in the 57th minute, DF Uchida advanced up the right side and cut inside with a dribble before taking a shot. The ball found the back of the net on the right side, scoring a goal. Just a minute later in the 58th minute, FW Yano ran up the left side from MF Terakawa. He then forcefully cut inside the left area, easily evading DF Tokunaga's press and taking a shot. They quickly conceded two goals in succession.

　Tokyo, who wants to stop Niigata's momentum, substituted Asari for Emerson in the 62nd minute and changed the formation to have Hayabusa as left MF, first focusing on defending and calming the game down. Then in the 71st minute, Kawaguchi was substituted for Ishikawa, and in the 82nd minute, Akamine was substituted for Cabore. The two aggressively moved on both offense and defense to respond. After that, Niigata continued to launch sharp counters and Tokyo was pushed back, but they tried to regain their rhythm by calmly connecting passes.

　In stoppage time, Hayu picked up a defensive mistake from the opponent and entered the area. He faced a one-on-one chance with the opponent's goalkeeper, but missed the timing of the shot and couldn't finish it. The fierce attack from Niigata continued until the end, but the entire team defended with their bodies and held on until the final whistle. They managed to protect their lead and secured 3 points away in Niigata, achieving their first victory of the season since 2004.

　【Player Comments】《Yoshimoto》"Starting in the league match for the first time in a year, I felt pressure at first. In the games I have played, including the Nabisco Cup, we haven't won yet, so I really wanted to focus on the result today. I approached the game with the feeling that if we lose, there will be no more chances to play, so I am very happy that we won. I was wary of Niigata FW Yano, who has good movement and strong headers, so I focused on stopping his movements to go for the second ball and covering for the second ball. I also made sure to cover for Moni-san when he went for headers. There were some things I did well and some things I didn't, but I am disappointed that we conceded two goals in that time period in the second half. (What do you regret?) We panicked after conceding a goal. Our line dropped too quickly and that is something we need to reflect on. If we had kept it at one goal, I think the game would have turned out differently. Even in that situation, Moni-san controlled the line and helped us a lot. It's great that the team was able to win, but personally, I still have a lot to improve. I want to become a player who can control the defensive line by practicing more and getting better."《Cabore》"We were able to end the first half in a great position with a 3-0 lead. In the second half, we made some mistakes and conceded goals. However, we were able to make adjustments and everyone persevered until the end, which led to our victory. (How did you score?) Ishikawa took a good shot and the goalkeeper fumbled, so I was able to score from the rebound. I think my condition has improved and I also wanted to start. Both of Niigata's center backs are good players and they are tall, so they tried to intercept a few times. However, I was also conscious of not getting caught in those situations."

　【Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference】"Not only in the opening game, but also in the practice game this week, our start to the game was not good, so we focused on the start of the game. Fortunately, we were able to start off well and score a goal, which was lucky for us. The content was also good, but it was advantageous for us to score at a good time. After that, we went into defense mode and were overwhelmed by the opponent's possession. It's not like we can withstand 60 or 70 minutes of defending against a team like Niigata. After conceding two goals, we tightened up again and started to connect well when we got the ball. In that sense, the period from scoring three goals to conceding two goals is a big challenge for us. In the end, it was great that we were able to take three points from Niigata by holding on. (What are your thoughts on your first victory?) I am purely happy about the victory. I am really happy that we were able to give the victory to the many fans who came to support us. (What is the current level of completion?) It's hard to say what percentage of the soccer we are aiming for we were able to achieve, but we want to play for a long time in the period before and after scoring in the first half. Also, when we score first, we tend to focus on defense. We need to learn how to pull our own time by changing from a quick attack to a slow attack when we get the ball and make a decision whether to say yes or no. In terms of our soccer, we still have a lot to build on. We still have a lot to learn in terms of experience and game skills, such as how to bring the flow of the game to our side."

　[Niigata Suzuki coach's press conference summary] "First of all, I think we played a very bad game for the fans. I'm sorry. Mentally, we lacked concentration after conceding one goal, and I'm very disappointed about that. In the second half, we were able to come back and play forward despite being behind 0-3, but it's a shame we couldn't do that from the first half. I put Davi on the right because Tokyo's Tokunaga player overlaps a lot and comes up aggressively, so I thought Teragawa would be better for that. Alessandro couldn't do much today. He contributed a lot in terms of movement and defense, but he couldn't be the starting point in the front and couldn't take shots."