Tama River Clasico, Suppressing Kawasaki's Momentum and Seeking Revenge from Last Season!

　In the 7th round of the league, Kawasaki Frontale will face off against each other and welcome the 13th Tama River Clasico at home. In the Nabisco Cup match against Iwata, they were able to show their own soccer, but were brought to a tie at the end. In this round, they will stick to their desired soccer and aim for victory with a persistent fight. However, Hayabusa will be absent from the team due to injury. As the number of injured players increases and considering the consecutive matches, they will face the match by changing the members from the Iwata match. Sasaki and Fujiyama will be the center backs, Asari will be placed in the central defensive midfield, and Akamine will also start. Kurisawa will take on the midfield position.

　Kawasaki, on the other hand, is currently in 10th place with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses in the league. They have not been able to find their rhythm since the start of the season, with coach Takashi Sekizuka absent due to poor health. However, under the guidance of coach Tsutomu Takahata, FW Juninho scored a hat-trick in the previous Nabisco Kashiwa match, and it seems that their engine has finally started running. The combination of FW Juninho and Zheng has both speed and strength, so it is important to not let these two top players gain momentum. It is also crucial to not allow the central midfielder Nakamura, who is responsible for passing, and the wingers Yamagishi and Mori, who are the starting points on the sides, to play freely.

　Kawasaki match, which has been fighting fiercely since joining the JFL. Coach Shirofuku also declared strongly, "Every game is worth 3 points, but we are aware of the feelings of the fans and players. We want to express those feelings on the pitch and have a heated battle." We want to win not only to suppress the strong attacking force and momentum of Kawasaki, but also to take revenge for the big defeat last season by controlling the midfield battle!

　The rain from yesterday has stopped, but it is still cloudy and windy at Ajinomoto Stadium. The game started at 4:04 PM with a kickoff by Kawasaki.

Intense development of competing for points, Cabore, starting with Akamine's goal

　A speedy and intense battle has been unfolding since the start. In the 4th minute, Cabore from the right side of the post brings the ball into the area and takes a shot, but it curves to the left. In the 7th minute, Kawasaki's MF Nakamura, who has drifted to the right, makes a big side change to the left front line. This reaches MF Yamagishi, who has moved up to the goal area, and he gets into a shooting position. However, Fujiyama quickly covers and escapes with a corner kick. In the 9th minute, Nagatomo runs up the left side, challenges the Kawasaki DF, and crosses with persistence. Redmine at the far post returns it, but Cabore in the center fails to connect. In the 12th minute, Kajiyama tries to head Cabore's right cross, but it doesn't hit.

　The exchange of offense and defense was quick, and both teams were trying to attack, but the defense was able to hold each other's key points, and there were not many shooting opportunities. However, in the 19th minute, Sasaki stopped the opponent with a foul in the Tokyo team's territory and received a warning. This gave Kawasaki a free kick, and MF Nakamura's kick was dropped by FW Zheng in the area, and FW Juninho immediately floated a pass forward. FW Zheng reacted quickly and turned around for a shot. He scored a sharp goal and allowed the first goal to be scored by taking advantage of the gap in the set play.

　Still, without rushing, Kajiyama and Nagatomo as the starting point, the two top players also received the ball well and counterattacked. In the 25th minute, Nagatomo broke through and won a free kick on the left front line. From this free kick, Kurisawa kicked a low ball and Cabore pushed it into the goal! Equalized. However, in the immediate 26th minute, giving Kawasaki another free kick in the center of Tokyo's territory, MF Nakamura and Tokyo DF competed for the kick to the front line, and the ball fell to FW Juninho, who passed it to the right area where FW Zheng crossed it to the ground in front of the goal. Tokyo couldn't clear this and MF Taniguchi scored... Once again, they were taken the lead from a set piece.

　However, Tokyo maintained their rhythm and launched attacks by utilizing the speed of their front line. In the 36th minute, Kajiyama fed the ball to Kurizawa on the left side, who then passed it to Cabore in front of the goal, and then to Akamine behind him. However, the Kawasaki defenders quickly closed in. In the 42nd minute, Sato took the ball and passed it to Kajiyama, who then passed it to Cabore, then to Akamine, and back to Kajiyama. Although the ball was initially lost, Imakawa quickly regained possession and passed it to the right. Tokunaga's cross went to the far side of the field, but they were able to maintain their attacking shape by connecting passes directly.

　And in the 43rd minute, Kajiyama from their own side sends a long ball to the left front line. Nagatomo catches up to it and crosses from the sideline. The ball goes over Cabore in front of the goal, but he quickly turns to the right and shoots past the Kawasaki DF with skillful movement! He scores to the left and brings the game back to a tie, ending the first half.

Otake's first goal puts us ahead, and we win by turning the game around with our own soccer!

　In the second half, both teams quickly attacked each other from the beginning. In the 50th minute, Kawasaki MF Ohashi made a through pass to FW Juninho, who broke through the front line, but Fujiyama persistently closed in and prevented the shot. In the 53rd minute, Kawasaki quickly switched to a counterattack from their own half. MF Nakamura sent a through pass to FW Zheng on the left side, but Sato managed to catch up and avoid a throw-in. With tough defense, Tokyo gradually took control of the game. They calmly passed the ball around and looked for opportunities, and in the 58th minute, Asari made a run forward, Kajiyama and Konno connected, and finally Nagatomo, who had moved up from the left, took a shot from the middle. However, the shot went wide to the right.

　Kawasaki also launched a quick attack, and in the 62nd minute, FW Cabore was passed by Fujiyama and shot inside, but Shioda saved it. In the 63rd minute, Otake was substituted for Kurisawa. And then, it happened just after that. Kawasaki took the goal kick and connected it to Cabore, who drifted to the left and crossed. Although the Kawasaki DF cleared it once, Kajiyama followed up on the ball that fell in front of the area. Otake then took the ball again from the scramble and advanced to the right area. He aimed for a looping shot with a toe kick that passed between the DFs and was sucked into the goal. Otake, who had just entered the game, marked a beautiful first goal and succeeded in taking the lead!

　With this, Tokyo, who has completely grasped the rhythm, creates a finishing goal from a flowing pass work in the 70th minute. Kajiyama and Cabore persistently connect in the opponent's territory, and then Imakano hits Cabore and runs forward. Cabore → Akamine on the left side, and this time to Otake in the center. Otake quickly passes to Imakano, who runs up the right side. Imakano then precisely shoots the ball into the left corner for a goal! This is the 4th goal that Tokyo, aiming for "Moving Football" this season, has scored in a form that embodies it.

　After that, Kawasaki also collected the ball to FW Zheng and JUNINHO on the front line, and the intense attack and defense continued. In the 76th minute, from Kawasaki's right corner kick, the header aimed at FW Zheng → FW JUNINHO was saved by Shioda with one hand in the upper left corner. In the 86th minute, FW JUNINHO went up the left side and a sharp shot was taken by FW Kurotsu who ran into the middle, but it was also saved by Shioda and resulted in a corner kick. Shioda concentrated on defense, especially on the DF line, and held on until the end. In the second half, they achieved a thrilling comeback with their targeted style of soccer, and won the Tama River Clasico while also securing their third consecutive victory in the league.

　【Player Comments】《Otake》"I received the ball and became the starting point, and was instructed to play tough defense and entered the pitch. I was substituted in when the score was tied, but I feel more fired up in that kind of situation. I entered the game with the intention of scoring myself. The goal was exactly as I aimed, but I didn't think it would go in, so I was surprised. When I had the ball, I was surrounded by the opposing defenders, so I thought I had no choice but to shoot. I am good at looping shots. (What about the through pass that led to the 4th goal?) I saw Inokoshi player going up, so I just passed it. But not only did it lead to a goal, but I think we were able to play the kind of soccer we wanted to as a team. Everyone was moving and it felt like we were practicing. With each game, we are able to play the soccer we want to play, and we want to continue playing good soccer and win. We want to do our best to win the 4th consecutive game."《Kajiyama》"Last season we suffered a big defeat, so today we talked about not falling apart even if we were scored on first, and playing our usual soccer. We wanted to play a game with a lot of supporters at home. Kawasaki has players who can give good passes if they are free, so we focused on being strong in the ball. We conceded a goal in the first half, but I think we were able to continue our team's goal and connect to a good attack in the second half. We want to extend the time we can play soccer like in the second half. It was a good game in terms of revenge, but we want to improve on the good parts and fix the points we need to reflect on for the next game."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "Kawasaki's strong attack starts from building up in the midfield, so our focus was to prevent them from creating opportunities for their attacking players. In the first half, there were 1-2 through passes from MF Nakamura to FW Juninho, but other than that, it was mostly set pieces and restarts. We didn't allow them to play their game. However, conceding 2 goals from restarts was a frustrating way to give up goals. I believe their first goal was also from their first shot. We didn't feel like we were being attacked, but we conceded. In that situation, we didn't let ourselves get discouraged and continued to play our game, patiently defending and then moving the ball forward when we won it back... I think that's what led to our 4 goals. At halftime, I told the players not to get frustrated and lose our balance, and to keep playing the same way. We made some small adjustments in defense, like the positioning of Akamine and Cabore, and pushing our line up a bit more, but overall, I told them to keep doing what we were doing. I said that if we did that, we would definitely have opportunities to score. Our 4th goal was something we've been practicing all season. It was great to finally see our intentions of wanting to score and break through come to fruition. I think it was a shot that the players had confidence in. It was a goal that we were able to score as a team. (On the 3-game winning streak) The league has just started, so we still have a lot of things we want to do, the way we want to attack, and we still need time for that. Today as well, but the fact that we were able to score in our own flow gave the players confidence in what we've been building. That's why today's victory is meaningful. Of course, it's great to win 3 games in a row, but the joy of building and seeing it lead to results is even greater. We will continue to work hard to create more scenes like our 4th goal today."

　[Kawasaki-Takabatake Coach's Press Conference Summary] "In the first half, we were able to score a goal in a good start, but we were caught up and the game turned into a back-and-forth of scoring and conceding. We wanted to correct the negative flow in the second half and break through, but unfortunately we ended up conceding two goals in the second half. It was a disappointing result to be overwhelmed by FC Tokyo's momentum. However, I want to thank the players who gave their all until the end and the supporters who pushed them on. (There was an impression that the DF was struggling. Did you have a hard time dealing with Nagatomo?) In the one-on-one battles, I felt like we were losing a little, so at halftime we emphasized not losing in the one-on-one battles and being strong in those situations. In terms of dealing with Nagatomo, we had FW Zheng move to the right and had MF Mori as a backup behind him. I don't have the impression that we were caught off guard there."