2009 Season Kickoff! Moving Football's New Challenge

　The 2009 J-League season kicks off. In the first match, Albirex Niigata will face off against the home team, Ajinomoto Stadium. Building on their "Moving Football" style from last season, Tokyo's Castle Fukutokyo aims for further evolution this season. With last year's disappointment in mind, they have focused on a more attacking style and have been training hard to improve their own brand of football.

　Salt's departure, Cabore's temporary return to his home country, and injuries to players such as Ishikawa and Nakamura have caused unexpected issues. However, Coach Eifuku says, "Accidents can happen at any time. We want to minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive." In Tokyo's starting lineup, Gonda will make his professional debut and new addition Hiramatsu will also start. On the sides, Nagatomo will play on the right and Tokunaga on the left. In the midfield, Konno and Kanazawa will play as a double pivot, with Kajiyama and Hanyu in front of them. Up top, Akamine and Kondo will form a two-man attack.

　Tokyo, who will face Niigata, finished 13th in the last league. In last year's matches, Tokyo won all three games, including the Emperor's Cup, but they were all close battles. In his fourth year as head coach, Jun SUZUKI suggests a more attacking approach as the team's theme for this season, saying "We want to add some changes on top of what we have built so far." They will try a 4-3-3 formation with new signings FW Oshima, FW Pedro JUNIOR, and FW Yano leading the front line, making it one of the key points to see how they can contain their wide attacks. They also need to be wary of the fluid movements in the midfield, led by MF Marcio Rishardes. It is without a doubt that Niigata will be a tough opponent for Tokyo.

　Manager Jofuku said, "Regardless of whether we can last for 90 minutes, we will show a new challenge in our soccer, no matter who is playing." On the other hand, he continued, "We will also focus on winning without worrying about anything else," and vowed to show a fighting spirit in facing a new challenge. The wind was cold but the weather was clear, and the match kicked off in Tokyo at 1:04 PM.

Despite taking the lead, they constantly attacked the Niigata goal...

　The start of the match was a battle for possession, with both teams exchanging attacks and defenses. In the 3rd minute, Kondo took the first shot of the day from the right side, and Tokyo gradually gained control. They connected passes quickly, with players like Hanyu and Kajiyama moving fluidly, and Nagatomo repeatedly pushed forward to threaten the Niigata goal.

　At 16 minutes, Imakano crosses from the right side of the midfield. Akamine breaks through to the far side and takes a diving header, but it goes over the bar. At 19 minutes, Kajiyama keeps the ball on the right side and Nagatomo moves up the middle, crossing from near the end line to the front of the goal. Kondo jumps in, but it only results in a corner kick. At 39 minutes, Hayashi sends a ball from the left corner of the area to the front line, where it hits a Niigata DF player and ends up with Akamine in front of the goal. He gets into shooting position, but is cut off by the Niigata DF. After that, Kanazawa follows up on a ball that falls in front of the area and takes a shot, but it goes over the bar.

　Niigata did not allow any chances and kept attacking throughout the game, but they were unable to create any decisive opportunities and could not score. In the 44th minute, Niigata FW Pedro JUNIOR broke through and Tokyo attacked the right area, resulting in a corner kick. From this left corner kick, Niigata DF Jiuton scored a perfect header, causing a painful goal... Despite having control of the game, they went into the second half trailing.

Kondo scores the team's first goal, but they fail to win the opening match with 4 goals conceded.

　In the second half, we desperately wanted a goal. In the 51st minute, Erik took a free kick from our own half. Inoue cut off the Niigata defender's clearance with a header and immediately sent it forward. Kondo received the ball just outside the right area and dribbled it out before powerfully scoring with his left foot! He scored the team's first goal and equalized the game!

　However, in the 53rd minute, right CK from Niigata again, DF Chiyotanda heads it. When it falls into the right area after hitting FW Oshima, FW Pedro Junior kicks it directly with a volley... Unlucky and allowed the lead. After that, Tokyo came out attacking to chase one point. In the 62nd minute, Suzuki was substituted for Kanazawa on the side. In the 64th minute, Kondo and Hanyu were substituted for Cabore and Bruno Quadros. Suzuki makes a move on the right side and in the 67th minute, Suzuki runs up the left side and shoots with a dribble, but it goes way over.

　However, their aggressive attacking approach caused them to lose balance and allowed Niigata to counter, unable to stop their momentum. In the 68th minute, Niigata FW Oshima intercepted Hiramatsu's pass in the DF line. Shigeta marked him but his sharp shot from outside the box found the back of the net. In the 72nd minute, Niigata MF Matsushita stole the ball from the attacking team and MF Marcio Lins passed it to the front line. FW Pedro Junior ran up the left side. Gonda also rushed out, but the opponent kicked the ball a step faster, scoring an unguarded goal.

　Still, in the 80th minute, Cabore connected with Nagatomo's right throw-in with a header, and Hiramatsu headed the bouncing ball towards the goal, but it narrowly missed the crossbar. They continued to threaten Niigata's goal until the end, but they suffered a bitter defeat in the opening match of the 2009 season, conceding four goals due to mistakes.

　【Player Comments】《Gonda》"Losing by 4 points is frustrating. Most of the shots that were taken became scoring opportunities. I personally regret not being able to stop at least one of them, and as a team, we need to reflect on the fact that all of them became scoring opportunities. The support from the fans behind us was very encouraging and it helped us enter the game smoothly. I thought I would be more nervous, but I was able to enter the game with a calm mind."《Hiramatsu》"I was able to enter the game calmly... We were warned not to let Niigata FW Pedro JUNIOR easily move forward, but in the end, they were able to create a chance and we gave them a corner kick. We were also on high alert for set pieces, but I don't think we were able to maintain our focus. I have a lot to reflect on from these situations. Personally, I feel like I was able to handle 1-on-1 situations and headers to some extent, but I was reminded of the high level of "scoring ability" of J1 players. In the second half, when the team as a whole was struggling to maintain balance, we were unable to recover, which is also something we need to work on."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "To all the fans, supporters, and team sponsors who have been eagerly waiting for today's opening, I am extremely disappointed and sorry that we were not able to meet your expectations. In the first half, we were mostly following our plan and did not have many breakdowns, but we ended up conceding a goal from a set piece. The goal we conceded right after equalizing was also from a set piece. It's difficult to win in the J-League when you concede two goals from corner kicks, and we need to reflect on the timing of when we conceded and avoid making the same mistakes. Personal mistakes also played a part in us conceding the third and fourth goals, and if we don't stand our ground there, we will lose the right to use the words "we will compete for the championship this year" very quickly. We need to regroup and move forward. We want to work hard to give the supporters a better experience next time, after making them feel disappointed this time."

　【Niigata Suzuki coach's press conference summary】"A lot of supporters came to support us from Niigata. We are very happy to have won the opening game of J1 for the first time since Niigata was promoted. The game was tough for both teams as it was the opening game. There were a lot of long balls, and Tokyo was the first to regain their composure and start creating chances. We wanted to build our game from the fullbacks, but we couldn't bring the ball forward due to the opponent's pressure, and we lost possession in the midfield, which led to their attacks. However, in terms of defense, we were able to hold our ground and were not too worried. We were able to score from a corner kick in the 44th minute, so I think it was a decent first half. In the second half, we were aware of the danger of Tokyo's long balls, but we struggled to win the second balls from their goalkeeper's long kicks since the first half. We need to work on that in training. After that, we were able to score in quick succession, and our attacking players were in great form. Players like FW Oshima and Pedro JUNIOR fit well into the team and scored, which will lead to our future success."