Aiming for the first victory at home, with a fighting attitude in the forefront

　In the 3rd round of the league, we will face Montedio Yamagata at home. Although we suffered two consecutive losses since the opening, the players have no doubts about "going positively" to overcome the difficult situation. In this round, we will focus on the results and aim to take 3 points with our desired style of soccer, in an important match where we want to gain confidence. In this round, Sasaki and Ishikawa, who have fully recovered from their injuries and have prepared their condition, will start. Hirayama will also be in the starting lineup, and rookie Yonemoto will be on the bench. We hope that these fresh players will give the team a boost and become the key to finding our rhythm.

　Toyama, who will face them, has been promoted to J1 this season. They have a solid defense and a sharp counterattack, and have been playing freely with 1 win and 1 draw since the start of the season. The counterattack led by FW Furuhashi and Hasegawa is sharp, and MF Kim Byung-sook, who is the accent of the attack, has high accuracy in the kicks and crosses of MF Miyazawa and DF Ishikawa. The double volante of Akiha and Sato Ken also have a lot of energy, making them an "always try your best" team.

　It will be the first match against Yamagata since 1999 (J2), but we cannot afford to be on the receiving end both mentally and in terms of play. We want to grab our first victory of the season by going back to our roots and showing a fighting spirit. The game started at 2:04 PM with Yamagata's kickoff on a calm and sunny day at Ajinomoto Stadium.

Grab the rhythm from defense and create chances from counters

　The start of the game saw Yamagata trying to take control with intense pressing and attacking from the sides. However, Tokyo also remained calm and tried to establish a rhythm from their defense. In the 7th minute, Nagatomo intercepted Yamagata's side change. He passed it to Hirayama on the left side, who then sent a low and fast cross into the box. From the resulting corner kick, Sasaki perfectly headed Ishikawa's kick towards goal, but it was saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

　As time passed, both teams quickly switched to attacking and created decisive moments from counters. In the 23rd minute, Yamagata FW Furubashi started the play from the post and passed to MF Kim Byung-sook who ran in from the right. He was able to take a decisive shot, but it was saved by goalkeeper Gonda and went out for a corner kick. In the 24th minute, Tokyo also launched a counterattack from the opponent's corner kick, with Kajiyama passing to Ishikawa who then passed to Cabore. He broke through and had a 1-on-1 with the GK from the left area, but his shot narrowly missed to the right.

　Afterwards, they continued to create chances with powerful attacks. In the 27th minute, Tokunaga dribbled into the right area and passed it short to Hirayama, who was in a close range near the goal. Hirayama aimed for the goal, but was blocked by the DF. In the 28th minute, Hirayama connected with a throw-in from the right and Konno ran in from behind to take a shot, but it was blocked by the DF. In the 32nd minute, Kajiyama received a lofted pass in front of the goal area and attempted a shot that would catch the opponent's goalkeeper off guard, but it was saved by a hair and resulted in a corner kick. Despite their efforts, they were unable to break through Yamagata's strong defense and the first half ended in a scoreless tie.

Hanyu's goal is the final point! Keep a clean sheet and take 3 points.

　In the second half, Nagatomo boldly aimed for the goal from the left side and showed a passionate play, but was stopped by the opponent's goalkeeper's great save. In the fast-paced game, in the 55th minute, Ishikawa pressed fiercely on Yamagata's side back who had drifted to the left side. He stole the ball and passed it to Nagatomo who overlapped, and Nagatomo ran up the side and into the center. Cabore, with his back to the defender, made a one-touch pass to Hayu who came up from the right. He controlled the ball with one touch and confidently scored with his left foot, taking the long-awaited lead!

　Substitutions were made in the 62nd minute, with Suzuki replacing Ishikawa, and in the 69th minute, with Kondo replacing Cabore. Tokyo wanted to capitalize on their lead and score a second goal, but they made mistakes while attacking, leading to a hectic situation. While there were no clear chances for Yamagata, they were unable to create any opportunities. In the 80th minute, a pass was connected from a long pass by Nagatomo, but Suzuki's shot from just outside the box missed the target.

　Both teams' energy levels began to drop, but in the 82nd minute, Yamamoto was replaced by Yonemoto, who made his professional debut. Yamagata also brought in DF Sonoda to the front line, replacing FW Furuhashi. They came out with a power play, but the Tokyo DF calmly responded. In the 87th minute, Kajiyama passed to Suzuki, who made a run deep into the right area and delivered a perfect final pass to the center. Hiraoka jumped in with his head, but was stopped in the midst of a scramble. In the end, there were moments where Yamagata did not give up and put pressure on, but the entire team remained focused and shut down any counterattacks. They held on without conceding a goal and secured their first victory of the season.

　【Player Comments】《Hanyu》"The goal was something I had been practicing. However, in that moment, I was completely focused. It was a chance that came to me thanks to everyone's hard work and teamwork. I think it was a goal that we all took together. This season, we have tried various things from the beginning, but we may have been too caught up in that and hesitant to show our individuality in the game. I think we were missing the foundation of fighting and winning loose balls before tactics and techniques. So today, I wanted to bring that out. We were able to win today, but we are aiming for an even higher place. However, we cannot achieve results without everyone playing with determination. That's what we learned today."《Sahara》"The team has been lacking energy lately, but we can't just let things continue like this, so we tried to go back to our roots and play with passion. There were some moments where Yamagata attacked, but I don't think there were any dangerous situations. In the end, everyone was able to defend with their bodies. If we had scored a second goal, the game may have been easier, but right now, we need results more than performance. It was a good result to win without conceding."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "The joy of our first victory is only half of the relief. Despite having lost two games in a row, it was great to see so many fans come out and we were able to meet their expectations. As for the content, we needed to prepare for Yamagata, but it would have been counterproductive to deviate from what we have been doing since last season and what we are trying to do this season just to get three points. First and foremost, we stuck to what we are trying to do. Not everything went perfectly, but the players tried their best. Since the start of this season, we haven't changed our approach drastically, but we have been discussing with the players when to take risks and when not to. The style of play we are challenging this season may not be dramatically different from last season, but we are aiming to find a position and role for each player to bring out their strengths. In doing so, we have reaffirmed how to take risks. I don't think we were perfect, and we need to reflect on the fact that we only scored one goal and left some holes. We want to address these issues and move forward. Yamagata is a very good team and I feel they have the ability to compete in J1. They will likely be a tough opponent even in an away game, so it is important to build on this victory and get back to a 50-50 record. And in order to give our best in each game of the Nabisco Cup, we will start preparing from tomorrow."

　[Yamagata Kobayashi coach's press conference summary] "Both side halves became withdrawn. If we could have taken a higher position and had the side backs involved, we could have created a 2-on-1 situation. But we couldn't do that. One of the reasons was that when Tokyo's Imakawa player drifted to the left side, the midfield players ended up with two players on the outside, and our attack didn't work well. Especially in the first half, right MF Kim Byung-sook was pulled out, passed the ball and went forward, and pulled out and FW Furuhashi followed Imakawa player, and the midfield collapsed. In the first half, we were able to defend well. That's because Tokyo didn't attack with as many numbers as they did before. Unlike the previous two games, they had an image of jumping out after managing the risk. The defensive midfielder entered into the four defenders, and three or five remained and entered into the game tightly, and we couldn't break it. We conceded when our feet stopped. The opponent's press also pulled back a little, so we said, "Pass the ball without forcing it," and then we allowed a speedy counterattack. That's a shame. By changing the side players, we created chances, and in the end, we had a power play, but we could only do it a few times. It would have been better if we could have thrown it in more simply, but it took a little time to penetrate. Also, there were few variations in our attack. From the next game, we need to think about scoring while continuing to defend tightly. Today, the midfield press was fast overall, and there were easy mistakes. We were taken away just before entering the attack, and we couldn't get into a rhythm. That's also something to reflect on."