GAME RESULTGame Result

Sec. 8 2009/4/29 (Wed)
Audience 16,853 people 
Weather: Sunny, Low Temperature 16.0 degrees, Humidity 32% 
Referee: Toshimitsu YOSHIDA Assistant Referees: Daikichi KANADA / Togo TODA Fourth Official: Akio OKUTANI

J1 Sec. 8

Expo'70

HOME

Gamba Osaka

4-2

Match Finished

First Half2-0

Second Half2-2

AWAY

FC Tokyo

Gamba Osaka FC Tokyo
19' Own Goal
25' Lucas
47' Leandro
68' Cho Jaejin
Scorer 79' Naohiro ISHIKAWA
81' Tatsuya SUZUKI
74' Yuuto SASAKI → Shinichi TERADA
78' Choi Jaejin → Ryuji HANATO
89' Lucas → Shu KURATA
Player Substitution 58' Hideki SAHARA → Kenta MUKUHARA
61' Yusuke KONDO → Shingo AKAMINE
69' Naotake HANYU → Tatsuya SUZUKI
8 Shoot 10
4 CK 9
18 FK 19
Warning 31' Naotake HANYU
Exit
Gamba Osaka Starting Lineup
GK 22 Yosuke Fujigaya
DF 27 Hashimoto Hideo
DF 2 Sota NAKAZAWA
DF 5 Satoshi YAMAGUCHI
DF 19 Sho Shimohira
MF 17 Tomokazu Myojin
MF 7 Yasuhito ENDO
MF 16 Yuuto SASAKI
MF 9 Lucas
FW 18 Cho Jae-jin
FW 23 Leandro
Gamba Osaka Substitute
GK 1 Naoki Matsushiro
DF 4 Kazumichi Takagi
MF 8 Shinichi Terada
MF 13 Yasuda Rida
MF 20 Kurata Aki
FW 11 Hiroto Ryuji
FW 30 Masato Yamazaki
FC Tokyo Starting Lineup
GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 25 Yusuke Tokunaga
DF 3 Hideki Sahara
DF 2 Teruyuki Motoniwa
DF 5 Yuto NAGATOMO
MF 6 Yasuyuki Konno
MF 22 Naoki Hayu
MF 18 Naohiro Ishikawa
MF 10 Yosuke Kajiyama
FW 9 Cabore
FW 32 Yusuke Kondo
FC TokyoSubstitute
GK 21 Nobuyuki Abe
DF 33 Kenta Mukuhara
MF 7 Asari Satoru
MF 19 Yohei Otake
MF 28 Takashi Yonemoto
MF 40 Tatsuya Suzuki
FW 24 Shingo Akamine

[Player/Coach Comments]

I want to take advantage of the opportunity and win in a row.


 In the 8th round of the league, we will face Gamba Osaka away. It will be our second away game in a row, but we want to continue our momentum from the victory we achieved in the previous round and aim for a consecutive win.

 G Osaka, on the other hand, continues to fight alongside the ACL. They will face the previous round on April 22nd, just 4 days after their away game in Indonesia, and then face this round just 2 days later. This is a tough schedule, but coach Shirofuku is aware that "if we take advantage of the opponent's fatigue and step onto the pitch, we will suffer." He also points out that "G Osaka is not only one of the top teams in the J-League, but also in Asia, with their ball possession and passing skills. This season, they have also made big reinforcements, increasing their height and scoring power, which is something to be wary of."

 Tokyo will face the same members as last week. It is expected that the opponent will dominate the ball to some extent, so it is important for the defense to work together as a team and not give space and time. And when we take the ball, we want to launch a quick attack and take control on the sides. Kajiyama, who scored his first goal of the season in the Oita match, said, "We will fight not to lose to the opponent's passing. We want to work together with the front line and create many shooting chances," and aim for a victory with two or more goals for the first time this season.

 Shigeki Mori expresses his determination, saying, "Even if we are pushed to the limit, I want to fight with all my might. In the beginning, we will endure and focus on balance, and in the end, when the opponent's stamina drops, we will go all out." G Osaka will aim to take the lead and make the game easier. However, if we can endure the time we need to, Tokyo should be able to create their own opportunities. We want to make sure to take advantage of those chances. While suppressing the opponent's strengths, we want to give it our all and get 3 points! The match started at 19:03 with Tokyo's kickoff at the Expo '70 Commemorative Stadium.

Conceded the first goal in an unfortunate way and trailed in the second half.


 Tokyo did not let G Osaka take the lead from the beginning of the game. They took control of the ball by blocking their opponent's passing and launched quick attacks. In the 14th minute, Ishikawa stole the ball in the opponent's half and dribbled all the way to the goal. He took a left-footed shot, but it was blocked by the opponent's DF. Cabore then took the rebound and took a powerful shot, but it went over the goal.

 However, in the 19th minute, from the opponent's throw-in, MF Sho Sasaki kicked a cross that hit Hayabusa and resulted in an own goal. Unlucky start to concede. Then the flow began to shift to G Osaka. In the 21st minute, FW Leandro's powerful dribble shot hit the right post. Then in the 25th minute, from G Osaka's left throw-in, MF Lucas → MF Sho Sasaki → FW Leandro connected intricately, and finally MF Lucas dribbled past Satahara and broke into the area, scoring a shot... and lost the second goal.

 Tokyo, who wants to counterattack, made a move in the 27th minute, with Cabore breaking through fiercely from the left side into the area. He put in a cross with a liner-like trajectory, but it didn't reach a shot. In the 30th minute, Kajiyama → Ishikawa made a powerful middle shot, but the opponent's goalkeeper made a great save. After that, they tried to counterattack several times with long balls, but the ball couldn't be controlled. G Osaka slowly passed the ball around their defensive line, and attacked at the right moment, not giving Tokyo any rhythm. In the end, they finished the first half trailing by two points. 

Despite scoring 2 points, the team suffered a heavy defeat.


 In the second half, after trying to recover, in the 47th minute, Tokyo lost possession and easily allowed G Osaka to bring the ball to the goal, where they were overwhelmed by their passing and FW Leandro scored, giving them an additional point. As the next point was crucial, this was a painful goal to concede. However, they did not give up and continued to attack. In the 50th minute, Hayashi crossed from a right throw-in. Sato contested with the opposing DF and headed the ball, but it went to the left.

 In the 57th minute, Haneda received a return pass from Tokunaga after a side change by Konno and took a direct shot from near the right corner of the area, but it curved to the left. In the 58th minute, Mokuhara was brought in as a right back, Konno was moved to center back, and Tokunaga was placed in the defensive midfield. In the 61st minute, Akamine was substituted for Kondo. In the second corner kick situation, Akamine, who had just entered the game, took a volley but was blocked by the opposing defender. However, in the 68th minute, they were caught off guard and conceded their fourth goal.

 In the 69th minute, Suzuki was substituted for Hanyu. As the opponent's movement decreased, Tokyo gained control of the ball in a high position and the pace picked up. Then in the 79th minute, Ishikawa on the left side dribbled past two defenders and scored a determined goal. In the following 81st minute, Kajiyama stole the ball in the center and passed it to Suzuki on the left, who confidently scored the second goal. This was their first two-goal game of the season and they continued to attack with momentum. However, it was too late... They suffered a bitter defeat, conceding four goals to the skillful G Osaka team.

 【Player Comments】《Ishikawa》"As we conceded one and two goals, the energy on the pitch gradually disappeared. It's not just this game, but there's another one coming up soon... That's what's frustrating and regrettable, including myself. Even if we had scored one goal at 2-0, I don't know what would have happened. But we conceded a third goal right after the second half started, and that's also a problem that we couldn't hold on. (Did we defend too much overall?) I think we should have gone forward more depending on the situation. We need to have more variation and our game strategy needs to be better. (Were you afraid of G Osaka?) Hmm... I'm not either of those. It's more like we adapted to the opponent. It's not a loss where we can just say "it can't be helped" because there's a difference in strength. We've been having these kinds of games continuously. We want to take the initiative and play our own soccer. We want to play the kind of game that suits us when we go back home next time."《Suzuki》"It's a shame we lost after giving it our all... I don't think we lost because we didn't show our strength. We were all trying our best, but I feel like we lacked confidence. We were too slow, lost the second balls, and were afraid of the opponent's through balls and individual runs, so the whole team kept dropping back and our only attacking option was long balls. Even if we won the ball back, our teammates were too far away, so we had to kick it again and it would get taken away... It was a cycle. (Did the momentum change after you came on?) Well, that was the situation we were in. But if we could use that kind of soccer from the beginning... We need to work together with the players in front and press as a team. We have strong defenders, so if we limit the space in front, we won't get scored on as much. Personally, I've been in good form, so today's game and goal gave me confidence. I want to continue that in the next game."

 [Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "Despite the difficult situation of playing away at night, many fans came to support us. However, we were unable to meet their expectations and it's very disappointing. (How did you plan to break down G Osaka's defense?) We had to neutralize their strengths and focus on delivering crosses from the sides. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal in an unlucky way and it became difficult for us. (The substitute players made good movements, didn't they?) Either way, the players who came on in the second half were aware of the situation... However, what was most painful for us was that we had to make changes to our defensive line."

 [Summary of G Osaka Manager Nishino's Press Conference] "I feel like for 80 minutes, everyone was able to share and play the soccer we were aiming for today. I think the last 10 minutes were very close, so I want to make it a future challenge. I feel like we were too relaxed. Today, we reviewed pressing together as a team and were able to see some short counters and aggressive attacks. I think we have been able to make some adjustments and achieve what we are aiming for since the last game. If we have good defense, Gamba can definitely have good attacks. If we have more time with good defense and have a solid compact defense, we can take the ball and put it in the front line. It's about raising our defensive awareness. I don't want to demand too much from players like Cho Jae-jin and Leandro, but it's necessary to score goals. In addition, there is good pressing, good ball movement, and good entry into the area."