Grab a victory at home during the Golden Week consecutive matches!

During the Golden Week holiday, the 9th round of the league will be held. Omiya Ardija will face off against Ajinomoto at their home stadium. In the previous round against G Osaka, they showed their strengths in the latter part of the game and scored their first two goals of the season, but their comeback was too late and they suffered a defeat with 4 goals against. Despite the short two-day break, they must switch their minds and bodies and aim for a victory at home in this round.

　This round, the lineup has been changed. Manager Jofuku said, "I'm not completely without worries, but I considered the performance of the past few games and the opponent, and made this choice. Including two CBs, it's the best combination at this point. I want to focus on bringing out the individual and team's strengths. I will always trust and send out the players," and with determination, he placed Bruno QUADROS and Imakano as center backs, with Kajiyama and Yonemoto as double defensive midfielders. Ishikawa and Hanyu on the sides, and Cabore and Akamine as the two top players, this is the formation they will face with.

　Omiya, on the other hand, is in 12th place with 9 points, but is currently on a 3-game losing streak. In the midst of consecutive games, Manager Zhang has made 7 changes since the last match. He has moved Kataoka to center back, with Tsuchida and Murayama on the sides. Arai and Kanazawa form a double pivot, and the attacking line is also filled with fresh players. They aim to "win by running" with these fresh players.

　First of all, it is important to not lose in the running in order to secure 3 points. Then, calmly judge the game situation and if we can connect passes calmly, we should be able to create our own time zone. We want to create chances from Kajiyama's developments and Hanyu's fluid movements. Coach Jofuku declares, "No matter who plays in which position, we do not want to get into a kicking match. We will stick to our desired style of soccer." It is a sunny day in Ajinomoto Stadium. The battle to take advantage of the home field advantage started at 7:04 PM with Tokyo's kickoff.

Starting with Nao's goal, Omiya overwhelms...

　Grabbing the pace from the start, they created chances through their passing and fluid movements from players like Ishikawa and Hanyu. In the 4th minute, Tokunaga changed sides and sent a long pass to Cabore on the left front line. Cabore headed the ball down and Akamine connected with it, passing it to Ishikawa who ran through the middle. Ishikawa dribbled out and boldly took a shot, sending the ball into the bottom right corner! With Ishikawa's second consecutive goal, they took the lead!

　6 minutes, a cross was sent from Cabore who flowed to the right front line to Akamine in the center, but the timing was slightly off. In the 10th minute, Akamine made a central breakthrough from a one-two and Ushiro connected the ball and shot. Omiya did not create any chances and went on the attack. In the 18th minute, they launched a quick attack from their own half, with Akamine passing to Ishikawa on the right and then to the center. It seemed like Omiya's defense would cut it off, but it went through to Cabore on the far side. It was a great chance for an additional goal, but the shot was blocked by the goalkeeper.

　At 23 minutes, Cabore on the left front line from Bruno QUADROS, who pushed up the line and went up to the midfield. Cabore skillfully traps the ball and rushes into the area in front of the opponent DF. He created another decisive scene, but... the shot curved to the right. Although they couldn't score in the chance, at 25 minutes, a vertical pass from Tokunaga to Hayashi in front of the right area. Hayashi calmly passes to Ishikawa, who went up in the center. Ishikawa breaks through the Omiya DF with a pass and shoots with precision, scoring a goal!! They overwhelmed Omiya with a combination play and took the second goal.

　But at 35 minutes, they were hit by a counterattack after losing the ball from Kajiyama in their own half. Omiya FW Ishihara dribbled and was stopped by Yonemoto with a foul, giving a FK. MF Uchida aimed directly from the left area and scored in the upper left corner of the goal... They were taken advantage of by a set piece. At 42 minutes, the whole team panicked due to a pass mistake and Omiya was able to connect passes. The right SB Tsuchida dropped a feed to FW Fujita in the center of the area, and this went to FW Ishihara waiting in front. They were able to create a decisive scene, but the shot missed to the left and they were saved by the mistake. The first half ended with a score of 2-1.

Ishikawa scores first hat-trick! Despite the struggle, we secure 3 points

　In the second half, Omiya substituted MF Watanabe for DF Pak Won-je and faced the game with MF Uchida in the right formation. However, it was Tokyo who took control of the game in the beginning. In the 48th minute, they stole the ball in their own half and went on a fierce attack with Yonemoto → Akamine → Cabore dribbling. They made it to the box, but were stopped by the opposing DF and couldn't take a shot. However, in the 57th minute, Nagatomo pressed the Omiya DF and won a left throw-in. From there, Nagatomo sent a throw-in and Ishikawa skillfully broke through the box and scored a half-volley, completing a hat-trick!

　It seemed that they had pushed Omiya away by taking the third point. However, they did not create any chances in the flow, but they were sure to take advantage of the restart. In the 67th minute, they were repeatedly attacked by the restart, and in the end, they escaped to CK, but they were scored by DF Matto from the sharp right CK kicked by DF Park. They were caught up again by one point.

　After that, we couldn't score any chances and panicked after a pass miss, leading to a quick counterattack from Omiya. In the 77th minute, we lost the ball on the right side and were countered. From there, the side was changed and left forward DF Park broke through for a shot. This was saved by Gonda, but the rebound went to Omiya MF Uchida on the far side... A decisive shot was taken from the right area, but Nagatomo blocked it with his body!

　Substituted Ishikawa for Suzuki in the 80th minute, and Cabore for Hirayama in the 81st minute. In the 86th minute, they launched a counterattack, with Suzuki breaking through the opponent's defense. Kajiyama sent a perfect pass to Suzuki, who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He created a big chance, but the shot was saved by the goalkeeper... In the final minutes, they pushed Matto up to the front line and were subjected to a powerful attack from Omiya, making for a tense situation. In the 87th minute, they substituted Ashikari for Hayashi. In the end, Hirayama also dropped back to the defensive line and they all worked together to withstand Omiya's fierce attack until the final whistle. Despite the struggle, they managed to secure 3 points at home.

　【Player Comments】《Ishikawa》"We have been struggling in recent games and we wanted to score first. I was able to score in the last game against G Osaka, but we couldn't win, so I was conscious of the fact that "scoring leads to results" and played accordingly. Even after scoring two goals, I thought that the more we score, the more advantageous the situation would be, and a two-goal lead is scary. I wanted to score one more goal quickly. Today, I was able to create all the shots in my mind. I think that's what led to the goal. In the end, it was a tough game, but everyone did their best. We scored three goals in the end, but there are also games where we miss chances, so I want to score even more. We can never be satisfied here."《Bruno QUADROS》"Today, the most important thing was to get three points. It was a good game because I was able to get chances. Konno is a good player, strong and fast, so it was easy for me to play with him. The only regret was that we couldn't end the first half with a 2-0 lead. It's part of football to concede a goal like that from a free kick..."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "Today's game was a situation where we absolutely had to win. In the previous match against G Osaka, we conceded 4 goals. Everyone is working hard, but it was a game where even if we were told that we woke up after conceding those 4 goals, it wouldn't change anything. If we don't hold our ground here, aiming for the top will just be a pipe dream. It was good that we were able to hold our ground in this situation. It's thanks to all the players and the support of the fans. However, we must have a sense of crisis about the content of the game, which ended 3-2. Technical mistakes are inevitable, but conceding goals with poor judgement and getting shaken up from there. If we keep playing like this, it will be difficult to return to our previous form and continue winning. Personally, I felt that sense of crisis. It's very dangerous to just be happy with today's result. The whole team must approach the next game with a sense of crisis. If we keep missing chances, the game will turn out like this and the team will struggle. Also, there are too many mistakes in judgement, not just in terms of how we line up defensively or whether we commit fouls or not, but also in the plays leading up to those moments. We need to sharpen our judgement in both attack and defense and become more mature."

　[Summary of Omiya Zhang's press conference] "We conceded a goal at a very early stage, and we couldn't make the game go as we wanted without time to make adjustments. However, I think that scoring two goals this time will lead to something in the future, compared to the previous game where we lost 0-3. (Did you make a significant change in players from the previous game?) We had a lot of games in a row, and we had the intention of playing the style of soccer we aim for, as well as the intention of making significant changes. The players we used today have experience playing before, so I didn't have the conscious of making significant changes. We also had the intention of resting the veteran players. The young players are also improving, and I think their movements today were better than the previous game. In the next game, we want to use players who fit our style and bring back the veteran players. We have a squad of 28 players and we have to fight with the strength of all of them."