Win at Ajinomoto Stadium during the halfway point of the league season!

　In the 17th round of the league this season, we will face Nagoya Grampus at Ajinomoto Stadium on May 24th for the first time since then. In the previous away game against Kobe, we won 2-0 and are currently on a 5-game winning streak in official matches. We have also won 3 consecutive league games and have climbed to our highest position of 5th place since the opening. However, coach Jofuku said, "We don't have time to look back on what we've done. We just don't want to stop this progress," expressing a strong determination to move up in the rankings and face this round with continuous team efforts.

　Nagoya, who will be facing us, has decided to transfer their main FW, Davi, to the Qatar League. However, he is still eligible to play in the next 3 matches and has been named in the starting lineup for this match as well. They also have a diverse attacking lineup, including Japan national team FW Tamada, last season's J-League Rookie of the Year MF Ogawa, and MF Maginun, who are known for their side attacks. Their experience on the AFC stage should also have boosted the overall strength of the team. Coach Shirofuku is not letting his guard down, saying, "Davi will come out with a high level of motivation for his last countdown." At the same time, he also pointed out, "Nagoya likes to use the entire field and launch side attacks from the outside. It's not a good situation for us if we keep getting stretched out to the sides. We need to prevent them from showing their strengths."

　Despite a slow start to the season, we have managed to climb up the rankings through twists and turns. However, the "Summer of Comebacks" has only just begun. In order to secure our place in the top group, we cannot afford to lose the 3 points at home at Ajinomoto Stadium. As the year comes to an end, Tokyo will face the same starting lineup as the previous match and the game kicked off at 6:34 PM with Nagoya's kickoff at Ajinomoto Stadium.

5 consecutive Naogoals! Following the previous match, Cabore scores an additional point.

　The match started off with a bang. In the 3rd minute, Gonda's goal kick was dropped by Hirayama on the left front line, and passed to Ishikawa in the center. Ishikawa's trap was a little too big, but he quickly turned towards the goal, dribbled up smoothly, slipped through the three opposing defenders in the center of the area, and swung his right foot! The ball flew sharply into the bottom right corner, scoring a goal. With his 5th consecutive goal, Nao scored the opening goal in no time.

　Tokyo, who took the lead, showed a calm game. In the 8th minute, Cabore was fouled on the left side and earned a free kick. In response to Ishikawa's kick, Imakano headed the ball but narrowly missed the goal. Nagoya's attacks, starting from the side, were easily defended. In the 16th minute, Nagoya MF Yamaguchi crossed from the right and MF Ogawa, who had escaped behind Tokyo DF, took a shot from the left area, but Gonda easily caught it. In the 26th minute, they quickly switched to attack and Kajiyama made a vertical pass to the right front line while attacking. Ishikawa received the ball and brought it to the center, aiming for the goal without hesitation, but narrowly missed to the right.

　28 minutes, Nagoya's FW Davi, who received a pass from MF Ogawa in the left area, turned around and took a shot from the front of the area, but it went over the bar. In the 29th minute, Tokyo created an attacking opportunity. Yonemoto created space and pulled out Nagatomo's overlap. Nagatomo received the pass in the left corner of the area and dribbled towards the center. He took a shot towards the left side of the goal, but missed the target.

　The game was a back and forth battle, but in the 34th minute, Nagoya's right cross was cut off by Konno. Yonemoto → Kajiyama → Hirayama → Ishikawa made a run into the right area and sent a last pass to the center. Hayabusa's shot, which was taken with speed, was saved by the goalkeeper, but Cabore was there to finish it off with his left foot! From a sharp counterattack, just like in the previous game, Cabore scored another goal, giving the team a 2-0 lead going into the second half.

Suzuki scored the final goal from a stable game play, leading to a decisive victory at Ajinomoto Stadium.

　In the second half, Nagoya replaced MF Yoshimura with FW Maki in the front line. FW Tamada moved to MF, and MF Ogawa took on the role of holding midfielder as they launched a counterattack. However, Tokyo maintained their stability and held the advantage. In the 48th minute, Cabore kept the ball on the right side. From there, Hirayama received a pass just outside the right area and turned to take a shot. In the 56th minute, they launched a counterattack and Cabore broke through on the left side from Nagatomo's pass. From there, Nagatomo ran into the center of the area, but the ball was too big for him to control and he couldn't take a shot.

　Substituting Hayu for 64 minutes, Tanabe made his first appearance at Ajinomoto. In the 67th minute, Yonemoto, who had advanced into the opponent's territory, competed with the opponent and connected with Tanabe, who had come up from behind. Tanabe smoothly dribbled into the area and made a final pass to Cabore on the right side! However, Cabore's decisive shot was blocked by the goalkeeper...

　In the second half, we were unable to take advantage of good opportunities, while Nagoya did not create any chances. In the 77th minute, Suzuki replaced Ishikawa, and in the 80th minute, Akamine was substituted for Cabore. On the other hand, Nagoya suffered an accident when substitute MF Hanai injured his right shoulder after the 78th minute. As they had already used all their substitution slots, they were forced to play with 10 players and had no strength left for a counterattack.

　In the 43rd minute, Akamine, who had drifted to the left side, advanced with a dribble. He passed to Hirayama, who was free in the center of the area. However, the timing was slightly off and Hirayama's trap was too big, unable to finish. In the 44th minute, Kajiyama → Hirayama dropped the ball securely, and Suzuki in front of the central area entered a shooting position, but it was blocked. Then, in stoppage time, Suzuki → Tokunaga from the side to Akamine on the right front line. Akamine kept the ball once and passed it to Suzuki, who had run a long distance to support. Suzuki dribbled to the center and shot as he entered the area. He scored confidently with his left foot, securing the third goal and the final whistle blew. With a comfortable 3-0 victory, they achieved their first win at Ajinomoto Stadium since the Omiya game in the 9th round on May 2nd.

　【Player Comments】《Suzuki》"(About the goal) It was a play while considering the situation of leading by 2 points. Personally, I also wanted to take a shot, but I didn't want to force it and get caught on the counter. Then, a perfect ball came from Akamine and Tanabe was able to lure the opponent's DF in a good position, so I thought I had to take the shot. I hesitated until the last minute, but I'm glad it went in. I think it was the result of expressing my strong feelings. In order to aim for the top, I think it's important to score an insurance goal. While being conscious of protecting the lead and scoring additional points, I want to play while keeping in mind not to make the wrong decision. The soccer we are playing now has a solid foundation, so we can have confidence. But I don't want to be complacent and I want to aim even higher in the next game."

　"Hanyu" "The current team is in such a good flow that I think it's going too well. There is a sense of accomplishment that if we try to do what we should do, we will definitely get results. We were talking about whether we were falling behind in that flow, myself and player Hirayama (bitter smile), but Sota is also doing a great job and each role is fluid. So it's hard for the opponent to focus on defense. Also, the center back and the midfielder are controlling well, and the attacking players can aim when they go forward. However, I think it will be studied more in the future and there may be times when things don't go well. So I want to be able to find out what we were doing well at the good times. When we are in a bad flow or rhythm, we can look back and see what we did to win, based on the image we built during this winning streak. I think having something to fall back on is a sign of a strong team."

　[Summary of Manager Jofuku's Press Conference] "We finally returned to a 5-5 record after a tough April and May, and we were able to take the lead in the previous Kobe match. One of the main points was where we stood at the halfway point of the 17th round of the league, and we aimed to become a team that could win consecutive games after returning to a 5-5 record. Today, we had a high level of motivation in terms of whether or not we could become confident in that. Of course, when we look at the game itself, there are various challenges. In the past few games, even in games we won in June, we have been working on the task of "not ending in a chaotic manner" and taking the next step of "delivering the final blow". Our technique and decision-making in that area were a bit poor, but today we were able to score an additional goal in stoppage time, and I believe the players have a sense of accomplishment in improving that task. However, that is not the biggest progress. Of course, today's score means that we beat the strong Nagoya team 3-0, so it's not something to complain about, but all the players were cooling down with a look of "we could have done more". I think the biggest progress is that we feel like we could have done more. We don't want to stop this progress and we want to become a team that continues to grow and improve with each game. With that in mind, I want to walk together with all the fans."

　[Nagoya Stojkovic Manager's Press Conference Summary] "It was an important league match, so I am very disappointed with the result. I always talked about concentrating for the first 5 minutes after kick-off, but we were scored on in the first 2-3 minutes. It was a game where we were losing from the start... It was a difficult game. In the latter part of the game, MF Hanae and FW Maki got injured, and we were playing with two fewer players for the last 20 minutes. Of course, I think there are times when we lose. But even if we lose, I want us to lose as men. I want them to have the determination to do something. In today's game, there were selfish plays and we couldn't see cohesive soccer. The result doesn't matter, whether it's 3-0, 2-0, or 1-0. What frustrated me the most was that there were players playing selfishly. I think we need to change something for the next Nabisco Cup."