Challenge Yokohama FM with confidence and bring victory to yourself in the game

　All matches in Sec. 30 of the league were held on Sunday, facing Yokohama F. Marinos. We will travel away. In the previous match, we played with dynamic offense and defense, took the lead, but lost momentum in the second half and conceded a goal from a set piece. Recently, we have been under pressure in the final stages, which is a point to reflect on, but Coach Okuma expressed his determination for the future: "Including the substitute players, we want to unite each individual's power as the team's power and draw victory closer." Yokohama FM is currently 6th with 48 points. After the last match, defenders Nakazawa and Kurihara, and MF Karino were injured one after another, making the situation difficult, but in the last two matches, they changed their formation to something close to a 4-3-3 with MF Matsuda as the lone defensive midfielder. The midfield and forward lines have been energized, achieving consecutive wins. This match, they will start center backs Ogura and Hato. They originally have talent from midfield to forward and maintain high ball possession. Tokyo will miss Morishige due to accumulated cautions this match. Kim Young-gun, who is participating in the Asian Games, is also absent, so Tokunaga and Konno will play center back, with Yonemoto and Kajiyama, who just returned from suspension, as the double defensive midfielders. Defensively, pressing from the front line and preventing the opponent from entering the goal area as much as possible will be key. Recently, side attacks have been effective, so if we can exploit the side spaces around Yokohama MF's lone defensive midfielder, chances should increase. Currently 15th and still struggling to escape the relegation battle, the players said, "It's no use calculating wins. We will fight thinking only about earning points in the match in front of us," and will fight hard in each game. The match kicked off at 14:03 at Nissan Stadium, where the cloudy sky began to clear.

Yamamoto steals the ball, and Hirayama marks his 500th J1 goal in Tokyo, taking the lead.

　From the start, they quickly switched from defense to offense and launched attacks. At 4 minutes in, the cross was initially stopped by the opposing DF, but Yonemoto pressed aggressively against Yokohama FM, who tried to connect from there, and took the ball from Yokohama FM MF Nakamura. The ball went to Hirayama, who was positioned forward. Hirayama slipped past the opposing DF near the edge of the area by moving inside and scored with his left foot! He marked his 500th J1 goal in Tokyo and took the lead early on.At 8 minutes, right after the goal, they took the ball in midfield, and Ishikawa, drifting to the left, dribbled past the opposing DF and made a backward pass to the center. Hirayama took a decisive shot, but it went straight to the goalkeeper. At 24 minutes, from a corner kick flow, Kajiyama on the left area passed to Yonemoto in the center, who boldly aimed for a mid-range shot, but it lacked power. After that, Yokohama FM took control of the ball and launched counterattacks, mainly through set plays, but they defended calmly and developed the play quickly. Using Hirayama and Ishikawa as starting points, they connected to counterattacks.At 38 minutes, from a corner kick flow, Hirayama played a blocking role in the center, allowing Konno to break free, followed by Hanyu and Kajiyama closing in front of the goal. They managed to take a shot amid the scramble, but it was cleared by the Yokohama DF just before the goal... At the end, Tokunaga took a shot from the left area, but it went off target. In a back-and-forth game, neither side capitalized on their chances, and the first half ended with a one-goal lead.

Although they were caught up to a tie, Hirayama scored a sharp go-ahead goal! Pulling away from Yokohama FM

　In the second half, Yokohama FM gained momentum and launched a counterattack. At the 46th minute, from a front-line passing play, MF Shimizu sent a through pass into the area, and FW Ono sprinted forward using his speed. At the 49th minute, Yokohama FM's MF Nakamura made a long pass from his own half to the front. Shimizu ran onto it, but Tokunaga escaped with a throw-in. From this left throw-in, the ball was connected, and left side back Tanaka took a mid-range shot, but Gonda caught it. At the 53rd minute, MF Shimizu dropped a left cross from Yokohama FM, and central FW Yamase tried to take a shot, but Tokyo's DF covered tightly and stopped it. At the 55th minute, Ricardinho was brought on to replace Ohkuro. At the 56th minute, FW Hando came on for Yokohama FM's FW Yamase. Then at the 59th minute, right after coming on as a substitute, FW Hando held the ball in the right area, and overlapping side back Amano delivered a grounded cross. From the scramble in front of the goal, FW Ono closed in as the ball slipped through to the far post... Up to this point, Tokyo's DF had been very focused, but they were caught up and the score was tied. However, without looking down, they calmly launched a counterattack with persistent defense. At the 66th minute, from Kajiyama's development, Ishikawa launched a counterattack, Hanyu brought the ball into the area and tried to cross again, but the opposing DF blocked it. Continuing with powerful play, at the 79th minute, right side Hanyu made a pinpoint side change to Hirayama on the left front. Hirayama → Ricardinho, who moved up the center, skillfully evaded the opposing DF's mark and dropped the ball, and Hirayama, who followed around, scored with his right foot!! With an unyielding spirit and the speedy, precise play of Hanyu, Ricardinho, and Hirayama, they succeeded in taking the lead. Immediately after, at the 80th minute, from left side Nakamura to central Ricardinho, a vertical pass was sent to Hirayama in the area, and Ishikawa in the center of the area connected with the dropped ball and took a decisive shot, but it went just outside the frame... After missing this chance, they faced a fierce counterattack from Yokohama FM in the final stages, but at the 89th minute, Shigematsu was brought on for Hanyu. They pressed from the front line to try to regain momentum. Then at the 90th minute, they faced a wave of attacks from Yokohama FM's corner kicks, with successive shots, but Tokyo's DF blocked each with their bodies. United as one, they showed passionate play and defended until time was up, securing a valuable away victory. 【Player Comments】《Hirayama》"For the first goal, Yone took the ball and we were able to launch a quick counterattack. If Yone can win the ball in an advanced position, it becomes a big chance. That paid off. Regarding the shots, the second goal was similar, but I tried to take a controlled shot. For the second goal, I got a good pass back from Ricardinho. Recently, even in practice matches, we have been coordinating and understanding each other's movements, and I think we have started to click. Right now, I am playing desperately. The situation remains tough. I want to win all the remaining games, but I think good preparation is important." 《Yonemoto》"What matters most now is the result. I'm glad we could win. Yokohama FM's MF Shunsuke Nakamura can hold the ball, so I thought we should press from the front as much as possible. Especially from the start of the match, we tried to go hard, and that worked as planned. After that, we continued to close down well, and I thought if we could make him lower his head, we could neutralize his strengths. However, in the second half, we dropped back a bit and they took control of the pace. We want to correct that going forward." 【Coach Okuma's Press Conference Summary】"I think we are gradually improving with each match. Ideally, we want to keep a clean sheet, but soccer is a sport where you inevitably concede at least one goal on average. I told the players that knowing this and overcoming it is necessary to bring home wins, and gradually, including mentality and condition, we have been able to overcome it. What we achieved in today's match is not overconfidence but something we can be confident about. However, the situation in the standings has not changed at all. We want to keep the good parts and leave behind any overconfidence in this stadium, and prepare for the next match from scratch. We want to approach the remaining matches as if they were the first game." 【Yokohama FM Coach Kimura's Press Conference Summary】"It's frustrating not to win at crucial moments. I think there were many half-hearted plays, with one pass slightly off, both in offense and defense. Tokyo is compact, so we talked in meetings about spreading vertically and horizontally and exploiting the gaps created, but the vertical spreading did not go well. We were quite aware of the horizontal aspect though. Defensively, the marking handoffs and not being easily beaten were half-hearted. I don't want to make excuses for missing two center backs, but there were some makeshift parts, and the combination and communication were insufficient. We couldn't push up the back line, and they exploited that, and we could hardly repel it. That might be one of the reasons for the defeat."