A match where we want to continue winning by further improving our attacking precision

　In Sec. 20 of the league, we will face Oita Trinita away. In the previous match against Tottori, we maintained control throughout and achieved a convincing victory at home. We have secured five consecutive wins, but Coach Okuma stated, "I am not too focused on the winning streak, but the team's foundation is gradually being established. The direction is good, so I want to correct further issues and aim to score from combinations in the attacking third."

　Oita currently has 16 points and is in 16th place. Although there are ups and downs in performance, under the leadership of Kazuaki TASAKA, who took charge this season, the team has become more aggressive and cohesive, showing momentum. Particularly with the 3-4-3 formation, the attacking lineup, centered around midfielder Miyazawa, includes the tall FW Morishima, the speedy FW Sanpei, and the skillful FW Maeda, each with their own characteristics, making it important to prevent them from playing freely.

　Tokyo will approach the match with the same formation as the previous game. This marks five consecutive matches without changes to the starting lineup. As Kajiyama mentioned, "The image of scoring goals is gradually aligning among everyone," the team's objectives are clear. In this match, they will apply pressure from the front, maintain defensive stability, and enhance the precision of their attacks to exploit the opponent's weaknesses. This will be a key point to watch in the match.

　Recently, we have been able to capitalize on set plays and the opponent's weaknesses to score. With the increasing variety, we want to exploit the spaces between Oita's three defenders through the coordination of the midfield and the side backs, scoring from the flow of the game to secure victory. The match started at 19:05 Tokyo time at the humid Oita Bank Dome.

Tokyo Set Sights On Sixth Straight Win

FC Tokyo made the long journey south to Kyushu to take on Oita Trinita in the 20th game of the season. The side was aiming for a sixth consecutive win following the comfortable 3-0 victory over Tottori in the previous outing. Manager Okuma played down the streak, saying, "We're not thinking about it too much, to be honest, the team's building a solid base little by little and we're going in the right direction. We still have issues though and we're working on our combinations in the final third of the pitch to score more goals."
Opponents Oita lay in 16th place with 16 points at kickoff. The side was unpredictable but was showing more aggression under first-year manager Kazuaki Tasaka. The side played a 3-4-3 formation built around midfield pivot Miyazawa with forward Morishima supplying height, Mitsuhira speed and Maeda the technique. Preventing them from playing would be the key to success for Tokyo.
Tokyo remained unchanged for the fifth straight game. Midfielder Kajiyama commented,
"We're slowly beginning to share a common image of how to score goals." Pressing hard from the front, defending solidly and exploiting any chinks in the Oita defensive armour would be the game plan, along with increasing the accuracy in attack and making the best of set plays. Exploiting space behind Oita's three-man backline by the midfielders and sidebacks would also be vital.
Tokyo kicked off shortly after 7pm on a humid evening.

Unable to capitalize on chances, ending the first half without scoring

　From the beginning, Tokyo dominated possession of the ball, while Oita continued to launch counterattacks. In the 7th minute, Tanabe made a lob pass to the front of the goal from the center. Although it was cleared by the defense, Nakamura quickly picked it up and passed it to Kajiyama in the area. He calmly slotted it into the goal, but it was ruled offside. In the 13th minute, Nakamura on the left side dribbled in and crossed the ball. Nakamura reacted to the loose ball and took a shot, but it was blocked by the defense. In the 16th minute, Takahashi advanced from the center to Tanizawa. He trapped the ball and took a shot from distance, but it went straight to the goalkeeper.

　The offensive continued, and in the 20th minute, Takahashi passed to Roberto CESAR, who dribbled past the opposing defenders one after another and took a shot, but it went over the goal. In the 22nd minute, Kajiyama made a through pass to Morishige in the center in front of the goal. Morishige turned and passed to CESAR. He quickly aimed for the lower left corner of the goal with his right foot, but the opposing GK made a great save, preventing the goal. In the 26th minute, Morishige sent a long pass in front of the goal. Kajiyama broke free and, while colliding with the opposing GK, attempted a shot with his left foot, but it did not go on target.

　Although the game developed unilaterally, they were unable to shake the net. After that, Tokyo created several chances in front of the goal through careful buildup, but they could not deliver the decisive blow. Conversely, Oita's counterattacks, occasionally utilizing forward Morishima and right midfielder Nishi, were kept at bay by Shiota, and the first half ended scoreless.

Tokyo Fail To Take Chances In Scoreless First Half

The game quickly settled into a pattern of Tokyo enjoying most of the possession while Oita tried to hit on the counter attack. In the 7th minute Tanabe's lofted pass forward was cleared, Nakamura pounced on the loose ball and moved it along to Kajiyama inside the Oita area but he was given offside. In the 13th minute Nakamura raced down the wing and crossed; ???? took the ball down neatly and shot but a defender blocked the effort away. Takahashi fed Yazawa with a through ball in the 16th minute but Yazawa's shot was straight at Shimizu.
Tokyo continued to press forward aggressively. In the 20th minute Takahashi fed Roberto Cesar and the big Brazilian held off a defender before shooting narrowly over the bar. Two minutes later Cesar drew a stunning save from Shimizu, the Oita keeper diving low and left to keep out a firm drive after good work by Morishige. In the 26th minute Morishige hoisted a long ball forward, Kajiyama sprinted through the Oita defence and attempted to flick the ball over the onrushing Shimizu's head. Kajiyama made contact first but the ball sailed narrowly over the bar.
Tokyo continued to create chances as the game progressed without finding a decisive finish while at the other end Shiota marshaled the Tokyo defence to see off threats by Morishima and Nishi on the counter attack. The first half ended 0-0.

Unable to break Oita's solid defense, ended in a scoreless draw

　In the 47th minute of the second half, Oita's FW Maeda made a strong dribble, and FW Sanpei took a shot from the right area, but was saved by a mistake. In the 49th minute, they earned a corner kick, and the kicker Tanizawa executed a trick play. He sent a ground pass in front of the goal, and Takahashi made a run. In the following 51st minute, Kajiyama took a header from another corner kick, but both were thwarted by the quick reaction of Oita's GK.

　Tokyo continues to circulate the ball in the second half, while Oita maintains a quick transition attack. In the 66th minute, Kajiyama attempted a dribble shot after a clever keep, but he just couldn't hit the target. In the 61st minute, Otake was brought on to replace Tanabe. Immediately after, Tanizawa, who had moved in from the side, passed to Otake in the center, who turned to aim for the goal, but the Oita defense blocked it.

　In the 82nd minute, Uesato came in as a defensive midfielder, moving Kajiyama up one line to aim for the goal. However, in the 86th minute, Oita's MF Nishi slipped past the offside line to create a one-on-one situation with the GK. But the shot was saved by Shiota's fine play! In stoppage time, Otake's right corner kick found Konno, who was free at the far post, and he dropped it with his chest and took a volley shot, but it went wide...

　Despite taking nearly three times the number of shots as Oita, the 'one goal' remained distant in front of Oita's solid defense, which did not lose focus until the end. The team could not achieve a sixth consecutive win and settled for one point away.

　[Player Comments] {Kajiyama} "Oita played with a five-back formation, and their defensive midfielders dropped back to create a solid block. We couldn't break through that, but in the future, we might face more strategies like this. The match clearly showed our defensive issues, such as managing counterattacks. We haven't lost, and I want to utilize what we gained today for the next match. Today, I felt we rushed too much vertically and seemed fatigued in our attack. To break down the opponent's block, we needed to use the flanks more. I think it was necessary to circulate the ball and switch sides to unsettle the opponent."

　I felt that it was also necessary to take breaks while connecting during attacks. We were able to advance into the attacking third, and it was fine to attack when there was an opening, but if we had consistently changed sides at a faster tempo and utilized the attacking runs of the full-backs, there might have been moments when the opponent's concentration wavered. I want to increase those opportunities and improve the quality.

　Shioda: "I think we were quite aggressive and it was a game where we lost 2 points. (There were some moments of danger, right?) We faced Oita's counterattacks several times, but I think it was good that we were able to prevent goals in those critical moments. The opponent doesn't attack that often, so while considering the balance of our defense, we are just focusing on staying concentrated."

　(The winning streak has stopped, but?) We have kept a clean sheet in the last three matches, and that is the result of everyone's hard work. Since we haven't lost today, I don't think we need to think negatively. (It seems that Lucas will be able to play from the next match?) Competition within the team, not just for forwards, is a good thing. Everyone is in good condition, and I believe it doesn't matter who plays. Right now, the team is united, and we want to treat each match with importance and accumulate points.

　[Summary of Coach Okuma's Press Conference] "In the first half, we were creating chances, but I think we lacked decisive shots. There was a moment in the second half when Takahashi took a shot, but we needed to create those situations from the first half to draw out the opponent's defensive line. Regarding the second half, when it comes to attacking, Oita set up a solid five-man block, so I think we lacked decisive moments to exploit the gaps behind them. It's good to attack through the center at the end, but we need to improve the accuracy there and the precision of crosses aimed between the goalkeeper and the defenders."

　The opponent is also working very hard in the heat, but I think there were moments when we lacked precision and combination when the ball went behind the defensive line, and we couldn't get to the shot due to the accuracy of play in tight spaces. In terms of defense, Shiota did a great job of stopping them. I believe that was a positional mistake on our part, and it's something we absolutely cannot do moving forward in J2. However, he really defended well. In a sense, I think it's very important to positively recognize that and make corrections while playing each match one by one.

　[Oita - Coach Tasaka's Press Conference Summary] "First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved, including the company, stakeholders, media, and supporters, for mobilizing supporters for this event starting a month ago for the match on July 9. Finally, I conveyed to the players that we want to win against FC Tokyo to complete this. Only you, the players, can make that happen. With that in mind, we approached today's match.

　Of course, compared to the opponents we've faced so far, the level is much higher and the pace is different. In the first half, the players were a bit confused and hesitant on the pitch, but I told them not to give in at halftime. In the second half, we managed to challenge FC Tokyo while moving the ball around and created some chances. We couldn't score even though we were close, but I believe the players fought hard and barely earned that one point.

Oita Frustrate Tokyo As Game Ends Scoreless

In the 47th minute Oita forward Maeda dribbled his way through the Tokyo defense and set up Mitsuhira, whose glaring miss from a good position earned Tokyo a reprieve from making a poor start to the second period. In the 49th minute Tokyo won a corner and Yazawa attempted to surprise the Oita defense by playing the ball along the ground into the area where Takahashi met it on the run. Another corner in the 51st minute saw Shimizu deny Tokyo again with a superb save from Kajiyama's header.
The second half developed the same pattern as the first; Tokyo stroking the ball around, probing for openings and Oita attempting to hit on the break. In the 66th minute Kajiyama showed his technique as he retained possession, dribbled forward and shot. Unfortunately the effort was wide of the target again. Tokyo replaced Tanabe with Otake in the 61st minute. Shortly after his introduction Otake nearly broke the deadlock following good work from Yazawa but a solid block by an Oita defender cleared the danger.
Tokyo introduced Uesato in a defensive midfield position in the 82nd minute, moving Kajiyama one rank further forward. Oita had a golden opportunity to win the game in the 86th minute as forward Nishi slipped the ball through to Mitsuhira, and the Oita striker was in the clear with only Shiota to beat. Mitsuhira shot but Shiota pulled off a superb save to keep Tokyo in the game. In additional time Otake floated a corner beyond the far post to Konno who had time to chest the ball down and shoot, but again his volley sailed over the bar.
Tokyo had managed three times as many attempts on goal as their hosts but the tight Oita defense held firm to the end. The final whistle blew on a 0-0 draw that ended Tokyo's winning streak at five and earned a single point for their exertions.


Players comments 
Kajiyama 
"Oita played with a block of five defenders at the back and we couldn't break them down. I think we're going to see a lot of teams play this way against us from now on. It was a game that showed us the issues we face. We didn't lose though and we now have to make use of what we learned today in the next game. We played the ball straight up the field too much and I think that showed we're suffering from some fatigue. We should have used the sides more and played more crossfield balls to pull them apart. We also need to find some way of taking a break when we have the ball and are passing it around in attack. We also need to increase the tempo and bring the side backs into the game more. Basically we have to increase all those things and improve the quality of our game".


Shiota
"We attacked a lot but we dropped two points in the game. Oita had several counter attacks and it was very pleasing that we stopped them from scoring. They didn't really commit too many players into attack but we focused on our defensive balance and keeping our concentration.
What about the winning run ending? Well, that's our third straight clean sheet and it's the result of everyone's hard work. We didn't lose today so there's no point in being negative.
What about the prospect of Lucas playing in the next game? It's great that there's competition for positions throughout the side, not just in attack. We're all in good condition so there's no problem with whoever plays. The team is united right now and we just want to take each game as it comes and carry on racking up the points."


FC Tokyo manager Kiyoshi Okuma
"Although we created a lot of openings in the first half we didn't really take many shots on goal. We need a way of drawing the opposition out when they are defending deeply, as they did in the first half. We didn't really get behind their defensive block enough. Then in the second half when we were attacking through the middle we needed more crosses from wide positions into the danger area between the defence and goalkeeper.
Shiota played very well today. That late chance came from a mistake in our positioning but he made a great save to keep us in the game. From now we have to carry on with what we're doing, fixing what needs fixing and taking each game as it comes."

Oita Trinita manager Kazuaki Tasaka
"First of all I'd like to thank the supporters and everyone who has worked so hard over the last month, the company staff and the media, to bring this great crowd here today.
I told the players that the culmination of all this work would be in them beating FC Tokyo and that they were the only ones who could achieve that. We haven't been faced with an opponent like Tokyo so far, a top level team with great speed and some of the players were perplexed and we lost our way a little in the first half. I told them to overcome this at half time and in the second half we put pressure on Tokyo and made some chances. We nearly had the winner but it wasn't to be. Still, the players fought very well and really dug in to earn us the point."