GAME RESULTGame Result

Sec. 10 2012/5/06 (Sun)
Audience 21,827 people
Weather: Sunny, Temperature: 13.4°C, Humidity: 68%
Referee: Nobutsugu MURAKAMI Assistant Referees: Mitsuharu TAKETA / Toshiyuki TANAKA Fourth Official: Tomohiro INOUE
J1 Sec. 10
Tohoku Denryoku

HOME
Albirex Niigata
0-2
Match Finished
First Half0-0
Second Half0-2

AWAY
FC Tokyo
Albirex Niigata | FC Tokyo | |
---|---|---|
Scorer |
51' Yohei KAJIYAMA 71' Tatsuya YAZAWA |
|
60' Tanaka Atsumu → Kisho YANO 60' Uchida Jun → Murakami Yusuke 75' Misheu → Hirai Masaki |
Player Substitution |
62' Naotake HANYU → Naohiro ISHIKAWA 78' Lucas → Kazuma WATANABE 90'+1 Yohei KAJIYAMA → Takuji YONEMOTO |
3 | Shoot | 8 |
5 | CK | 7 |
14 | FK | 14 |
83' Kim Jin-Su |
Warning |
47' Kenta MUKUHARA |
Exit |
GK | 21 | Tsuneaki Higashiguchi |
DF | 17 | Jun Uchida |
DF | 4 | Daisuke SUZUKI |
DF | 5 | Naoki Ishikawa |
DF | 19 | Kim Jin-soo |
MF | 36 | Naoya Kikuchi |
MF | 15 | Honma Isao |
MF | 6 | Yuta MIKADO |
MF | 23 | Tanaka Atsumi |
FW | 11 | Bruno Lopez |
FW | 10 | Micheu |
GK | 30 | Hidemi Ozawa |
DF | 3 | Kentaro OI |
DF | 25 | Yusuke Murakami |
MF | 8 | Kazuya Kiguro |
MF | 7 | Fujita Seiya |
FW | 9 | Kisho YANO |
FW | 14 | Hirai Masaki |
GK | 20 | Shuichi Gonda |
DF | 33 | Kenta Mukuhara |
DF | 2 | Yusuke Tokunaga |
DF | 3 | Masato MORISHIGE |
DF | 6 | Kosuke OTA |
MF | 4 | Hideto TAKAHASHI |
MF | 8 | Ariajasuru HASEGAWA |
MF | 22 | Naoki Hayu |
MF | 10 | Yosuke Kajiyama |
MF | 39 | Tatsuya YAZAWA |
FW | 49 | Lucas |
GK | 1 | Hitoshi Shiota |
DF | 30 | Hyun Soo JANG |
MF | 7 | Takashi Yonemoto |
MF | 17 | Hiroki KAWANO |
MF | 18 | Naohiro Ishikawa |
FW | 11 | Kazuma WATANABE |
FW | 24 | Kentaro SHIGEMATSU |
Photo Gallery
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Goal-side Fans and Supporters
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Kajiyama's goal scene (Team 1st goal)
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Player Mokuhara who assisted the opening goal
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Lucas, who faces tough marking in front of the goal
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Hasegawa player sends a pass to the front line
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Player Ishikawa advances with a dribble
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Player Takahashi keeping the ball
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Tanizawa player celebrates scoring
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Player Tokunaga played as a center back
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Ota player who actively participated in the attack
[Player/Coach Comments]
A battle to aim for victory as one unit towards breaking the losing streak
In the 10th round of the league, we will face Albirex Niigata away. In the 5/2 ACL Brisbane Roar match, we scored our first 4 goals of the season and secured our spot in round 16. On the other hand, we are currently on a 3-game losing streak in the league. Unlike in the ACL, our opponents have analyzed and prepared for us, making it difficult for us to play our style of soccer. However, we want to approach this match with the same speed and aggressive attitude we showed in the Brisbane match, in order to end our losing streak.
Niigata, on the other hand, is currently in 16th place with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses. Despite their low ranking, they were able to secure a victory in the previous match against Hiroshima by taking advantage of their strong defense and capitalizing on their opponent's weaknesses. They have only conceded 8 goals so far this season. On the other hand, they have only scored 5 goals, the lowest in the league. However, they rely on their solid defense and counterattacks, and coach Konda says, "Even if we are dominated by the opponent, we will stick to our strategy and patiently wait for the right moment to strike. We have no doubts about our approach."
Tokyo made changes to their lineup from the Brisbane game. In place of Hyun Soo JANG, Tokunaga will come in on the right side, while Ota will return on the left side, and Lucas will be placed as the top striker. The focus will be on fixing their defense, which has been conceding goals recently, and more importantly, on how to score goals in a game where they have been dominating but only managed to score 1 goal in their last 3 games.
The difficulty of the league, as well as the injuries of Hirayama, Otake, and Tanabe, make it difficult to construct the team, but above all, it is the J1 league with fierce competition. One situation, one game, will determine the outcome. We must maintain perseverance and concentration, and aim for victory as one team, even away from home, to gain 3 points and gain confidence. The match started at 19:04 in Niigata at the Tohoku Electric Power Big Swan Stadium, where the rain had stopped but the chill remained.
Unable to create scoring opportunities to control the game, it remains scoreless in the second half.
Attacking aggressively from the start of the first half. In the 3rd minute, Mori Shige carried the ball forward from the starting point and Takahashi connected with Ota's left cross, but Kajiyama's ground middle shot went wide. In the 11th minute, Lucas chased the opponent's DF and stole the ball on the right side, and followed up with Kajiyama. Although he was challenged by the opponent's DF and couldn't finish the shot, Taniyama followed up on the loose ball and took a shot from the front. It was a decisive shot, but it was saved by the Niigata GK and went out for a corner kick.
Niigata also gradually begins to counterattack. In the 23rd minute, Niigata's left MF Tanaka dribbles and makes a foul-like tackle against Tokunaga. The game continues without stopping, and a shot is taken from near the left corner of the area. It grazes the post and bounces back for a CK. In the 28th minute, it is brought in by dribbling and developed to the left FW Bruno Lopez from the central FW Misheu, but the cross goes beyond the line and is saved by the opponent's mistake.
Despite being attacked afterwards, they did not let the goal break through, with Gonda at the center. In the 35th minute, Ota made a big side change to Kajiyama on the left side, and Taniyama broke through on the right side, but was unable to shoot and only got a right corner kick. They then connected this corner kick with a short pass, and Hanyu in the near area entered a shooting position but was blocked. They spent most of the time in the opponent's territory, but were unable to create any clear chances. They remained focused on defense and did not give the opponent any real opportunities as they headed into the second half.
Following Kajiyama's opening goal, Tanizawa also scored to secure a clean sheet victory.
At halftime, coach Popovic instructed us to "be more aware of shooting", and that paid off early in the second half. In the 51st minute, Lucas kept the ball from a vertical pass by Tokunaga. He then overlapped with Mukuhara, who quickly crossed the ball. In the center, Kajiyama took a direct volley shot while being pushed by the opposing defender, and it went into the left side of the goal, giving us the lead. However, we ended up allowing Niigata to make a comeback afterwards.
But even in the final scene, he firmly blocked with his body. Then, he regained the flow and turned to attack. In the 59th minute, when Takahashi received Kajiyama's cross in the right area, he controlled it and boldly aimed for the middle with his right foot, barely grazing the DF and the post... only to get a CK. In the 62nd minute, Ishikawa was substituted for Hanyu, and they aimed for an additional goal in a more attacking manner. In the 65th minute, Ota → Ishikawa made a speedy dribble from a counterattack, but the opposing DF also returned and they couldn't make it to the shot.
In the 71st minute, a right throw-in in the opponent's territory. From Murahara's long throw, Lucas in the right area competes with the opponent and reacts to the ball that slipped from the opponent's defender's feet, and Tanizawa neatly slots it into the goal in the left area! They were able to take the desired additional point. Even after that, they maintained a solid defense and did not break their attacking posture. In the 86th minute, Kajiyama dropped the ball from Tanizawa's left free kick and Hasegawa shot it, but it went off target. In the end, they won without conceding any goals with a stable game plan and stopped their losing streak.
【Player Comments】《Kajiyama》"I think everyone had the desire to win and we were able to express that and fight. It was good that we were patient in the first half and were able to score two goals in the second half. (About the goal. First goal in the league?) I was free so I was able to match Kent's cross well. I've been playing together with Kent for a long time, so it was good to be able to score from his ball... I tried to control it with my instep and aim for the opposite side, but it didn't hit well (bitter smile). But it rolled nicely at a good angle, so maybe it was good in the end..."
As a top midfielder, I feel like I need to score more goals. The coach always tells me "Don't miss your chances to shoot" and I am trying to focus on shooting during practice, but I also want to create more opportunities for our team. Today, I was able to make some plays by exchanging passes with Lucas, but I want to increase those types of plays even more.
"Gonda" "We had lost three consecutive games in the league, but with the ACL in between, the team's atmosphere wasn't bad. In the Brisbane game, we took control and were able to launch a flowing attack, so personally, I wanted to take that momentum and bring it in a positive direction for the league. Today, we were able to dominate the game and get a good result. I think it's the first time we've been able to control the game like this."
However, after watching today's game, the opponent will surely do their research. Especially with Sapporo, ACL Ulsan, and Tosu... we will continue to face organized teams. Just because we were able to break through the opponent today, there is no guarantee that we can do the same next time. In order to continue the victory from today, we want to continue to improve in practice. Right now, our record is only "50% win rate plus 1 win". In order to truly compete for the top, I think we need to continue winning from here.
[Coach Popovich's full press conference] "I think we played a smart and high-quality game today. As this game has proven, we are a team that can dominate the game from start to finish, regardless of whether we are playing at home or away. I think we were able to control the game, dominate it, and continue to attack, and we were able to show the attitude of going for goals, and I think we played well enough to get the result. Furthermore, we must not forget that we have a tough ACL game on Wednesday, and I think it is even more commendable that we were able to show consecutive high-quality games today, and I want to thank the players who fought today."
The important thing is to continue this. What I would like you all to think about is not to judge only by the results. When we were on a 3-game losing streak, there were many questions about the losing streak, but I would like you to understand about football and think about what direction we are going in and what kind of team we will become in the future, and watch football with that perspective."
[Niigata Kurosaki Coach's Press Conference Summary] "Today, in the middle of Golden Week, I am very disappointed that despite the many supporters who came to support us, we ended up with this result. I am filled with regret that I was not able to do enough. In terms of game plan and strategy, we were able to create a solid block and launch quick attacks from counters in the first half. However, in the second half, we were scored against during a crucial time and it became very difficult. Despite this, we tried to change our system and go for a goal, but giving up a second goal was a huge setback."
If we don't reduce mistakes like that, it will be difficult to win in the league. In the current situation, it is also difficult to score 2 or 3 goals. Even if we concede 1 goal, if we fight tenaciously and connect to a tie or the next goal, I think there was a possibility. I think the second goal was a big point today."