Win the league match by surpassing the opponent at home!

　League Sec. 22 will be held. We will face Omiya Ardija at home. In the previous match, we were at a numerical disadvantage and faced fierce attacks from Kashiwa, but we were able to take one point away. As a result, we have not lost in 3 official matches in August. As for the game itself, we always have "our time" to take the lead and create chances, and at the same time, we are able to show our perseverance. However, we have not won in the league since the match against G Osaka on July 7th, so this match is a must-win at home.

　However, as the transfer window nears its end, Tanihara has completed his transfer. On the other hand, Tokunaga and Gonda, who were preparing for the London Olympics, returned to the team after about a month. After that, for the activities of the Japan national team, Takahashi and Gonda only joined the team for two days, but they were both in good condition and ready to start. In addition, for this match, Kaga was suspended, so Takahashi was placed as center back, Tokunaga on the right side back, and Nakamura on the left. Edmilson led the front line, with Ishikawa and Lucas on the sides.

　Omiya, who they are facing, is currently in 16th place with 20 points. They changed coaches to VERDENIK in the middle of the season. In addition, Slovenian-born big FW Zlatan and Novakovic have joined the team, and the members have changed drastically since the league opening match. They have not won in the last 4 games, but in the previous match, FW Zlatan scored his first goal, and they have scored in every game, so we must be wary of their attacking power.

　Today, FW Zlatan is out of the lineup. FW Novakovic and MF Cho also started on the bench, but the coach remains cautious, saying "Omiya is still a dangerous team." However, they cannot afford to have a disappointing performance at home like they did in the 20th round against Niigata. They need to not only avoid making mistakes, but also dominate in terms of quickness and ball control, and win with their own style of play. The game started at 6:34 PM at Ajinomoto Stadium, where the morning thunderstorm and evening passing rain have cleared, but the humidity remains. Omiya kicked off the game at 6:34 PM.

Enter the game aggressively, but unable to effectively connect the ball and attack.

　Showing an active attitude in both offense and defense from the start, Edmilson took a shot from the right area in the first minute. In the 9th minute, Lucas on the left side passed to Kajiyama on the front line and ran forward, but his shot from the drop was just to the right. On the contrary, in the 12th minute, Omiya received a side change and sent a sharp cross to the right area from the left side back Shimodaira. The ball went over Nakamura's head and reached the feet of right MF Watanabe, followed by right side back Watabe, but Morishige blocked it with his body in succession.

　However, in this play, Morishige injured his leg and temporarily went out of the pitch. From that time on, we gradually lost the ball and our timing was off in the attack, allowing Omiya to take control of the ball. Still, we stayed focused in the final line of defense and in the 27th minute, Kajiyama received a pass on the left side and cut past the opponent's defender, taking the ball into the middle and shooting from the left area. However, the angle was just slightly off and the ball hit the post. Edmilson, who followed up on the rebound, collided with the opponent and couldn't finish the shot...

　Kajiyama created a big chance with his individual skill, but couldn't score here. In the 38th minute, Omiya's defensive midfielder Aoki sent a long pass and Hasegawa, the forward, broke through, but Takahashi skillfully used his body to steal the ball. After that, they continued to fight without panicking and tried to take control, but they were often tripped up by miscommunication and the rough pitch, making it difficult to effectively connect and attack. In the 44th minute, from Yonemoto's play, Tokunaga sent an early cross and Lucas jumped in at the far post, but was denied a corner kick by the Omiya defenders, and the first half ended scoreless.

The defense was exploited and we conceded the first goal, despite launching a fierce attack with all members...

　In the second half, Tokyo dominated the ball throughout after trying to rebuild. Around the 50th minute, they continuously earned corner kicks and pushed Omiya back. In the 52nd minute, Lucas on the left passed to Kajiyama in the center, who then took a sharp shot from just outside the box, but it was saved by the GK. In the 60th minute, Tokunaga took the ball up himself and aimed for the goal from the right side of the box. It was blocked and resulted in a corner kick, but the ball ended up at Kajiyama's feet in front of the center area. He took a direct shot towards the bottom right corner, but once again it was saved by the GK.

　63 minutes, quickly passing to the front line, Ishikawa floated a pass to the right area. Lucas ran in to try to match it, but his leg was taken and his posture collapsed. Omiya substituted FW Novakovic in the 65th minute. However, the flow did not change, and in the 67th minute, Hasegawa dribbled past Lucas and played a one-two, but his decisive shot from the center went outside the frame... Immediately after that, Tokyo also brought in Nemanja Vucicevic, who made his first appearance, and in the 77th minute, Watanabe, in an attempt to snatch the victory. However, in the 78th minute, Novakovic skillfully scored a goal from a counter attack, causing them to concede a goal.

　Still, without giving up, they launched a counterattack and in the 82nd minute, from Hasegawa's vertical pass, Lucas on the left area → Watanabe on the right area took a shot, but it was blocked. In the 84th minute, from Yonemoto's through pass, Watanabe broke through on the right area. Although the angle was not good, the shot he took towards the goal where the Omiya GK had come out was blocked by the Omiya DF who had covered it... In the 86th minute, they persistently connected with the second ball and Lucas on the left side floated a ball into the area. Nemanja Vucicevic, who had jumped out with his back to the goal, aimed for a volley, but it missed the target.

　In the 88th minute, Mita came in. The whole team launched a fierce attack, and in the 90th minute, Mita received a pass from Yonemoto on the left area and took a direct shot, but it was saved by the goalkeeper and resulted in a corner kick. In stoppage time, Nemanja VUCICEVIC headed from Yonemoto's cross, but it went wide. They continued to push Omiya back with numbers in the front line, but in the end, they were unable to break through the center and their chances were blocked by Omiya's physical defense. They were caught off guard for a moment in defense and ended up losing 0-1, a painful defeat.

　【Player Comments】《Tokunaga》"We were able to control the ball and create chances. However, we were caught off guard by Omiya's one shot, so it's very frustrating. But I believe that if we continue to play this style of football, we can get results. It's important to keep going. Personally, it's been a while since I returned to the team, so I really wanted to win. I want to continue playing the type of football where we dominate and win."

　《Gonda》"Conceding a goal can decide the game. So I have regrets, but there were also mistakes from myself and the DF, not just in the goal-scoring situation. That may have given the momentum to the opponent. If those mistakes hadn't happened, we might have scored as well...I think. We need to fix that."

　(About Omiya FW Novakovic) He is a great player with experience from around the world. When I returned from the Olympics, I talked about playing at a world-class level, and I think today's shot was exactly that. However, we can't just say "the opponent was good" and leave it at that. We should have been able to defend against it, and that's why we play. But I don't think the reason for our loss was "lack of finishing". We created so many chances and took 18 shots, but Omiya managed to defend until the very end. We can overcome this by continuing to be patient.

　【Coach Popovic's Press Conference Summary】"We lost 0-1 in this kind of game, but... I want to say that the players did well. It's true that the pitch was bad, but I think we were able to show what we do in training and play without being affected in terms of moving and breaking the ball. In this kind of pitch condition, it's not easy to connect simple passes with few touches, but we created many scoring opportunities. However, we were unlucky and couldn't score. As for the goal we conceded, we had three players approaching one Omiya player. We need to make adjustments for being scored on in a 1v3 situation."

　I really want to thank all the fans and supporters. I think there was applause after the game because you could feel which team was better today, and your eyes watching the game will be the guarantee for the club's future. Both teams played clean today, and I feel the referee made good judgments. (Why did you continue to use Morishige, who was injured in the middle of the first half, until the end?) He said he could continue, so I let him. I don't think his play quality dropped or was affected by the injury because of that.

　[Omiya Verdenik's press conference summary] "We played well despite the bad pitch conditions and I am very satisfied with winning 3 points away. The opponent also had decisive chances, but if the pitch conditions were a little better, we could have moved the ball faster and put more accurate vertical passes. I think the opponent had the same conditions, but there were many mistakes due to this. However, we were able to make quick developments in both offense and defense and there were many side changes and centering."

　I think we played better than the opponent in the first half. The start of the second half was also good, but in the last 20 minutes we were pushed back and they created decisive chances. However, there were also lucky moments and we were able to finish the game without conceding. (FW Novakovic scored his first goal, right?) At this point, I can't say we are fully prepared, but if we were more prepared, he would be a player with more danger in front of goal. Whether it's an easy or difficult situation, if we play collectively, we can score at least once out of two chances. That's his quality as a player, and today he showed plenty of danger in front of goal. I think he's a player who can help the team."