Aiming for another consecutive victory despite the bad weather away game

Entering the 11th round of the league, Shonan Bellmare will face their opponent. They will be playing away. In the previous round, despite feeling the fatigue from consecutive games, the team's substitutions worked well and they showed their defensive adjustments and never-give-up attitude, resulting in a draw. In order to fight through the long season, it is necessary to calmly respond to various situations that occur during the game. From here, they will enter another 3 consecutive games and this round will be an away game in heavy rain, but they aim to surpass their opponent with appropriate judgment and fighting style and achieve another consecutive victory.

Shonan, on the other hand, finished second in J2 last season and is now facing J1 for the first time since 2010. Despite injuries to FW Furuhashi and DF Endo, they have been struggling in the league with a record of 1 win, 3 draws, and 6 losses, placing them in 17th position. However, they are still determined to stick to Shonan's style of utilizing speed and fighting spirit to achieve results.

Coach Ranko POPOVIC said about the opponent, "It's important to respect the opponent in every game. That means giving our all. We want to show our respect by paying attention to details and continuing to play our own style of football, and we want to surpass the opponent in a battle where we give our all for victory."

Tokyo's Hyun Soo JANG starts for the first time since Sec. 3. Shonan's FW Kirino returns and is on the bench. The game started at 5:04 PM with Shonan's kickoff in the pouring rain.

Conceded early in the game, and now chasing the game.

Shonan at home launched a strong attack from the beginning. They were continuously brought to the shot, but gradually Tokyo also dominated the ball. They are looking for a chance by passing and waiting.

However, in the 11th minute, Shonan launched a speedy attack from their own half. MF midfielder Nagaki passed to the center, where MF Takayama dribbled forward and spread the ball to the left side. The left cross from FW Takefu, who ran here, hit Tokunaga and fell to the left area. MF Takayama then took a direct shot with his left foot after trapping the ball... a sharp shot that hit the net, giving the opponent the lead.

Still, without panicking, they launched a counterattack from the side. In the 21st minute, Ota faked going inside and broke through vertically. From here, Watanabe jumped into the cross, but... the timing was off. In the 29th minute, Lucas tried to score from Ota's cross, but was blocked by the Shonan DF's block.

There were also scenes where Shonan was caught on the counter, but Tokyo changed their formation to a 3-back with Takahashi entering the defensive line. Lucas was at the top. Hasegawa moved to the midfield, and Tokunaga and Ota took up high positions to launch a counterattack. However, in the 41st minute, MoriShige dropped Ota's cross from a corner kick, and Watanabe's shot from the center went wide.

In the 43rd minute, Yonemoto made a move to the left area and expanded to the side. Watanabe sent a left cross, which was passed to Tokunaga in the right area... but the shot was blocked. They attacked from the side, but lacked accuracy and power in the final play, leaving them behind by one point as they headed into the second half.

Ota scored his first goal, and Watanabe's splendid shot turned the game around, but...

Ota, who had created several good opportunities since the first half, finally capitalized on his accurate kick in the early stages of the second half. When Watanabe received a foul on the outside of the right area corner and earned a free kick, Ota's direct shot in the 54th minute slipped through the gap between the opponent and his teammate and was sucked into the bottom far corner of the goal. He marked his first goal in Tokyo and equalized the score.

With this momentum, in the following 57th minute, Lucas and Erik connected with Tokunaga's right throw-in, and Watanabe, near the right corner of the area, turned around and beautifully shot with his left foot, piercing the left side net. With a relentless attack, they successfully turned the game around. It seemed like they had broken Shonan's fighting spirit and completely seized the momentum. However, Shonan also launched a counterattack, utilizing the speed of substitute FW Kirino. In the 64th minute, Kirino broke through the defense and charged towards the left area, but Takahashi made a sliding tackle to avoid danger.

However, in the 65th minute, the ball was passed around the DF line and Takahashi slipped while trying to bring it out, allowing Shonan FW Baba to intercept. He then advanced towards the center and faced the GK in a 1-on-1 situation. He was able to score with a looping shot over Gonda's head... After that, Tokyo brought in Ishikawa, Lee, and Hirayama. They regained their momentum and pushed Shonan back, but in the 82nd minute, Takahashi, who was trying to build up from their own half, was pressed by Hasegawa and lost the ball, which was then scored by Shonan MF Nagaki. This led to another goal being conceded.

Still, without giving up, in the 87th minute, Ishikawa dropped a feed to the right front line and Tokunaga shot inside. In stoppage time, Li in the center made a move and Hasegawa tenaciously connected to the left area. Hirayama tried to turn and aim for the goal by dodging the opponent's DF, but couldn't finish it. Although they managed to turn the game around once, they suffered two goals in the second half due to mistakes, resulting in a painful defeat...


[Player Comments]
《Ota》
"Unfortunately, it didn't lead to victory. I had an image for the free kick. The aim was to pass through the players and score from the far side. Before that, we had discussed that we could create chances if we attacked from the side. I think we had many opportunities to break through from the left side by creating a 2-on-1 situation with Hasegawa from the front. However, maybe we could have kept it simpler and created more opportunities to build up from my position."

"Watanabe"
"The Shonan DF line was high, so we tried to aim for the back and the gaps. We thought that if we just connected at our feet, the Shonan central block would be strong and we wouldn't be able to break through, so we tried to create a starting point in front by taking the back. Scoring is my specialty. It was with my left foot, just as I aimed, but..."


[Coach's Press Conference Summary]
"Coach Ranko POPOVIC"
"We were unable to start the game as we wanted and became a little passive. If we start like that, we cannot take the lead. We gave the opponent a chance and they took the lead. That's natural. After that, we improved our fighting attitude and caught up to tie the game, and eventually succeeded in turning the game around. But any player or big team can make mistakes. We made two mistakes and the opponent took advantage of them and we allowed them to take the lead again."

However, we must feel something to grow from today's game and use it in future matches. Instead of showing a fighting attitude after being attacked by the opponent, we must fight with an attitude that can overwhelm the opponent from the start of the game. We must work together as a team. After a defeat, the true strength of the team is tested, not just as soccer players but also as human beings. We want to show our strength in the upcoming matches.

《Shonan Cao Coach》
"Today, the supporters' cheers were felt until the end. The players were also doing their best, but there were also situations where they were booed. At that time, I told the players, 'That is the reverse side of expectations. Whether we win or lose, we must show the Shonan style.' The first goal today was in a wonderful form. The second and third goals were also due to the opponent's accident. We didn't have many opportunities to hook from ourselves last season, but FW Baba and MF Nagaki scored for us. They were also great, but we won with everyone, including the players who couldn't stand on the pitch."

Tokyo is good at moving the ball with width, and I thought we had the best ability to break through with pass and go in the league. So even if we were passed around a bit, we had to persist and keep going. I think the plan itself worked well in the first half. After conceding a goal in the second half, we were a bit slow in our start and covering, and ended up being reversed. However, today, regardless of the process, I want to evaluate the feeling of taking back two points from there. We are not a skilled team, but we have to show that kind of feeling at least in J1. Today, I was really happy to see the supporters, players who didn't play, and staff who were happy."