Show our full strength and challenge the top team Urawa!

League Sec. 21 will be held. Urawa Reds will face off against Ajinomoto at Ajinomoto Stadium. In the Emperor's Cup match against Matsumoto Yamaga FC, Kono and Hirayama scored goals to secure victory. They have also maintained a clean sheet and have remained undefeated in their last 8 official matches since the break. However, they will face Urawa Reds just 2 days after the Emperor's Cup match. As a result, the starting lineup will prioritize "condition (Manager Massimo)" and make changes to the attacking lineup once again. Kono, Hirayama, and Mutoh will be listed as forwards, with Kono playing in the top position. In the midfield, Hanyu and Morishige, who was substituted due to injury in the Matsumoto match, will also be listed in the starting lineup without any major issues.

Urawa, on the other hand, currently stands at the top with 40 points. In the 3rd round of the Emperor's Cup, they suffered a major defeat with a completely different lineup, making their team situation quite different from Tokyo's. However, their total goals in the league are 27, with only 14 goals conceded, making them a solid and skillful team that has steadily accumulated victories.

Manager Massimo says, "Urawa has been involved in the championship race for the past few years and this season, the team has been built for that purpose. The defense, offense, and individual players as well as the organization are all well-developed," he talks about his impression. However, he emphasizes the importance of approaching each game with a calm mindset, saying, "We can only get 3 points in every game. If we become stubborn and let the opponent control the rhythm, it will be difficult to win." It will be a crucial match where we want to show an aggressive attitude at home and come out with a victory against Urawa, who boasts high precision and quality in both offense and defense.

The intense heat until yesterday has subsided, but Ajinomoto Stadium remains humid. The game started at 6:34 PM with a kickoff in Tokyo.

Progressing at a high pace, the match is unfolding aggressively.

Both teams fiercely battled from the start. In the first minute, Muto tried to receive a feed from his own team in the front line, but was fouled in the competition, earning a FK. In the 5th minute, Yonemoto tried to steal the ball on the right side of his own team, but couldn't get it and Urawa DF Makino made a move on the left front line, and a cross was made. In response, MF Umezaki slid in near the goal, but the shot missed the frame.

However, in the 6th minute, Urawa MF Hirakawa on the right side, Suzuki in the center expands to the left. MF Umezaki makes a move in the area and scores a shot to the lower left, threading the needle between Tokunaga who faced him and the covering DF. Tokyo concedes the first goal and suffers their first goal in 6 games.
However, in the 8th minute, Muto pressed Suzuki, the Urawa MF, on the front line and rushed towards the goal after stealing the ball. Although Urawa DF Moriwaki ran to cover and only got a CK, Ota's right CK was met by Takahashi near the goal, who jumped in and scored a spectacular header GOAL!! They caught up to the equalizer in the early stages.

At 15 minutes, Ota steals the opponent's ball in a low position in their own half, connects with Hayabusa on the left side, and passes to Hirayama in front, who then makes a through pass to the front line. Muto, who has moved up on the inside, uses his speed to dribble into the left area and calmly slots the ball into the far corner for an additional goal! In the 21st minute, Urawa MF Moriwaki commits a foul against Kawano, who was trying to receive a feed from Tokunaga in the area, resulting in a penalty kick. In the 23rd minute, Kawano himself calmly converts the penalty kick to increase the lead by two points.

At 26 minutes, Kono on the right side passed to Hirayama in the center, who then made a direct pass to Muto on the left side. Kono then made a run behind the defense and faced the GK in a one-on-one situation. He took a decisive shot, but it was saved by Urawa GK Nishikawa... Later on, there were moments where we were pushed back by Urawa's frequent side changes, but Yonemoto and Hanyu showed great resilience with their sliding tackles and effectively led counterattacks. However, at 33 minutes, Hirayama was fouled and injured, forcing him to be substituted. It was an unfortunate incident.

As a result, Edu came in at 34 minutes. Although Urawa had not allowed any scoring opportunities, at 42 minutes, Morishige slid in to defend against Urawa FW Koroki's dribble into the area. He missed the ball and gave away a penalty kick. Koroki himself scored the goal, allowing the opposing team to catch up by one point. Both teams were known for their low number of goals conceded, but unexpectedly, the first half ended with a back-and-forth match.

Muto scored 2 goals with sharp movements! We succeeded in taking the lead, but...

The second half battle was the focus, but they were pushed back from the beginning. Tokyo was unable to move the ball forward, while Urawa was able to create opportunities from the sides and attack wide. In the 60th minute, Urawa attacked from the left side and DF Makino entered the area. The Tokyo DF tried to stop him, but MF Umezaki followed and took the loose ball, getting into a shooting position in the area. It was blocked, but the ball fell again and went to the right side. MF Hirakawa ran in and they conceded their third goal...

However, without getting discouraged, he showed a strong determination to win. In the 64th minute, Ota on the left side passed to Kawano on the inside, who then made a move forward. Kawano then passed to Muto in the center. Muto dribbled and slid to the side, splitting the defense and shooting to the bottom left corner of the goal! With Muto's amazing shot, they once again took the lead.

However, in the 71st minute, Urawa brought in MF Marquinhos to the shadow position. MF Abe moved to the DF line, MF Kashiwagi to the defensive midfield, and DF Moriwaki to the right wide position. In the second half, Tokyo tried to contain Urawa's counterattack by having Takahashi take care of the DF line. However, Urawa brought in FW Lee in the 78th minute. Shortly after, Lee entered the left area and was stopped by Tokunaga, resulting in a painful PK decision. In the 80th minute, Lee scored the PK... and the game was back to square one.

As the fatigue deepens, both teams continue to fiercely attack in search of a lead. In the 81st minute, Tokyo substitutes Watanabe for Muto, and in the 87th minute, Mita for Kono. In the 89th minute, Urawa launches a strong attack and steals the ball from Tokyo's MF Sekine in the penalty area, but Mori Shige covers the goal just in time to block MF Marcio Richardes' decisive shot from the front of the goal! In the 90th minute, Tokyo counters from their own half and Mita dribbles up the middle, earning a corner kick with a direct pass from Yonemoto to Watanabe. However, a foul is called in the box during the corner kick and they are unable to finish. In additional time, Tokunaga makes a vertical run and passes short to the front of the goal. Edu slides in, but is stopped by Urawa's GK and time is up...

The intense battle continued until the end, with both sides fighting with all their might and not missing a single moment. However, the tough fight ended in a 4-4 draw.

[Player Comments]
《Muto》
"We conceded a goal first today, but we had the mentality of 'let's equalize and go for the second goal' and were able to turn the game around in the first half. (On his first goal) It's a situation I'm good at, breaking through from the left. The Urawa defense line was high, so I was able to get past them. I've missed a lot of shots in similar situations before, so today I was telling myself to 'stay calm'. (On the second goal) Kono made a good run and gave me a nice pass. I just had to watch the defender's movement and finish it off."

"Mori Shige"
"If we had ended the first half with a score of 3-1, the second half might have had a different outcome. I think it was my fault that we ended up with this result because I gave away a penalty kick. In that situation, I didn't need to slide because I had pushed FW Kojima to the side. I have a lot of regrets about that and it's disappointing to have conceded 4 goals. I feel sorry for the attacking players who worked hard and I want to apologize. We need to use today's result and performance to prepare for the Kashima game and come back stronger as a team."

[Press Conference Summary by Massimo FICCADENTI]
"One unfortunate thing is that Hirayama got injured. He received a pretty bad foul and will need to undergo an MRI and other tests, but it seems like it will be a bigger problem than expected. It's a shame if it turns out to be an injury that takes more than 3 months to recover from. As for the game, we played a great first half. We created a lot of chances and filled the spaces well. After conceding the first goal, we were able to equalize quickly, and if Kono had scored a decisive chance after the second and third goals, we could have made it 4-1. Urawa is a team competing for the top, so I thought it would be a difficult game when they equalized with a penalty kick. We were able to equalize, but we could have pushed further. However, the game ended up being 4-4. I think everyone, including the fans and supporters, wanted to win this game, but the players gave everything they had mentally and on the field. I still feel that this team has a lot of room for growth."

[Urawa Petrovic's press conference summary]
"It's difficult to comment after a 4-4 game. But for those who watched the game at the stadium or on TV, it was a great game. What worries me is that there will be articles about us conceding 4 goals. Until today, we have conceded 14 goals, while Tokyo has conceded 15. We expected a tough game between two teams like that. We took the lead, but then conceded and fell behind. The players were in shock until it became 3-1. It was a difficult situation where we couldn't understand what was happening. But after that, the players did what they had to do and we were able to make it 3-2. In the second half, we showed our attacking football and were better than the opponent. We equalized at 3-3 and had two chances, but couldn't score and then conceded a goal from the opponent's one chance. We kept trying to equalize and had a good chance with MF Marciolishardes, but unfortunately couldn't score and ended up with a draw. I think all 4 goals we conceded were naive, but we were able to equalize from 3-1 down and then fight back to equalize again. We had plenty of chances to turn the game around. It was a good performance for an away game. It must have been a dynamic and exciting game for those who watched it."