Nabisco Cup starts, aiming for first official victory

The 2021 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup has kicked off. In the first round of the qualifying league, Albirex Niigata will face off against Tokyo at home. In this tournament's qualifying league, Tokyo is in Group A along with Niigata, Matsumoto, Tosu, Kofu, Hiroshima, and Shonan, and will play 6 matches (until the 7th round) before the top 2 teams advance to the quarter-finals. Additionally, the 4 teams participating in the ACL will join in the quarter-finals.

Manager Massimo says, "For us, the Nabisco Cup is a very important tournament. It is difficult to manage the team while also playing in the league, but we want to focus on each game and aim to advance through the qualifying league." However, Nara and Nakajima from the U-22 Japan national team will be absent this round. Also, due to the league being played only three days ago, Ota, Yonemoto, and Kajiyama will be replaced by Maruyama at left back, Yoshimoto at center back, Takahashi at defensive midfielder, and Mita and Higashi at inside midfielder. Up front, Hayashi will play in the center, Ishikawa on the right, and Muto on the left in a 4-3-3 formation. Ishikawa will be starting for the first time since the away game against Sendai in the Nabisco Cup on April 5th last season. Hayashi will also be making his first start in Tokyo. On the bench, Matsuda and Hashimoto will also be waiting, taking a step towards the title with a fresh lineup.

Niigata, on the other hand, is in its fourth season under coach Yanagishita and has been promoting an organized style based on movement. They have yet to win a game in the league with one draw and one loss, so they will surely be strongly seeking their first victory. However, with key players such as U-22 Japan national team DF Matsubara and FW Suzuki absent, they have been rotating their lineup from the league games. It is important to pay close attention to the playmaking ability of MF Leo Silva and the height and dribbling skills of FW Yubisu and FW Yamazaki. However, they will not be outmatched in terms of movement and will aggressively aim for victory on both offense and defense.

During the day, it was the warmest of the year, but under the weather that seemed to start raining at any moment, the game started at 19:04 with a kickoff from Niigata.

Conceded a goal at the start, but allowed Niigata to dominate...

The match started off with a lot of movement. Niigata connected the kickoff ball and broke through the right front line. They were able to put in a ground cross, but Tokyo escaped with a corner kick. However, just 2 minutes later, Niigata's MF Leo Silva made a quick pass and sent it vertically. Right MF Kato, who had moved up to the front line, carried Maruyama on his back and continued to expand to the outside. Right side back Kawaguchi, who had timed his run perfectly, was able to put in another ground cross. FW Yamazaki, who had moved up to the goal, was unable to make contact, but MF Yamamoto was left free to finish the ball that had rolled to the far side, easily scoring a goal... Niigata left both sides open and conceded a goal at the start of the match.

However, without being shaken, we aim to counterattack calmly. In the 11th minute, Higashi on the left side made a through pass behind the opponent's defense. Ishikawa then timed his run and made a clever move against the opponent's offside line, breaking through into the left area. However, the shot he took from there just missed the goal. In the 12th minute, we intercepted Niigata's pass, and Hayashi → Ishikawa ran up the right side and took a shot from the middle.

After that, Niigata allowed for quick passing and ball possession, and received attacks from the side, pushing into the Tokyo defense, but still calmly counterattacked from a solid defense. In the 38th minute, a quick attack was launched from their own half, with Mita on the right crossing to Tokunaga. The Niigata GK came out and punched the ball away, but Takahashi ran in and aimed for a middle shot. In the 43rd minute, they cleared Niigata's right corner kick, and Muto and Ishikawa tried to bring it into a counterattack, but Niigata was quick to switch and couldn't bring it forward. In the 45th minute, Higashi tenaciously took control of a loose ball in the opponent's half and charged into the left area. Muto and Mita tried to connect with a short last pass in front of the goal, but it only resulted in a corner kick.

Changed the formation to a two-top with Muto and Hayashi up front. In the latter half, the team gained momentum and the mood for a comeback increased by placing Ishikawa in the attacking midfield position, but they were unable to score and ended the first half trailing by one point.

Nao scores a goal for the first time since 2013! The whole team secures a come-from-behind victory.

Continuing their momentum in the second half, in the 48th minute, Robert launched a counter attack and dribbled through the center. Lori, who had moved up on the left, entered the area. Then, in the 52nd minute, Maruyama made a vertical run and sent a low cross from the left side to the front of the goal. The ball bounced to the feet of Lori on the left side, who had made a run from the opposite side. Although the shot went over the bar, they smoothly moved the ball up to the front line and created a chance for a finish.

In the 63rd minute, Hanyu replaced Mita and moved to the center. Ishikawa moved to the right side, forming a shape close to 4-4-2. This immediately proved successful, and in the 65th minute, Tokunaga from their own half passed to Ishikawa on the right side of the opponent's half, who dribbled around and broke through. He passed through the opponent's defenders one by one and charged towards the left side of the penalty area, unleashing a powerful shot with his left foot! The ball flew into the top right corner of the goal! This was Ishikawa's first goal since the 2013 league Sec. 33 match against Kashiwa (November 30th), bringing the score level!

As Niigata's quick switching gradually declined, Tokyo gained momentum and increased their attacking opportunities, further increasing their comeback mood. In the 73rd minute, Takahashi, who had moved up vertically from the left area to the inside, made a one-touch pass to Hayashi on the right front line. Hayashi then sent a pass to Ishikawa, who was free in the right area, and from there took a decisive shot, but it was saved by the goalkeeper and no additional points were scored. However, in the 76th minute, Hayashi, who was in the right area with his back to the goal, was fouled from behind and awarded a penalty kick. In the 78th minute, Hayashi himself calmly scored the penalty kick, securing the goal! In the 83rd minute, Hayashi was forced to be substituted due to injury, but thanks to his contribution of sacrificing himself in the front line, the team was able to successfully turn the game around. In the final minutes, Niigata had several shots on goal, but thanks to Gonda's reliable play, they were able to hold on and end the game with a 2-1 victory. With this win in the Nabisco Cup, they also secured their first official victory of the season.

[Player Comments]
《Ishikawa》
"I felt the high expectations and support from the fans before the game. It was a big pressure to live up to that, but I wanted to respond somehow (laughs). I was able to score with the feeling of being in a good condition. It was important to convert the few chances we had, but more than that, I wanted to show our attacking momentum today."
I think we were able to score as a result of not forgetting to be aggressive from the first half. Being able to express it in one form gives us confidence."

"East"
"Niigata is a team with a lot of energy and hard work as their characteristics. We conceded a goal early on and it became a very difficult game. However, even on the pitch, we were able to discuss with players like Morishige, "Let's not break down here." We had a lot of time and we were able to create an atmosphere as a team that "if we can keep it at 1 goal, we can score and win." We want to use this victory as a springboard and prepare for consecutive wins."

[Summary of Massimo FICCADENTI's press conference]
"The situation got better as time went on from the beginning. We were able to turn the game around and showed a great mentality. In the last part of the game, we were a bit shaky and gave them some chances, but as a team, we were able to control the game. I am satisfied with today's performance. We were fighting for a comeback in the first half, but in the second half, we played even better. Above all, Ishikawa had a tough time with a back injury last season, and today was an important day for him. He came back in top condition after a really difficult time and scored a great goal for us. This victory will boost the team's morale and have a positive impact on the league. Lin got injured, but we are not sure of the details yet. We want to assess his condition going forward."
(Replaced 7 players from the league game?)
Ota, Yonemoto, and Kajiyama were not in 100% condition, so it was a situation where we had to make substitutions. The players who played today in their place made some mistakes, but showed great plays in terms of their mentality and ball control. We have 30 players this season, and our goal is to improve the team by adding the plus alpha of the players who joined this season to what we built last year and developing their skills. Even when we were behind, we continued to play calmly and believe in victory, and showed a true mentality of not giving up and being determined to win.

[Niigata - Masaaki YANAGISHITA's press conference summary]
"In the first half, we were able to attack well by using the spaces left by the opponent. We were playing aggressively from the sides. However, in the second half, there were some players who lost in ball control, and we were pushed back and put in a pinch. Tokyo's players ran into the spaces and sent the ball behind us, creating space in the midfield. There were some players who lost in ball control there, and we were pushed back. In the end, we were reversed, but the second goal was a gift goal. The play that led to the penalty kick was like that, but I always say that if the ball and the opponent are in a straight line, it will only result in a foul. Even if you try to steal the ball from a bad position, you cannot steal it and it becomes a foul. If we can correct these small things, we should be able to steal the ball without fouls. We want to correct these things from now on."