On April 9th, the 7th day of the France expedition (Sunday), a total of 3 matches were played, including 2 matches in the main tournament ranking league and 1 match in the ranking decision match.
The second match of the ranking decision league was against the prestigious FC Porto from Portugal.
Each player of FC Porto has not only high individual skills, but also a well-organized way of playing as a group, and they had a lot of possession time. However, FC Tokyo did not lose in terms of individual quality, and they created many chances through counterattacks from good ball recoveries and dribbles from the side, with Tessyo TAKAI as the center. It was a tense game from start to finish. The result ended in a 0-0 draw for both teams.
And the third round of the ranking determination league was a match against the Sanse region's selected team.
If we win this match by a margin of 3 points or more, we can advance to the top decision tournament of the ranking decision league, so the players were also fired up.
This match will see us take control of the ball more often.
3 minutes into the first half, Riku NAKASHIMA's through pass finds Tessyo TAKAI who breaks through and calmly slots it into the goal, making it 1-0.
The first half ended with a score of 1-0, and in the 5th minute of the second half, Takuto ISHIMURA scored a volley shot from a corner kick, making it 2-0.
In the 15th minute of the second half, Rento KAJIYAMA scored a header from a cross by Arata WATANABE on the right side, making it 3-0.
We were able to advance to the tournament to determine 13th to 16th place by winning 3-0 as it is.
The opponent for the semifinal round of the ranking determination tournament was Fulham FC from England.
Despite playing 3 games in 2 consecutive days, the players were able to push through and fight not only for this trip, but also for their own growth in the future while dealing with fatigue.
In case of a draw at the end of the game, it will immediately go to a penalty shootout.
Despite fatigue, there were noticeable mistakes in technique and coordination, but GK Taishi SUZUKI and Shunpei KATO were able to defend the goal without losing focus. The second half continued with a back-and-forth battle, but they were unable to break through and were prepared for a penalty shootout. With 30 seconds left in additional time, Rinkai HASHIMOTO received the ball on the right side and crossed it to the far side, where Shuto JO scored a dramatic goal. They were able to secure a 1-0 victory.
Not only as a team, but the entire venue was excited by this dramatic development.
When we returned to the locker room, we all celebrated together with our local support, Caca-kun.
Afterwards, we moved to the dining hall and had dinner. While we were eating, the French version of the birthday song started playing and we celebrated the birthdays of Louis Ononuju, Hisato Matsumoto, and Shuntaro Sano, whose birthdays were coming up. Other players and staff from the team also joined in the celebration and the three of them looked very happy.
Mr. Oguri, who is attending this trip to France, has planned things such as cakes and venue arrangements.
Tomorrow is finally the last day of the tournament.
Today, FC Porto will face off against each other in a match to determine 13th and 14th place.
We will do our best to end the final game of the expedition in a good way.
