On the third day of the Germany expedition, the five-match training series against local strong teams starts today.
The opponent in the first match is the youth (U-19) team of Bundesliga's Bayer Leverkusen. The venue is the Leverkusen Academy training ground, with a kickoff at 6 PM local time.

At the start, there were moments when the opponent's strength at the ball was intimidating, but gradually, while navigating through the pressure, they began to find their pace.
However, in the 14th minute, a painful clearance mistake occurred when the ball was played behind the defensive line with a single vertical pass from a counterattack. It was quickly picked up and resulted in a goal being conceded.
In the 16th minute immediately after, Ryo SATO broke through behind the opponent's defensive line with a vertical pass from Takuya WATANABE and scored a skillful shot over the goalkeeper's head, quickly equalizing the match.
After that, the match progresses at Tokyo's pace. While exploiting the opponent's high DF line, Kenta OKUMA and Yoshiatsu OIJI create several scoring opportunities but fail to convert them into goals.
The first half ends with a score of 1-1.

As the second half begins, Bayer Leverkusen, who received a pep talk from the coach during halftime, intensifies their battles for the ball and is pushed back by a thorough and fast vertical attack.
In response, Tokyo, centered around GK Kohei Yamaguchi who came on in the second half, patiently defended while looking for opportunities to counterattack.
However, in the 66th minute, after losing the ball in midfield, we allowed an entry into the penalty area, and although it was a close call, a penalty was awarded, resulting in a goal conceded.
Once again, they allowed the lead. Despite repeatedly making substitutions and fighting until the end in a total effort with all 20 expedition members participating, they could not overcome the score of 1-2 as time ran out.
Could not decorate the first away match with a victory.
It's not something to be pessimistic about, but in a world-class battle, if you give them even a moment of opportunity, they will definitely take advantage of it. I want to apply today's lesson to tomorrow's match against Dortmund.

FW Ryo SATO's comment
"It was difficult since it was my first match in Germany. I thought I needed to get used to the opponent and the field conditions."
GK Kohei Yamaguchi's comment
"I think we were able to experience a type of football that we can't experience in Japan, and everyone has grown. I want to fight with all my strength again tomorrow."