The match against Cerezo Osaka, which was the second match of the J1 League, was held three days after the Levain Cup match against Avispa Fukuoka. The team applied high pressure, coordinated defense, and short counters, repeatedly threatening the opponent's goal. In the first half, player Kazuya Konno scored the team's first goal of the season, and in the second half, despite being pushed back for a long period of time due to a player's expulsion, goalkeeper Jakub Slowik made several big saves to keep a clean sheet. This resulted in FC Tokyo's first victory under coach Alberto.
With this flow, finally on March 12th (Sat), we will have the first match of Alberto Tokyo at Ajinomoto Stadium. Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, before the C Osaka match, the team could only have one day of training with all members present. However, this time we have a preparation period of four days and we are fully prepared to welcome the first home game.
The soccer expressed in the previous three matches was a content that fully felt the new Tokyo style that Coach Albert aspires to. In particular, the team's tactics in the first half of the C Osaka match can be said to have functioned the most since the start. They aggressively pressed from the front line, quickly launched short counters after recovering the ball, and controlled the game by moving the ball without rushing when the opponent was organized.
In addition, as player Yasuki KIMOTO says, "I think I was able to use short passes and long passes well, as there were some comments that there were few balls behind in the Kawasaki game," not only connecting short passes but also moving the game forward with long feeds from the center back, which also functioned to keep the opponent from focusing on a specific target.
Although we will be missing player Takuya Aoki, who has been a key player both in attack and defense, it will be interesting to see who will be chosen to fill his position and how the starting lineup will change. We should pay attention to Coach Albert's selection method and how we will maintain our style of play.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima, the opponent team, has also welcomed a new coach this season, and as mentioned in soccer writer Hojo Satoshi's column, they are aiming for a completely different style of soccer compared to Tokyo. We want to calmly and carefully dismantle their relentless high press and create goal-scoring opportunities.
It has been 3 months since our last home game. We want you to experience the new Tokyo and the exciting soccer of FC Tokyo at Ajinomoto Stadium.
