In the first half, there were scoring opportunities, but...

FC Tokyo, who won their first two matches, started attacking aggressively from the beginning, with the fullbacks as the starting point. In the 5th minute, after Umeyama's sharp interception, the ball was passed to Sato on the right side, who crossed it. Kagami headed the ball, but unfortunately missed the target. In addition, in the 10th minute, Fujiyama fought hard on the left side and passed the ball to Amarao. Amarao then played a perfect loop pass between the opponent's goalkeeper and defense, and Sato, who broke free, skillfully controlled the ball and dribbled past the goalkeeper to take a shot. However, the opponent's defender made a fine play and prevented a goal. After that, Amarao's powerful left-footed shot hit the post, and they missed several decisive chances, resulting in a back-and-forth battle.

Disrupting Niigata's solid defense rhythm

Niigata, who is also on a two-game winning streak like Tokyo, fought back with a sharp start and tough checks, playing with a style of quick counterattacks from solid defense. In particular, the movements of Almir, who is the starting point of the attack, and Sato, the two new central midfielders who joined this season, were contained, and they were unable to connect passes and find their rhythm, resulting in a monotonous attack that relied heavily on long balls targeting Amorao's head. However, Amorao was closely marked by the newly added tall defenders, and the goalkeeper had a wide defensive range and was strong in high balls, so the monotonous long ball attacks did not unsettle the opponent. In the second half, the momentum shifted even more in favor of Niigata. Niigata pressed in the midfield, won the ball, and launched quick counterattacks, consistently looking to quickly switch play to the wings and create chances with crosses. Finally, in the 33rd minute of the second half, the balance was broken. From a scramble in the midfield, a ball emerged behind Tokyo's defense, and Komine competed with Niigata's forward while passing to goalkeeper Horiike. However, this pass was careless and weak, and Niigata's forward touched the ball a split second earlier, resulting in Horiike tackling him and conceding a penalty kick. Niigata easily converted the penalty kick, finally taking the lead.

The fierce attack at the end did not bear fruit...

Tokyo woke up and switched to an all-out attack. In the 36th minute of the second half, they brought in the high-powered midfielder Shinjo as a new attacking focal point. They also pushed defender Sandro up to the front line to gain control of the airspace. In the 41st minute of the second half, substitute Kaburagi took a powerful right-footed shot, but the goalkeeper made a fine play and prevented a goal. In stoppage time, they earned consecutive corner kicks and threatened the goal. In the closing moments, Sato Yuki shot from the loose ball after a corner kick, but unfortunately missed. And finally, the whistle blew for the end of the game. In the end, although they had more shots, they were unable to break through Niigata's well-organized defense and suffered their first home loss of the season. In the post-match press conference, Coach Okuma said, "We missed our chances in the first half and then self-destructed with an own goal. It's not about whether Niigata is strong or weak, in J2, there is little difference in strength between teams and no team is considered special. I emphasize to the players to treat each match as important. We need to quickly address the issues exposed in today's game and prepare for the next match against Kawasaki Frontale." It is indeed a painful loss, but we have only finished three out of 36 matches. It is important to switch our mindset.