Regain balance and win at home!

　In the previous match, Tokyo suffered a defeat as Kashiwa thoroughly studied their tactics and prevented them from playing their style of soccer. Coach Hara pointed out the need to compact the formation, defend as a team, and attack as a team in order to regain balance. In order to gain an advantage in the qualifying league, it is crucial to win at our home ground with Tokyo's attacking soccer that has regained its balance. In this match as well, Doi and Kaji, who are members of the Japanese national team, are absent. Fujita starts as the right fullback for the first time. Additionally, Kajiyama, who has not played since November 23rd last year, is on the bench as a substitute.

　Oita Trinita, which welcomed new coach Kwan Hwangbo this season. Tokyo's Yoshiro ABE also joined on loan and started the season with a fresh mindset. However, they have suffered three consecutive defeats since the start of the league, with no results. The attacking lineup, which includes forwards Takamatsu and Magnao Alves with shooting power, as well as midfielders ABE and Yoshida, has "destructive power," according to coach Hara. However, he continued, "Above all, I'm afraid of the determination that we absolutely cannot afford to lose four consecutive games." On the other hand, they have conceded seven goals in three matches in defense. In this match, DF Patrick, who plays in the center of the three-back formation, is suspended, and DF Shibakoya starts for the first time this season. GK Okanaka also makes his first start. They have made adjustments to the player selection and are approaching this Tokyo match. The match kicked off at 14:03 under clear skies.

They attack Oita with a good rhythm and overwhelm them, but they can't finish it off.

　Tokyo aggressively attacks from the start. Immediately after the start, Fujita creates an opportunity with a long throw. In the 2nd minute, Lucas connects with a clearance from Shigeno's long feed, and Miyazawa shoots from the front of the goal. In the 4th minute, Kurisawa launches a quick attack and passes to the space on the right. Ishikawa shows good timing and sends a ground cross in front of the goal, but the opponent's defender cuts it off. They win a corner kick. From the loose ball of that corner kick, Shigeno volleys a shot in the left area. In the 6th minute, Fujita creates a chance from a cross, and in the 9th minute, Lucas shoots towards the goal while turning around after receiving a pass from Kanazawa. They completely deny Oita any attacking chances and continue to press forward.

　At 16 minutes, there was a counterattack from the opponent's free kick. Kurisawa passed to Fujita, who sent a pass to Ishikawa in the front line. Ishikawa cut back from the left to the center and took a daring shot from just outside the area, but it was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper and resulted in a corner kick. Ishikawa showed his agility again today, and at 24 minutes, he won a corner kick from a breakthrough. Konno headed the right corner kick taken by Miyazawa, but it went wide to the left. Oita defended in their own half, prepared for fouls, and prevented Tokyo's attacks. They also looked for chances from set pieces, but couldn't create any decisive opportunities.

　37th minute, Fujita's early cross to Lucas with a header. However, the timing was off and there was no power. In the 38th minute, Miyazawa tried to shoot a middle shot to pull out the Oita defenders. In the 41st minute, Ishikawa headed a lofted pass from Miyazawa in the front line. However, it overlapped with Toda and missed the connection. In the 43rd minute, Oita MF Abe picked up the clearance from Tokyo DF and crossed from the right. Shioda's punching spilled in front of MF Yoshida in the left area, and he was able to take a free shot. It was a tense moment, but the ball went over the bar.

　In the end, Oita only had one shot in the first half. However, the fact that Tokyo couldn't score during this first half, where they created many chances, would have a big impact. In injury time, Oita MF Arimura fouled Ishikawa as he tried to counterattack, resulting in a warning. Ishikawa had already received a warning for stopping his breakthrough in the 29th minute, so he was sent off. Oita would now have to play with 10 men.

Unable to break through the defense and ended in a goalless draw

　From the start of the second half, Tokyo tries to launch wide attacks against the 10-man Oita. In the 45th minute, Kanazawa delivers a left cross. In the 48th minute, Kurisawa takes a shot from the middle after a fast attack, but unfortunately it goes over the goal. In the 52nd minute, Kanazawa breaks through on the left side and crosses. Lucas picks up the loose ball in front of the goal and prepares to shoot, but is once again cut off by the defender. Despite continuing to launch wave after wave of attacks, Tokyo fails to score against Oita's defense, which is reinforced by the reduced number of players. In the 56th minute, Oita's defense cuts off Ishikawa's ground shot. Toda and the opposing goalkeeper compete to catch the floating ball, and it falls into the open goal, but Oita's defender Fukaya clears it.

　Unable to deliver the decisive blow, the game gradually fell into Oita's pace. In the 61st minute, Suzuki Nori was substituted for Toda. Immediately after, Kurisawa passed the ball back from the chaotic situation in front of the goal. Miyazawa, who had moved up to support, took a shot but it went to the left of the goal. In the 67th minute, Kajiyama was substituted for Miyazawa as a trump card. In the 73rd minute, Suzuki Nori made a move from the left and won a corner kick. From the short corner, Kajiyama made a sharp move into the area. Although the ball was initially taken away by the defender, Ishikawa, who had moved up to support, delivered a strong cross from the left. However, it was caught by the goalkeeper.

　However, although they attacked until the goal, they were unable to finish due to the solid defense of Oita DF. In the 76th minute, Kurizawa took a precise shot from the loose ball in front of the goal, but the GK made a save. In the 80th minute, a FK from near the left end line. Ishikawa picked up the loose ball from Kurizawa's kick and took a shot. It became a CK, and from this right CK, Imano took a heading shot. The opponent GK jumped out, but it was cleared by Oita FW Takamatsu just before it could go in, missing a great scoring opportunity. In the 86th minute, a FK from the slightly left midfield. Suzuki Nori took a powerful shot to the top left corner of the goal, exciting the stands, but it was saved by the GK and became a CK. However, none of the 12 CK chances in the first and second halves were successful.

　Tokyo, struggling to attack as time runs out, still managed to make a play in the 89th minute. From Kajiyama's pass, Suzuki Ni attacked the left area and crossed the ball. Kanazawa jumped in to reach it, but narrowly missed. Immediately after, they allowed Oita to counterattack and let MF Yoshida advance. Tokyo's defense was bypassed by FW Magnol Alves in the penalty area, but managed to escape with a corner kick just in time. From this corner kick, substitute FW Dodo's cross hit the crossbar, creating another close call. Despite the unfavorable turn of events, they managed to hold on and in stoppage time, they were awarded a free kick from the left side of the penalty area. Suzuki Ni took the shot, but once again, it was blocked by the defense. In the end, they were caught in Oita's trap and the match ended in a scoreless draw. They were left with a sense of dissatisfaction and could only earn 1 point.

　【Player Comments】《Ishikawa》"Lucas couldn't get the rusty ball in, and we couldn't break through their defensive line. I wanted to change the flow somehow. However, we had resolved the issues from the Kashiwa match. If we can score one goal in this soccer, things should change. I want to continue challenging."《Kajiyama》"I entered the field with the instruction of 'Receive the ball in the midfield and break through the sides. Take shots as well.' However, my movements were stagnant, so it was difficult to make passes. If I had aimed for shots from the middle range a little more, the opponents might have come forward. I think I lacked the awareness of scoring goals."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "The reason we lost in the previous match was because the balance between offense and defense was disrupted. We need to fix that and I think we had a great balance in the first half. We were able to pick up the ball in the midfield and spread it out to both sides. Fujita, who started for the first time, was actively involved and we had 10 shots in the first half. We only allowed Oita to have one shot. We wanted to score a goal in that situation. Towards the end of the first half, Oita had a player sent off, but we tend to adjust to that and it has been a challenge since last season. On the other hand, we have also experienced that our concentration increases when we have fewer players. We talked about that at halftime and said that we should move the ball more simply. However, our play was a bit delayed and the support from each player was slow. For example, even Lucas only had one shot in the first half. Since the ball didn't come to him easily, when it did come, he tried to do everything by himself and ended up losing it. He was marked tightly, so if he had used the free player nearby, he could have created space again, but he tried to go on his own too much and it became a vicious cycle. We considered bringing in Jean, but in the end, even if we crossed the ball, it was blocked by Oita's tall defenders. It was against this kind of opponent that we wanted to break them down by moving the ball well. Even in the flow of the game, we needed to carry the ball with a better rhythm. The flow was better in the first half and we wanted to score goals, including set pieces. We brought in Kajiyama, but he didn't get many balls and maybe he lacked match fitness. However, he showed glimpses of his play a few times, so while monitoring his knee condition, I want to use him in tomorrow's satellite match to regain his game sense. We confirmed that Fujita can play aggressively enough. We were able to adjust the overall balance. There were a few dangerous moments towards the end, but we kept a clean sheet. It all comes down to 'if you don't score, it's no good,' but since we didn't lose, I want to switch our mindset and prepare well for the next league match. While playing the current style of soccer, I want to practice scoring goals." 　

[Oita-Kimpo coach's press conference] "As an away game, I think we were able to start off with a good flow from the beginning. We have been on a 3-game losing streak, so we were able to stick to our game plan of playing it safe. However, we ended up with 10 players in the middle of the game, so we couldn't play the soccer we wanted to in the second half, which is disappointing. After becoming 10 players, we just tried to endure. But the players did their best despite being one player short, and it can be said that getting 1 point is a good result. We showed that we can defend properly even with one player missing, and that we can play this kind of game. Today's game has various meanings. I myself think that I took a good step forward for the future."