Reorganize the defense and win with Tokyo's rhythm!

　Sec. 28 will be held on Sunday, one day later, welcoming Gamba Osaka at home. In the previous match against Hiroshima, they suffered a comeback defeat after leading by 2 points and conceding 5 goals. In this match, they need to regroup defensively and fight in their own rhythm. There is hope for a long-awaited victory at home. In this match, Jean will be suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, and Inoha will be deployed as a center-back. Hirayama will be in the front line, Lucas will be in the attacking midfield, and Imakawa and Kajiyama will form a double pivot in the lineup. Additionally, Suzuki, who had a shoulder injury, returned on July 22 against Kashima and will be on the bench.

　G Osaka, who is currently in 2nd place, will be aiming for victory today, despite not having won any of their last 3 matches and not being in good form. Yesterday, the top-ranked Urawa drew their match, which gives G Osaka even more motivation to win. Although MF Endo has been sidelined due to health issues, the team still has a wealth of talent, especially in the attacking power of FW Hayato and FW Magnou Alves, who is currently in 2nd place in the goal-scoring rankings. They can aim for goals even as a duo, and they will launch successive attacks through the center with MF Futagawa as the starting point. If the center is marked, they can also break through from the sides with the well-known right MF Kaji and left MF Ienaga, showcasing a variety of attacking variations.

　Tokyo, on the other hand, wants to clearly determine the position and timing to press and take away the ball, and quickly transition to the attack. They want to break through the wall of G Osaka's defenders, Miyamoto and Clayson, by utilizing Hirayama's height and Toda's speed. In last week's practice, Coach Kuramata mentioned the issue of "slow transition," but they want to aim for victory by paying attention to the coordination between the defensive line and the front line, and maintaining Tokyo's rhythm.

Exploiting defensive gaps, 2 goals were conceded in the first half...

　Partly cloudy at Ajinomoto Stadium. The 26th and 27th sections were consecutive away games, so it was the first home game since the Niigata match on September 30th. Fans kept pouring in one after another, gathering a crowd of 36,161 spectators, and the match kicked off in Tokyo at 15:04. From the start, both teams showed their fighting spirit and engaged in intense attacks and defenses. In the 7th minute, Lucas took the first corner kick of the day. Kaneko headed Kajiyama's right corner kick, but the opponent's defender blocked it. Kajiyama picked up the loose ball and advanced towards the goal area. Hirayama connected with a negative pass, but unfortunately, it was blocked by the defender.

　Up until now, G Osaka had not created any decisive scenes, but in the 11th minute, FW Magnowa Alves persistently kept the ball on the right front line and was able to cross it back while moving away from the goal. The ball went over Inoha's head in front of the goal and reached FW Hato. Hato controlled the ball with his chest and scored a goal with a quick shot. Not missing the gap in Tokyo's defense, they conceded the opening goal early in the game.

　Still, Tokyo created chances from Ishikawa and Kajiyama's bold attacks. In the 23rd minute, Kajiyama went up the left side, exchanged passes with Lucas, dribbled up to the left area, and passed it back to Lucas. Lucas' shot was blocked by the opponent's defender. However, in the immediate 24th minute, the midfield lost the loose ball, and G Osaka's midfielder Nikawa floated a pass behind Tokyo's defense. FW Magnouves caught up with great speed, controlled it with his head while inside the left area. From there, he scored an impressive shot and conceded the second goal.

　Although the vulnerability of the defense was exposed, we were not completely pushed back. Even when we were behind, we did not give up and tried to counterattack. In the 29th minute, Ishikawa carved out the right side and won a corner kick from a fast ground cross. Kajiyama connected with a header from the corner kick, but Lucas' header shot missed to the left. After that, Ishikawa moved well and attacked from the right side, but he couldn't quite control the ball in the front line. In the 42nd minute, Tokunaga, who broke through on the right side, was fouled and won a free kick from the right side of the area. Ishikawa volleyed the loose ball that hit the G Osaka defender, but the opponent's goalkeeper caught it. The goal did not break, and we went into the second half with a two-goal lead.

Konno, Suzuki, and Ishikawa! They scored 3 goals in 7 minutes and achieved a dramatic comeback victory.

　In the second half, G Osaka gained momentum. They put pressure on Tokyo's goal mainly through set plays, but they did not lose focus and did not allow any additional points. In the 54th minute, Baba was substituted for Hirayama. Lucas was positioned in the front line, aiming for a goal. In the 58th minute, Baba took a long shot as he saw no pressing from the opponent's side in their territory. Although it was caught by the goalkeeper, it was a good attempt and became a turning point for Tokyo to regain their rhythm.

　61 minutes, Tokunaga attacks inside and Kajiyama runs into the loose ball from the scramble in front of the goal. However, he is closed down by the opponent's defender and fails to shoot. In the 64th minute, Suzuki is substituted for Toda. Gradually, Bamba dominates the ball from his hold-up play, and Imano also shows a bold attacking run, resulting in longer periods of attacking. However, they still fail to finish and continue to suffer from counterattacks by G Osaka. In the 74th minute, Magnou Alves, the forward who broke through from a pass by G Osaka's midfielder, Nikawa, shoots from a close range, but Doi saves it with his whole body, preventing a dangerous situation.

　Tokyo, in the 76th minute, substitutes Miyazawa for Kajiyama. With this player substitution, they completely grasp the pace and finally break through the G Osaka goal. In the 77th minute, as Fujiyama feeds the ball to the front line, the opponent's goalkeeper jumps out. At this moment, Imano starts running, skillfully evades the goalkeeper with a clever trap, and smoothly scores into the unguarded goal, GOAL! They catch up to a one-point difference.

　Amidst the increasing mood of counterattack with this goal, in the 81st minute, Suzuki, who received a pass from Fujiyama to Baba on the left sideline, advanced inside with a dribble and flashed his left foot. He struck a powerful shot into the top right corner of the goal net! The stadium heated up even more with this spectacular equalizer. In the following 84th minute, Imakawa overlapped on the left side and persistently connected with a loose ball, passing it to Suzuki who advanced towards the goal. Suzuki sent a fast ground ball inside, which Ishikawa trapped perfectly, calmly guiding it into the goal, GOAL!! They scored three consecutive goals in a relentless manner, achieving a brilliant comeback, and the stadium's excitement reached its peak.

　In the remaining time, G Osaka also attacked from set pieces, and tense moments continued. In injury time, a penalty area free kick was given from just outside, creating a tense scene. FW Magnouves aimed directly and sent it into the left frame, but escaped with a nice save by Doi, and immediately after that, time was up! The substitute player created a rhythm and dramatically turned the game around by scoring 3 goals in the second half. Encouraged by the cheers from the stands, they obtained valuable 3 points at Ajinomoto Stadium for the first time since the Nagoya match on April 29th, defeating G Osaka.

　【Player Comments】《Suzuki》"The goal was a moment when I saw space in the middle after being cut off on the side for a long time. The opposing DF didn't come close, so I thought it was a chance and shot towards the goal without thinking. I was able to hit it cleanly, so I was able to shoot without hesitation. (Assist to Ishikawa) G Osaka's DFs are tall like Shijikurei, so I was thinking of sending a fast, shooting ball into the middle. When I came on, we were losing, so I wanted to play aggressively because attacking is what I can do. I was excited to finally make the squad last night. I feel like the three months I've been working hard to recover from my injury have paid off. Being called by the supporters is a great motivation for players. Today, the cheers were louder than usual, and it gave me even more motivation. However, we've only played one game so far. The real question is how much we can do from here on out."《Imano》"We conceded two goals at the beginning, but everyone kept running until the end, and the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing, so we were able to come back. At halftime, we talked about how we were reversed in the last game against Hiroshima, and if we could score one goal, the opponent would also get nervous. In the first half, Kajiyama was playing forward, and G Osaka's MF Nikawa was also coming out, so I stayed back a lot. In the second half, I thought I had to take risks and go out. The goal came from a good ball, and the GK was also coming out, so I felt like I could score if my first touch was good. My trap was good. Gamba has high individual abilities and is a strong team, but we believed that we could play a good game if we played our own soccer. Today, the whole stadium had a sense of unity and created an atmosphere of "we can do this." Scoring one goal changed the atmosphere in the stadium and gave us a lot of strength. We have a series of matches against top teams coming up, but the higher the opponent's motivation, the stronger our desire to beat them becomes. It's both exciting and a chance to make it difficult for top teams."

　[Summary of Manager Kuramata's Press Conference] "Since becoming the manager, we haven't been able to win at Ajinomoto Stadium and have always caused trouble for the supporters. The players have worked hard, but it was because of the strong support from the supporters that the players were able to rise up. It was truly wonderful. In the first half, G Osaka scored brilliantly on two chances. We were able to play our own style of soccer to some extent, but we conceded a goal. In that situation, there were some aspects where we couldn't keep the ball in the front line, so we tried to make adjustments and prepare for the second half. I told Hirayama to hold the ball firmly, but G Osaka thoroughly took care of the through passes to Hirayama. As a result, things didn't go as planned and there were situations where the other players were frustrated as well. Hirayama does have height and created chances in the three set pieces in the first half. Considering that he would attract markers, I observed the situation until the beginning of the second half, but there wasn't much change, so I substituted Baba with Lucas and had him run into space. After that, we had several chances and were able to score. I had planned to limit Suzuki's playing time on the left side. Since he is still recovering from an injury and can't play for a long time, I wanted to take advantage of G Osaka's midfielder, Kaji, getting tired. I took the risk and used him for the remaining 25 minutes, and he produced results, so it was good."

　[Summary of G Osaka Nishino's press conference] "Yesterday, it was a big chance game as it was after Urawa's draw. The players approached the game with that awareness, but it was not at all like G Osaka. After scoring two goals, there was no attacking power or intensity. There was not enough consciousness to move forward, and there were many defensive moments. With Hirayama, the DF line dropped, and the situation of contact play in the area, which is G Osaka's weakness, increased, and the line actually dropped. At halftime, I emphasized that point and told the players, 'This is a dangerous game,' but it felt like they wanted to protect the lead. Also, even though we were able to win the ball, we couldn't create a tempo in the midfield, and I felt that we were losing some confidence in our attack. Endo's absence was great in terms of winning the ball, but it is difficult to expect players like Myojin and Hashimoto to develop and create time from there. In the attack, if Nakagawa was contained, we couldn't create the game. Hato had injuries and it was a situation of how far he could go. There were scenes where Fujiyama and Tokunaga entered the midfield, so I replaced Maeda for the sake of midfield defense. We wanted to stop Tokyo's side attacks by putting pressure on the opponent's center-back with Magna and Hato and pushing down both full-backs, but it didn't work well. I didn't like that Hirayama was substituted. Baba added an accent with a grounder, and Suzuki came out there, which became the most unpleasant pattern. In that sense, I wanted to eliminate Tokyo's side attacks early with Maeda's substitution, but it didn't happen."