Fight with a strong determination!

　Sec. 23 of the league is an away match against Sanfrecce Hiroshima. In the previous match against Urawa Reds, we took the lead but ultimately lost due to the opponent's high scoring ability and competitiveness. This marks our fourth consecutive loss since the league resumed. However, including the match against Kashiwa before that, the players have shown a fighting spirit and the team's situation is improving. It is necessary to achieve a result in this match and earn points.

　Hiroshima, who are currently in 12th place with 26 points, will be facing Weslley's absence in this match. They are using a 3-6-1 system, connecting from the defensive line and utilizing a soccer style where players from both sides and the front line continuously make runs. In the attacking line, Sato is positioned as the forward, with Kashiwagi and Morisaki Hiroshi playing as two shadows below him. These three players are dangerous when given freedom, so the key is to first suppress their speedy attacks. We want to apply early pressure and prevent them from facing forward as much as possible. In terms of attacking, it seems that the key will be whether we can exploit the spaces on the sides of Hiroshima's three-back formation. We want to win the second balls, pick up the loose balls after sending them to the front line, and launch a strong attack.

　Tokyo, including Lucas who is suspended, Baba, and Inoha are injured, and Kanazawa is also not in perfect condition, so the lineup has changed from the previous match. Akamine is at the forefront, Fukunishi, Konno, and Kajiyama form a double pivot in the attacking midfield, Kurisawa and Ishikawa on the left and right, and Mobata and Fujiyama in central defense. Coach Hara said, "Considering the situation such as suspensions, we have been preparing so far. I want to make good use of the new energy of the substituted players" and is not worried.

　"I am afraid of losing confidence here even though we are on a losing streak. There is only a slight difference between us and the top teams. To overcome this, we need to have confidence and cover for each other's mistakes. I want to challenge without fear and fight with a sense of unity where everyone can help each other," he said with enthusiasm. Both teams will prioritize defense to escape from the bottom, and it is also possible that it will be a solid game. However, we want to connect our aggressive defense to our attack and gain points. The match started with Hiroshima's kickoff at 19:04."

Kajiyama scores a spectacular goal to take the lead, and the first half ends with a lead

　Tokyo pressed high from the start, winning the ball and transitioning to attack. In the 1st minute, Akamine dropped the ball, and Imakano dribbled up the left side and took a shot. Then, Kajiyama intercepted Hiroshima GK's pass in the opponent's half and entered a shooting position in the area, but the DF blocked it. He shot again from the rebound, but the GK stopped it. In the 3rd and 8th minutes, they tried to counterattack, but Kanazawa and Fujiyama stopped them midway and didn't allow any chances. In the 13th minute, Hiroshima FW Sato's drop from a left cross was shot by MF Takayanagi, but Shioda caught it firmly.

　15 minutes, Fukunishi passes to Konno from the left throw-in and boldly attempts a shot, but it goes over the bar. In the 16th minute, Konno heads the ball from Ishikawa's right corner kick, but it goes wide to the right. Tokyo gradually gains momentum and takes control of the game. Then, in the 18th minute, Kajiyama is fouled while trying to pick up the ball after it was initially cleared from Tokunaga's long feed, earning a free kick. Despite being about 30 meters away, Kajiyama goes for a direct shot, and the powerful, non-spinning shot finds the top left corner of the goal, scoring the opening goal.

　Tokyo continued to attack aggressively, especially creating chances from Ishikawa and Tokunaga on the right side. In the 22nd minute, Tokunaga sent a cross from the right, but Ishikawa failed to hit the loose ball. In the 24th minute, from Tokunaga's post to Akamine, Fukunishi brought the ball to the right front line and took a shot, but it went over the bar. In the 28th minute, Tokunaga's through pass to Ishikawa was intercepted, resulting in a right corner kick. From Ishikawa's corner kick, Akamine from the far side attempted a header but the timing was off.

　After 30 minutes, Tokyo's defense line began to drop, allowing Hiroshima to counterattack. In the 36th minute, a through pass to FW Sato in front of the area was successful, and Shigeki was fouled, resulting in a free kick. MF Morisaki Hiroshi aimed directly, but Tokyo's defense wall blocked it. In the 38th minute, MF Takayanagi expanded to the right. MF Komano rushed up to the sideline and crossed. MF Morisaki Hiroshi aimed with a diving header in front of the goal, but hit the ball too hard and missed over the crossbar. Just before the end of the first half, from a left corner kick, Hiroshima's DF Toda's header hit the post. The loose ball was picked up, and DF Morisaki Kazu in the right area took a shot, but it missed over the crossbar and avoided a dangerous situation.

　In the final stage, Hiroshima gave them a decisive chance, but they managed to hold on and ended the first half with a one-point lead.

Stay focused until the end and win with a massive 5-goal lead!

　Hiroshima aggressively attacks from the start of the second half, but Tokyo counters with a calm and persistent defense, not allowing any chances. Then, in the 54th minute, they score the desired additional goal. Ishikawa on the right side sends a sharp cross, but the opponent's defender clears it. Kanazawa picks up the loose ball and sends it forward to Kurizawa with his head. Kurizawa dribbles and crosses from the left. Akamine jumps in with his whole body and heads the ball, even colliding with the opponent's goalkeeper. The ball is sucked into the goal.

　Hiroshima, who counterattacked, substituted DF Stojanov for DF Makino in the 58th minute. DF Stojanov himself actively participated in the attack and created chances. In the 63rd minute, DF Stojanov → FW Sato passed the ball to MF Kashiwagi, who had moved forward with one touch. A decisive opportunity was created, but the goal was not allowed due to Shioda's excellent save. Furthermore, Hiroshima substituted FW Hirashige for MF Takayanagi in the 67th minute, forming a two-top formation. At the same time, Tokyo substituted Asari for Ishikawa. The right side was assigned to Kajiyama to strengthen the midfield defense.

　Despite being pushed back by Hiroshima for a period of time, in the 69th minute, Kurisawa picked up a loose ball from a left free kick and unleashed a sharp shot that was blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper's excellent save. In the 76th minute, Imakawa dribbled forward while competing with the opponent's defender and took a daring shot. He led the team with a passionate play. As the situation continued to be deadlocked, Tokyo made substitutions in the 80th minute, Kurisawa for Noriyuki SUZUKI, and in the 83rd minute, Akamine for Hirayama. These substitutions brought momentum to Tokyo.

　87 minutes, Kajiyama shoots from the loose ball after Noriyuki Suzuki's kick from the left corner kick. The ball hits Konno and shoots to the right, but the goalkeeper saves it and it becomes another corner kick. Noriyuki Suzuki takes the kick for this right corner kick as well, and Hirayama hits the ball floated by Kajiyama's cross with his chest and volleys it into the net for the third goal. In the 88th minute, the opponent's defender clears Norio Suzuki's left cross. Fukunishi takes the loose ball and cleanly scores the fourth goal with a middle shot. In the 89th minute, Hirayama steals the ball from defender Stoyanov and passes it through to Fukunishi in the front line. Fukunishi easily bypasses the jumping goalkeeper and calmly enters the goal, and finally Hirayama scores his second goal of the day, making it 5-0, and the game ends as it is. With a stable defense as the base, they achieved their first victory in five games with passionate play.

　【Player Comments】《Imano》"I had some concerns before the game as it had been a while since I played as a defensive midfielder. I was also nervous, but I tried to play aggressively both in attack and defense. I wanted to contribute to the team's offense and score when there was an opportunity. Although the score difference doesn't reflect the performance, I don't want to get carried away and want to continue playing well and winning in the future. I apologize to the supporters for causing them worry, but I want to meet their expectations by playing games like today's."《Fukunishi》"We took the lead and then defended well even when there were some dangerous situations. We scored additional goals at crucial moments and even got an insurance goal. I think it was a good game. If we can maintain this level of performance, the results will naturally come. (Did Hirayama score the second goal himself?) He asked for the ball at that moment, so I passed it to him. Since we have the Olympics coming up, I wanted to support him. If Sota can perform well for both the team and the Olympics, I'm happy with that (laughs). The next game is at home. We haven't been able to win in front of our home supporters, so we want to continue winning at home. My right hand is in a lot of pain from being stepped on. I can't make a fist..."

　[Summary of Manager Hara's Press Conference] "I watched Hiroshima's game live at Nissan Stadium the other day. They were in a very good team condition and the content of the game was such that they could have won against Marinos. Hiroshima also had a losing streak, but they play very good soccer. In the previous game, even without FW Weslley, they played with a formation of one top player Sato and two shadows, and they were very focused. We played very well in the Kashiwa game and the previous Urawa game, but we didn't get the results. However, we believe in our own strength and talked about being careful not to be countered by Hiroshima, and we approached the game with the intention of playing well and getting points. The biggest point was moving Imano back to the midfield. If we don't move Imano back to the midfield at some point, the team will lose momentum, so we bet on Mobata and brought Imano forward to form a combination with Kajiyama. Also, Kurisawa was out of the lineup for a while due to a condition problem, but today he prevented Komano from advancing on the left side, or kept the ball there and made good use of Fukunishi and Akamine, showing a very good balance. Another thing that made me happy was that after the team scored two goals, instead of just defending, they continued to go for more goals. We have conceded a lot of goals this year, but today the result was the opposite. I think it was the result of players like Hirayama and Norio who came in from the middle and went for goals. We have finally found a solution with Japanese strikers Akamine and Hirayama. Today, Lucas was not there, but players like them, Imano, Kurisawa, and Fukunishi played an active role in the absence of Lucas. I was really happy about that. However, we have another game coming up soon. This season, we have been good in games and then quickly become bad, but I think it is important to prepare well for the Kobe game and continue to play games like today. (What was good today?) In the Oita and Urawa games, we tried to defend and pulled back as soon as we scored a goal. However, today, even in the pinch situations that occurred several times after taking the lead, we did not give up until the very end and did not lose concentration. Instead of being caught up immediately after scoring a goal, we encouraged each other and cooperated to hold our ground. That was the part that we have been lacking so far. Each individual has started to work hard. If we had been caught up in the first half, it might have been chaotic, but Shioda defended in dangerous situations and we were able to hold our defense, which was very important."

　[Summary of Hiroshima Petrovic's press conference] "With a result of 0-5, anything I say will sound like an excuse. However, I don't think the game was as one-sided as the scoreline suggests. The first goal was like an occasional accident. Until the second goal was conceded, I think we had several good chances. But after conceding the second goal, it became difficult to control the game. The last three goals were partly due to fatigue, but also a result of lack of concentration. We conceded due to our own mistakes, which should not have happened. Today's performance could have ended in a draw at least, but that's football. We tried to take some risks and attack by bringing in Stoyanov, but we couldn't do it. Such defeats are certainly painful, but we have another game in two days. We need to quickly switch gears, prepare well, and make efforts to win."