J.League opening, facing Omiya's return to J1

The J-League finally kicks off. In the 1st Sec. 1, Omiya Ardija, who won the J2 last season and returned to J1 in just one season, will face off. They will welcome the match at home.

Tokyo is missing Ha DAESUNG and Komano due to injury, and Kajiyama is starting in the defensive midfield. Tokunaga is playing as the left full-back, and Hashimoto is playing on the right. They are approaching the game with a 4-4-2 formation. Ogawa has made his professional debut on the bench, and Takahashi and Tanabe are also on the bench for the first time this season.

Omiya also has FW Dragan Murgja at the forefront, with FW Ienaga as the attacking midfielder. The 4-4-2 formation is supported by MF Nejtspechunik and Izumisawa on both sides.

The opening match, which is held for the first time in February in the history of the J-League. Although there were clear skies during the day, the match started at 19:04 with a kickoff by Omiya under the lingering cold weather.

Despite withstanding Omiya's momentum and maintaining possession of the ball, they created chances but...

In the early stages, Tokyo was a little on the back foot against Omiya's boldness and quick transitions. Omiya attacked from both sides and created several set-piece opportunities, but Tokyo remained composed and dealt with them. They didn't allow any clear-cut chances and gradually started to create more possession time.

12 minutes: Kajiyama on the left side passes to Higashi, who breaks through to the left front line. Yonemoto, despite losing his balance, catches up and passes to the center. Mizunuma couldn't finish it, but the ball falls to Maeda in the right area. Maeda calmly sends a pass to the area in front of the center, and Higashi, who made a precise shot, runs in. However, it hits the Omiya DF in the area instead of his teammate.

27 minutes: From Tokunaga, who took a high position, Mizunuma in the left area passed directly to the opponent's back. Abe followed up with the third movement and took a shot from the left area, but it was saved by the goalkeeper.

After that, they continued to push the entire team forward with a compact formation and progressed the game mostly within the Omiya's territory. However, Omiya also properly adjusted the distance between players and the defensive line to respond.

38 minutes: Abe from the right area → Mizunuma with a short cross to the far side. Higashi's header falls in the center, and Abe reacts to it. He quickly closes in and creates a scoring opportunity. However, his foot slips slightly and he fails to finish. They were unable to break down Omiya's defense and the first half ended scoreless.

Conceded a goal by being caught off guard and faced a bitter defeat while trying to counterattack

In the second half, Tokyo substituted Mizunuma with Kawano on the right side. To break down Omiya's defensive block, Toyo advanced to the front line and Abe moved to the left side.

52 minutes: Following a feed from Yonemoto to the right front line, Kono jumps out and successfully turns around the opponent's defender to bypass him. He rushes into the right goal area and sends a last pass from a close distance, which Higashi charges into... However, he was unable to shake the net as he was challenged by the opponent's defender. Then, Kono exchanges passes with Kajiyama on the right front line and moves to the right area. Hashimoto, who pushed up, then sends a through pass there. They tried to connect the chance with the combination of the three players that they had shown in the first half, but their timing was slightly off.

68 minutes: Nakajima is substituted for Higashi on the left side. Abe moves up to the top again. Immediately after that, Maeda shoots while advancing, but it lacks power and goes to the goalkeeper. Omiya connects from their own half, and Wada, the right back, feeds the ball to the right front line. Murjia tries to break free in response to this. Maruyama had been marking him in parallel, but he was able to move forward and make a ground pass to the center. The shot from Omiya's forward, Ienaga, in the left area was blocked by Hashimoto, but the ball fell in front of him and was powerfully scored by the free midfielder, Iwakami... We were surpassed by Omiya in terms of quick switching and allowed them to take the lead by taking advantage of our vulnerability.

77 minutes: Tanabe was substituted for Kajiyama as a defensive midfielder. He was brought in to increase the tempo of the attack and prepare for a counterattack.
82 minutes: Hasegawa, who advanced with a pass from Tanabe to the right area, dropped the ball, and Kono in the center took a powerful shot, but it hit the bar... In the final stages, we continued to push Omiya and aimed for the goal from various challenges, but we couldn't break Omiya's defense until the end. It ended with no goals, and the league opening ended in a bitter defeat.

※Please refer to the FC Tokyo official mobile site for player and coach post-match comments.