Monthly Archive for April, 2010

Match Report J1R7 FC Tokyo 1:1 Kyoto

Published on April 22, 2010 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports, F.C. Tokyo News and J.League Division 1 2010 by YNWA. 3 Comments

Before a disappointing crowd of 18,350, FC Tokyo continued their distinctly ordinary start to the season with a 1-1 draw against Kyoto last Saturday evening.

The manager handed Ricardinho his first league start following his match-winning performance in the Nabisco Cup away at Omiya in midweek, but apart from that change (Shigematsu returned to the bench) it was the same team that had shown encouraging signs in the previous league match at home against the champions Kashima. The starting XI was: Gonda; Nagatomo, Morishige, Konno, Kim; Ishikawa, Hanyu, Tokunaga, Matsushita; Hirayama, Ricardinho.

I won’t mention the first 10 minutes because absolutely nothing happened. In the 11th minute, Tokyo were behind, in unusual and unfortunate circumstances. A Kyoto throw-in 40 yards from goal was nodded past Konno and into the box by Yanagisawa, Konno scampered back but couldn’t prevent Nishino from getting a cross in. All sounds pretty regulation so far, but events soon conspired against the Gasmen. Nishino’s cross reached Nakayama, who shot under pressure from Nagatomo, the ball was going well wide but instead clattered into Morishige’s head, past Gonda, who was wrong-footed, and along the goal line. Gonda made good ground and seemed to have his post covered, but Kakuda slotted home through his legs to give Sanga the lead.

Tokyo never got going at all in the first half, the only decent chances were a free kick fizzed in by Matsushita in the 14th minute, comfortably claimed by the keeper, and a shot in the 27th minute from Ishikawa that was well saved after good build-up play involving Morishige, Tokunaga and Matsushita. In general there was no rhythm to our attacking play, the ball was moved too slowly out of defence, passes were missed and there was little link-up play between midfield and attack.

Jofuku’s “response” was to have Matsushita and Nagatomo switch positions at the start of the second half, a somewhat puzzling decision as, if he was again unimpressed with Matsu’s attacking play (as the rest of us in the stadium were), he shouldve just replaced him at the break.

The Gasmen enjoyed a spell of pressure eight minutes into the second half that culminated in Ishikawa’s shot being saved, but the game was going exactly to plan for Kyoto and Jofuku had to act. On 60 minutes Ricardinho’s day was done as he was replaced by Shigematsu, and three minutes later Matsushita made way for Hokuto. Then on 69 minutes Hirayama was replaced by Akamine.

On the three players who were replaced – Ricky was starved of opportunities and never posed a threat to the Kyoto goal, a victim of the slow build-up play I alluded to earlier; Matsushita actually DID try and take his man on a few times but has yet to have a real impact in any game he’s featured in; and Hirayama didn’t have a sniff at all, he was mostly anonymous and didn’t even have a shot on goal.

After the three changes Tokyo had just 20 minutes to salvage something from the game. In the 71st minute Nagatomo (back to right-back after Hokuto’s introduction) crossed from the right, but the ball went over Hokuto’s head and was cleared for a corner. Nothing came of that corner, but just two minutes later, we were back on level terms, and as with Kyoto’s goal, there was a fair bit of luck involved. On our next attack an attempted clearance from inside the box by a Kyoto defender hit another Sanga and fell kindly for Shigematsu, who turned sharply and was brought down for a penalty. The youngster then showed admirable composure to step up and fire the spot kick high into the net past the keeper.

We clearly had the momentum after the goal, and on 76 minutes Akamine had a great chance when he met Tokunaga’s excellent cross, but he headed straight at the keeper. Hokuto then fired a free kick into the keeper’s bread-basket, and then in stoppage time the little fella got up well to knock a header down for Akamine, who forced a good save. The final whistle sounded soon after and the points were shared, and in truth we were hardly deserving of ours.

That’s three straight home draws in the league, then, and while the result against Kashima was deserved, the ones either side of that, versus Cerezo and here versus Kyoto, are simply not good enough if we want to finish in the top four this season. Its also four games without a win in the league, and, because our petition to play Omiya every week has failed, its off to Osaka on the weekend to face Gamba and our old friend Lucas.

Match Report J1R6 FC Tokyo 1:1 Kashima

Published on April 13, 2010 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports, F.C. Tokyo News and J.League Division 1 2010 by YNWA. 1 Comment

The biggest home crowd of this season, just under 31,000, swarmed Aji Sta on Saturday evening to see The Gasmen take on the three-time defending champions Kashima. Both teams were coming off 2-1 losses the previous weekend, Tokyo in the Classico at Kawasuckisaki, and Antlers in a stunner away to Sendai, where their number one striker, Marquinhos, was sent off after 15 minutes and subsequently suspended for two games.

Tokyo lost both games to the champions last season, and must have been wary of a backlash from a wounded Kashima following their first loss of the season. Still, Jofuku was not afraid to swing the changes after the Classico loss, Kim returning in place of Mukuhara at left back and Matsushita getting a first start in four games (including Nabisco v Nagoya) on the left side of midfield ahead of Hokuto, but the biggest decision of the season so far from the manager was the attention-grabber- handing Shigematsu his full debut in place of Tatsuya up front. That took some ba##s from Jofuku, but he’d obviously liked what he’d seen from the youngster in the three games he’d come on in, although Akamine can’t have been pleased at being overlooked again. Ricardinho made the bench, and was to provide some late entertainment and excitement. Sorry, I don’t know how to do the team lists as dokool does them, but the team in full was Gonda; Nagatomo, Morishige, Konno, Kim; Ishikawa, Tokunaga, Hanyu, Matsushita; Shigematsu, Hirayama. Subs: Shiota, Hiramatsu, Mukuhara, Hokuto, Akamine, Tatsuya, Ricardinho.

I arrived at the ground much later than usual and the crush in the ホーム自由席 seats had seen tokyobairn only manage to get seats well away from our regular spot, we were stuck down near the away end and were forced to put up with the rowdy Antlers fans’ (hey guys – leave the jungle beats to Shimizu fans), but after four minutes, their howls of disgust were music to our ears.

Tokyo won a corner in the third minute, and after Matsushita’s outswinging delivery to the far post brushed the head of a Kashima defender attempting to clear, the ball came to Konno on the edge of the box, he dinked it back inside, left his foot in and Nozawa obliged by clipping his foot and sending him to the floor. Referee Nishimura had no hesitation and quite correctly pointed to the spot, and Tokyo had a penalty. The decision enraged the Kashima hordes in the stands but was bang-on, as was Hirayama’s penalty, Sogahata dived to his left but Sota drove low and hard into the opposite corner.

Predictably, the champions hit back hard and enjoyed a solid period of pressure, Tokyo’s defending looked shaky and there were some close shaves, in one sequence Kashima had five consecutive corners, one conceeded after Gonda leapt to turn over Jung Soo’s firm header.

Hirayama and Shigematsu worked hard to try and hold the ball up when Tokyo won possession back, though understandably their inter-play wasn’t razor-sharp. Ishikawa burst forward on a few occasions, though he was forced to track back a lot to cover Araiba’s forays forward.

Kashima had another near-miss in the 27th minute after Kim had a brain-fart and pushed Koroki to the floor about 30 metres from goal. Reigning League Player of the Year Ogasawara stepped up and curled the free kick towards the top corner, forcing Gonda to tip on to the roof of the net.

Twelve minutes later Antlers were level, and that man Ogasawara was the catalyst as usual. He lost Tokunaga, who was occupied with Araiba, took a square pass 35 metres out and unleashed a fierce drive that Gonda parried, but straight to the alert Koroki, who volleyed in from 7 yards. Gonda could’ve/should’ve done better, and though Kashima had knocked on the door several times, it was still a somewhat soft goal to conceed.

From the restart Tokyo almost immediately reclaimed the lead, but Hirayama missed his kick on the turn after Matsushita leapt to head down Ishikawa’s cross. Ogasawara, again given too much space, then opened-up our defence with an excellent through ball that was just a touch heavy, and Gonda managed to claim, and that was about it for the first half.

Shigematsu had struggled to impose himself in the first half, but nine minutes after the break he was presented with a golden chance to net his second J League goal. Hanyu played a ball over the top for Ishikawa, who advanced and crossed low across the face of goal, Sogahata tried to claim but only pushed the ball out to the youngster on the edge of the box. With the goal gaping Shigematsu HAD to hit the target, but he mis-timed and shot into the floor, the ball bouncing harmlessly wide.

On 67 minutes Ishikawa burst into the box after receiving a pass from Shigematsu, but the winger’s touch was a little heavy, and on the stretch he fired straight at the keeper.

That pass was Shigematsu’s last involvement as Ricardinho came on for him, and the Brazilian was all-action, his first touch saw him embark on a 60-metre cross-field dribble but then fall over and miss his kick when he turned to pass back. If that moment had us perhaps understand why he hadn’t been playing all season, the last 20 minutes was basically The Ricky Show, he displayed some nice touches, troubled the Antlers defence with his pace,  and showed a real desire to make an impression, tracking back and defending from the front.

With eight minutes left Mukuhara replaced the tiring Ishikawa, which saw Nagatomo move to right midfield. Two minutes later Ricky produced a brilliant cross from the left that Hirayama, leaning backwards, headed on target but Sogahata claimed easily. Kashima still posed a threat, but Ricky had a chance to seal the points in the 88th minute, released by Hanyu he raced away with a defender giving chase, however he was forced onto his left foot and shot straight at Sogahata.

There was one more chance for each team in stoppage time, firstly for Kashima, Aoki crossed from the right by-line, and Tokyo breathed a huge sigh of relief as the ball cleared Gonda and almost seemed to roll along the crossbar. At the right end Ricky showed good instincts to head a deep cross back across goal, but no one in a red and blue shirt was arriving to take the chance.

Mr. Nishimura blew for full time and the points were shared, a fair result in what was a very open, entertaining game. Pleasingly for Tokyo, we more than matched the champions for long stretches, a good sign after the disappointment of the previous weekend. A solid team performance in which we didn’t carry many passengers, although Matsushita will need to do more (at least try and take someone on) to keep his spot for the games coming up. It was certainly a steep learning curve for Shigematsu, his effort could not be faulted but did he do enough to earn a run in the starting lineup? Ricardinho’s impressive display after coming on might mean he didn’t.

I’d also like to say a good word about the ref (and not just because he gave us the penalty!), because most of them are dire and it was good to see a ref officiate in a balanced way, on what happens on the pitch and not influenced by reputation.

 The Gasmen are back in action tomorrow night (Wednesday), we have a Nabisco Cup game away to Omiya, and then we welcome Kyoto to Aji Sta next Saturday evening (5pm kickoff). Hopefully the positives we can take out of the draw with the champions will spur us to even better performances in the games to come.

Match Report J1R5 FC Tokyo 1:2 Kawasaki

Published on April 8, 2010 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports, F.C. Tokyo News and J.League Division 1 2010 by YNWA. 1 Comment

The first Tamagawa Classico of the season saw Tokyo and Kawasucki battle to “Get the River Under Control” on Sunday before 22,199 hardy souls, who braved the drizzly elements and the sight of Frontale’s two ridiculous mascots (the new one resembling a spring onion with the stalk severed off) with bragging rights on the line in this burgeoning rivalry.

It was also the first visit to Todoroki for myself and tokyobairn, and while the terracing in the away end brought back happy memories of standing for hours in the freezing rain watching Falkirk for my Scottish friend, I just thought the place was a dump. But I digress….

Quite frankly, there could never have been a better time to play Kawasaki (fair enough, one Kawasucki was enough), missing their two best players (the other Nakamura, and Juninho) and having returned from a midweek trip to Melbourne where they lost 1-0 to the Victory in an ACL Group Stage game.

True, jet lag is not an issue when you travel from Japan to Australia and back, but contrast their trek with our pitstop to Kokuritsu on Wednesday and it was clear the advantage was with us. However, details like that go out the window in derby games, so “respected” football pundits like to tell us on a regular basis, and thusly Tokyo gaffer Jofuku reinforced his defence from midweek, recalling Morishige for Hiramatsu in the centre, and Nagatomo for Kim at full back. There were a couple of surprises elsewhere in selection, though, Tatsuya again preferred to Akamine upfront (Why? What has he done thus far to justify that?), and Ricardinho not even making the bench.

The first ten to fifteen minutes were mostly a case of the two teams feeling themselves out, Chong Tese headed straight at Shuichi Gonda, then Hokuto slashed wide after Ishikawa’s initial effort was blocked.

To be fair to Frontale (not easy for me to do), they had had the better of the possession to this stage, and made the breakthrough in the 21st minute, when Chong blasted home from inside the area after Morishige failed to head clear from a cross.

Tokyo responded to that setback by dominating the remaining 25 minutes of the first half, Hirayama had the ball in the net after Hanyu hit the post just three minutes after Chong’s goal but the big fella was ruled offside when the rebound came to him, Hokuto fired just over from a free kick in a dangerous area, Hirayama looped a header onto the crossbar and then forced a fine save from Kawashima (to be honest I didnt see the last chance, side note: about the only good thing Todoroki has going for it is the large number of urinals).

Despite all those chances and near misses the Gasmen couldn’t find a way past Kawashima in the Frontale net and went back to the sheds a goal down.

Frontale had been fairly content to sit on their lead and try and hit us on the break, and after Tokyo continued to press for an equaliser, that tactic worked to a T 16 minutes into the second half when that man Chong doubled Kawasucki’s advantage (sorry, couldn’t help throwing another one in there).

Kim had replaced Hokuto two minutes before the goal (with Konno moving into centre mid for the third game in a row), and then two minutes after new sensation Shigematsu replaced the mostly anonymous Tatsuya, but still Tokyo lacked a real cutting edge, and Otake was introduced (for Hanyu) with 20-odd minutes remaining.

Hirayama forced a decent save from Kawashima, but despite more possession Tokyo found it hard to create clear-cut chances, with Inamoto doing a good job of protecting his back four.

The Gasmen had continued to press, and Konno got his second of the season two minutes into stoppage time after Shigematsu’s shot was saved (pretty sure it was Shigematsu…I was five beers in by that time), but it was all too little too late. Tokyo probably deserved at least a point on the run of play, but were undone by a very professional performance by the home team.

The fixture man hasn’t done us many favours, with the next game against Kashima (Aji Sta, 7pm, Saturday), and Jofuku has a lot to ponder at the selection table. If Kajiyama is fit to start (unlikely, I presume) does he replace Hanyu or Tokunaga? If he isn’t, START KONNO IN THE CENTRE OF MIDFIELD! He’s moved him in there three games in a row, so he has to start there if Casual isn’t fit. Is Tatsuya out of chances to prove himself? Akamine or Shigematsu to start in his place if he is? Are we ever going to see Ricardinho start? Should I nickname him Aquilani? And so on and so forth.

Despite all those questions, Tokyo have another opportunity to really get the season going by taking one of the “big” teams down, and they don’t come any bigger than the three-time defending league champions.

Nabisco Cup Group A FC Tokyo 2:2 Nagoya Grampus

Published on April 2, 2010 in F.C. Tokyo Match Reports, F.C. Tokyo News and J.League Nabisco Cup 2010 by YNWA. 4 Comments

The Gasmen began their defence of the Nabisco Cup before 12,291 people on Wednesday night at Kokuritsu, the scene, of course, of last season’s magnificent triumph in the Final. The visitors, Nagoya, no doubt had the 5-1 battering we handed out to them at Aji Sta in the quarter-finals last season in the back of their minds, and were out for a spot of revenge.

Both managers selected near-full strength teams, Jofuku making three changes from the win over Omiya, restoring Hiramatsu and Kim to defence in place of Morishige and Nagatomo, and giving Tatsuya another chance up front with Akamine dropping back to the bench. Also on the bench was new sensation Shigematsu, and he was to have a major say on the final result in rather exciting circumstances. Nagoya’s charismatic manager Stojkovic fielded his full contingent of foreigners, including the “Aussie Jesus” Josh Kennedy.

Tokyo won a corner in the first minute but didn’t really settle into a rhythm until Tatsuya shot wide about 15 minutes in. Before then Grampus had carved out a few decent chances, with Kanazaki blazing over, while their Colombian holding midfielder Danilson appeared to be chanelling Juninho when he shot over the top from eight yards just after Tatsuya’s miss.

Tokyo then enjoyed ten minutes of solid pressure and a goal seemed inevitable, Hanyu smashed a shot against the bar, and then Hirayama, Hokuto and Ishikawa all spurned good chances.  Hokuto was looking bright, one brilliant run in particular got the crowd excited but was halted just outside the box by Danilson. The goal that seemed inevitable did come, but at the wrong end as a long ball over the top was chased by Kennedy, and with Gonda, who should have come out to claim the ball, stranded in no-man’s land, the big Aussie calmly lobbed the keeper to put Grampus on the board first.

Jofuku reacted at half time and brought Morishige on for Hanyu, switching Konno to central midfield, but the second half (almost) started disastrously for the Gasmen as Hiramatsu hacked-down a Nagoya player in the box and gave away a penalty. Gonda then kept Tokyo in the game by guessing right and punching away Burzanovic’s poorly taken pen. Shigematsu made his entrance 10 minutes into the half, and the crowd buzzed whenever he was on the ball, the youngster looking right at home in the first team.

Tokyo were having some joy down the right, Mukuhara was pushing forward whenever possible, and it was from this area that the Gasmen then drew level on 68 minutes after the Ishikawa-Hirayama hotline got back in business, Sota slotting home from Nao’s excellent cross.

Otake came on for Hokuto right after goal but some shoddy defending  straight from the re-start should have seen Nagaoya go right back in front. That chance was wasted but Tokyo’s defensive weakness at set-pieces (thankfully missing from the first four games of the season) resurfaced six minutes later as Chiyotanda scored.

As the clock ticked down Tokyo grew more desperate, Otake spent a lot of time on the ball but needed to move it on quicker, then in the second minute of stoppage time the wee man slipped a ball through for Shigematsu who drilled home to send Kokuritsu nuts and rescue a point for Tokyo.

Not the most convincing of displays then, Gonda atoned for his indecisiveness on Nagoya’s first goal with the penalty save, but Shigematsu will get the headlines for his second goal in as many games and fair enough too. Hanyu-Tokunaga in central midfield clearly didn’t work again, but I’m starting to get bored of going on about it so much, so lets just be pleased with a point having had to come from behind twice, and look forward to the Tamagawa Classico on Sunday! Hopefully Shigematsu, if given the chance, will make it three from three!