| J.League Division 1 Week # |
 |
First Half
0 – 1
Second Half
1 – 3
Final
1 – 4 |
 |
| March 7th 2009, 1PM Kickoff at Ajinomoto Stadium (Chofu, Tokyo) Attendance 27,568 |
| GK 20 Shuichi Gonda
DF 5 Yuto Nagamoto
DF 15 Daishi Hiramatsu
DF 2 Teruyuki Moniwa
DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga
MF 6 Yasuyuki Konno
MF 17 Jo Kanazawa
MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama
MF 22 Naotake Hanyu
FW 24 Shingo Akamine
FW 32 Yusuke Kondo |
Starting Members
|
GK 1 Takashi Kitano
DF 17 Jun Ichida
DF 5 Mitsuru Chiyotanda
DF 6 Mitsuru Nagata
DF 29 Gilton Ribeiro
MF 15 Isao Homma
MF 10 Marcio Richardes
MF 7 Toshihiro Matsushita
FW 11 Kisho Yano
FW 16 Hideo Oshima
FW 9 Pedro Junior |
| 62′ #40 Tatsuya Suzuki (for Jo Kanazawa)
64′ #4 Bruno (for Naotake Hanyu)
64′ #9 Cabore (for Yusuke Kondo) |
Substitutes |
81′ #20 Young Cheol Cho (for Hideo Oshima)
87′ Kazuhiko Chiba (for Toshihiro Matsushita)
89′ Gotoku Sakai (for Marcio Richardes) |
| 51′ Yusuke Kondo |
Goals |
44′ Gilton Ribeiro
53′ Pedro Junior
68′ Hideo Oshima
72′ Pedro Junior |
| 69′ Yohei Kajiyama
87′ Yasuyuki Konno |
Cautions |
78′ Isao Homma |
|
Ejections |
|
Report
Jesus Christ on a cracker.
Following a 6th place finish in the 2008 season, with which FC Tokyo seemed to imply that its days of being a chronic underachiever may have finally come to an end, the team managed to squander the goodwill of the supporters in 90 minutes of frustrating and at times atrocious play in front of a surprisingly underwhelming crowd of just under 28,000.
After some pomp and circumstance (Nobuo Kawaguchi’s ‘retirement fairwell’ to the crowd and the first in-stadium performance of Tokyo Dorompa, who, to be fair, can bust quite a move), the game started on a somewhat awkward note with neither team unable to find any sort of rhythm for the first 15-20 minutes of play. Following that, however, it was almost all FC Tokyo as they continuously pressed the attack, setting up consecutive chances in front of the Niigata goal but never managing to succeed. Even more impressive is that Tokyo was able to keep up that pressure with 10 men, as newcomer Daishi Hiramatsu lived up to his reputation for complete disregard for personal safety and spent a couple agonizing minutes on the sideline receiving treatment for a cut to his forehead. On the rare occasions that the ball found its way back into the Tokyo penalty area, rookie goalkeeper Gonda proved his technical skills with some booming kicks that left the crowd speechless.
Everything seemed on-course for a 0-0 draw to end the first half, until Albirex was awarded corner kick late in extra time. Anyone who follows the team knows that defending against corner kicks has always been a perpetual weakness, and this corner was no exception. A perfect cross connected to Gilton Ribiero, who sailed it in on the left post just past Gonda’s outstreched fingers. The whistle sounded for the half and many FCT players visibly expressed their frustration at this lapse.
Early on in the second half, things seemed like they could possibly turn around as Yusuke Kondo scored a beauty of a goal from beyond the penalty box, evening the game at 1 all. Yet 2 minutes later, another corner kick would lead to another goal for Albirex.
While FCT was clearly the dominant team in the first half, the second half saw an unorganized mess of a squad trying to keep pace with an Albirex team that has apparently improved significantly since their last encounter in late 2008. The third Albirex goal came as a horrid back pass from Hiramatsu ended up in control of new Albirex transfer Hideo Oshima, who made easy pickings of Gonda for the score. The last nail in the coffin came a few minutes later as Albirex swarmed Gonda, who was unable to stop Pedro Junior’s effort by himself. Though FCT made some valiant efforts in the last 20 minutes, Albirex were unable to capitalize on at least two opportunities that could have meant a 1-6 finish.
There is a lot of blame to go around for today’s loss; the only player who probably deserves it the least is Gonda, who performed about as well as one could expect for a second-stringer with no experience on the field. Hiramatsu was reckless and stupid and it cost the team dearly. Akamine failed to convert one of any number of opportunities in the Albirex box. Kajiyama was careless in his passing, resulting in several turnovers. Players all over were losing the air battle with the regularity of a Swiss watch. The defense was unable to hold together without Sahara, who may still be out for the Urawa match. The list goes on.
Yet the person who burdens the most responsibility could be manager Hiroshi Jofuku as a result of his questionable lineup and even more questionable substitutions. Especially puzzling were his decisions to start Jo Kanazawa at midfield (when Otake would probably have been a much better choice), to not start Cabore, and to bring in Bruno to replace Hanyu at a time when the team needed more offense, not more defense. Another fact that’s become blindingly apparent is that the team is hurting from that empty 3rd foreign player slot and should start taking resumes for defenders w/ tall vertical reaches as soon as possible.
While the supporters behind the goal didn’t boo following the loss, that’s probably more out of respect to Jofuku’s 2008 performance and out of deference to Gonda, who needs all the encouragement he can get before facing Urawa in a week. Should the team recieve a similar result in Saitama Stadium, the boos that were part and parcel of an FC Tokyo game 2 years ago may come back into favor sooner rather than later.
Quotes
It’s very difficult to win in J.League when you give up two goals off of corner kicks in a game. We absolutely have to reflect on the fact that we’re repeating such mistakes.
The 3rd and 4th goals we surrendered were due to the mistakes of individual players, and any team that allows those sorts of mistakes to continue has no right to say that they’re in contention for the J.League title.
We can and must learn from Albirex’s strength in front of the goal.
~Hiroshi Jofuku, excerpts from postgame press conference
Errata
I had the pleasure of meeting a few of Aishiteru Tokyo’s readers following the game and I’m pretty sure they’ll all be chipping in their opinions of today’s debacle in the comments section. In addition, when I mentioned my blog to a woman I was sitting next to before the game, she told me that her husband had actually seen my site. So, apparently we’re spreading in popularity, slowly but surely! Once we finish expanding the site and getting content and media organized, work can begin on my next Big Idea: an International Supporter Group in the vein of the small but dedicated groups of foreigners supporting teams such as Shimizu and Yokohama. I have a neat idea that involves taking over a section (or agreeing to meet at a certain area of the concourse) and offering English conversational practice in return for donations towards material for flags and banners.
Also, Urawa lost and Jubilo got embarassed by Montedio fuckin’ Yamagata. So the day wasn’t a total loss.
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