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Latest from Aishiteru-Tokyo.com: The Season Begins! New Faces Part 1 http://is.gd/7RzH1 [aishiterutokyo]
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@PINA10460 オープニングじゃなくてハーフタイムショーだ [aishiterutokyo]
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@pitchinvasion great scarf! Incidentally I’d like to pick your brain re: supporter groups, would email be best or do you use any IM soft? [aishiterutokyo]
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@pitchinvasion oh, and congrats on the chairmanship as well! [aishiterutokyo]
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@pitchinvasion alright, thanks! it’s nearly 2:30am over here so I’ll write you in the morning. [aishiterutokyo]
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@fctokyo1989 別に面白い試合では無かったのでドンマイだよw [aishiterutokyo]
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With the team firmly encamped in Miyazaki Prefecture (save for the 4 members who are currently with the National Team), there’s really not much to report on unless I want to translate the fluff articles on Chuunichi (which I don’t), talk about how Nao is injured again (which I don’t) or lament the failings of our national team (really, really, really, really don’t).
So now, late but still in time for the season opener, here’s info on Tokyo’s new faces courtesy of the official website. This first post will cover Japanese rookies, with the next post covering everyone else.
Kentaro Shigematsu
Age: 18
Postion: Forward
Previous club: FCT U-18
Info: A strong center-forward with the ability to create chances under pressure. Kentaro has contributed to the FCT U18’s success in the last three years and was an U-18 NT player in 2009. He’ll be wearing Akamine’s old number, #24.
Hideto Takahashi
Age: 22
Position: Center Back
Previous Club: Tokyo Gakuin University
Info: Takahashi, a Special Designation Player w/ FCT, has been named to the All-Japan College Team for 3 years in a row. A level-headed decision-maker whose accurate passes are often the start for counter-attacks. In a sign of the team’s confidence in his skills, Hideto will wear #4, Bruno’s old number.
Ryo Hiraide
Age: 18
Position: All-Around Defender
Previous Club: FCT U-18
Info: A teammate of Shigematsu’s on the U-18 NT, Ryo Hiraide is a physically equipped all-around defender. He’ll inherit #25 from Tokunaga.
Takumi Abe
Age: 18
Position: Side Back
Previous Club: FCT U-18
Info: With his small stature and high speed, Abe fits the mold of Yuto Nagatomo and could fill his position during NT absences.
The official schedule has been released… and the 2chantards got it right, as far as I can tell.
Bolded games are home, italicized games are Nabisco Cup fixtures.
| Date | Day | Opponent | Location | Time |
| 3/6 | Saturday | Yokohama F. Marinos | Ajinomoto Stadium | 2PM |
| 3/14 | Sunday | Urawa Reds | Saitama Stadium 2002 | 2PM |
| 3/20 | Saturday | Cerezo Osaka | Ajinomoto Stadium | 7PM |
| 3/28 | Sunday | Omiya Ardija | NACK5 | 2PM |
| 3/31 | Wednesday | Nagoya Grampus | Kokuritsu | 7PM |
| 4/4 | Sunday | Kawasaki Frontale | Todoroki | 4PM |
| 4/10 | Saturday | Kashima Antlers | Ajinomoto Stadium | 7PM |
| 4/14 | Wednesday | Omiya Ardija | NACK5 | 7PM |
| 4/17 | Saturday | Kyoto Sanga | Ajinomoto Stadium | 5PM |
| 4/24 | Saturday | Gamba Osaka | Banpaku | 5PM |
| 5/1 | Saturday | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Big Arch | 7PM |
| 5/5 | Wednesday | Vegalta Sendai | Ajinomoto Stadium | 2PM |
| 5/9 | Sunday | Montedio Yamagata | 4PM | |
| 5/15 | Saturday | Shimizu S-Pulse | Ajinomoto Stadium | 2PM |
| 5/22 | Saturday | Albirex Niigata | Komazawa Stadium | 2PM |
| 5/26 | Wednesday | Vegalta Sendai | 7PM | |
| 6/6 | Sunday | Kyoto Sanga | Ajinomoto Stadium | 3PM |
| 6/9 | Wednesday | Cerezo Osaka | 7PM | |
| 7/17 | Saturday | Vissel Kobe | Ajinomoto Stadium | 6:30PM |
| 7/25 | Sunday | Shonan Bellmare | Hiratsuka Field | 6PM |
| 7/28 | Wednesday | Jubilo Iwata | Kokuritsu | 7PM |
| 7/31 | Saturday | Albirex Niigata | Big Swan | 7PM |
| 8/8 | Sunday | Nagoya Grampus | Ajinomoto Stadium | 7PM |
| 8/14 | Saturday | Kashima Antlers | Kashima Stadium | 7PM |
| 8/18 | Wednesday | Cerezo Osaka | 7PM | |
| 8/21 | Saturday | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Ajinomoto Stadium | 6:30PM |
| 8/28 | Saturday | Vissel Kobe | 7PM | |
| 9/12 | Sunday | Urawa Reds | Ajinomoto Stadium | |
| 9/18 | Saturday | Jubilo Iwata | Yamaha Stadium | |
| 9/25 | Saturday | Omiya Ardija | Ajinomoto Stadium | |
| 10/3 | Sunday | Shonan Bellmare | Kokuritsu | |
| 10/16 | Saturday | Vegalta Sendai | ||
| 10/23 | Saturday | Albirex Niigata | Ajinomoto Stadium | |
| 10/30 | Saturday | Shimizu S-Pulse | Nihondaira | |
| 11/6 | Saturday | Gamba Osaka | Ajinomoto Stadium | |
| 11/14 | Sunday | Yokohama F. Marinos | Nissan Stadium | |
| 11/20 | Saturday | Kawasaki Frontale | Ajinomoto Stadium | |
| 11/23 | Tuesday | Nagoya Grampus | ||
| 11/27 | Saturday | Montedio Yamagata | Ajinomoto Stadium | |
| 12/4 | Saturday | Kyoto Sanga |
In NT news, Nagatomo and Tokunaga were in the starting lineup against Venezuela last night. While the match was a somewhat boring and disappointing 0-0 draw, Hirayama did come on as a substitute and showed enough kiai to, in my opinion, earn a spot in the starting lineup during the East Asian Cup, which starts this coming weekend.
Speaking of the East Asian Cup, Ishikawa’s apparently done something to his calf and has been left off the starting roster. Here’s hoping it’s nothing serious!
I cannot authenticate this because it’s basically a bunch of guys on 2channel pulling matchups out of their ass based on rumors, dates stadiums have been rented out, fanclub news letters, sources from the clubs, that sort of thing I think.
Most of these don’t have a definite date yet but at least you can plan your weekend around away trips. I know for sure I’ll be missing out on at least 2 home games (vs. Kashima and Nagoya) and a Nabisco Cup match (…Nagoya. Son of a bitch), so there’s that.
The schedules are to be announced on Wednesday so in a few days we’ll see how right a bunch of internet nerds were.
EDIT: 3/27-8 vs. Omiya and 10/30-1 vs. Shimizu are both AWAY. Sorry for being an idiot.
FC TOKYO 2010 UNOFFICIAL J1 SCHEDULE
3/6 Yokohama FM
3/14 @ Urawa
3/20-1 Cerezo Osaka
3/27-8 @Omiya
4/3-4 @ Kawasaki
4/10-1 Kashima
4/17-8 Kyoto
4/24-5 @ Gamba Osaka
5/1 @ Hiroshima
5/5 Sendai
5/8-9 @ Yamagata
5/15-6 Shimizu
(World Cup Break)
7/17-8 Kobe
7/24-5 @ Shonan
7/27-8 Iwata
7/31-8/1 @ Niigata
8/7-8 Nagoya
8/14 @ Kashima
8/17-8 @ Cerezo Osaka
8/21-2 Hiroshima
9/11-2 Urawa
9/18-9 @ Iwata
9/25 Omiya
10/2-3 Shonan
10/16-7 @ Sendai
10/23-4 Niigata
10/30-1 @Shimizu (Halloween Day? Hell yes.)
11/6-7 Gamba Osaka
11/14 @ Yokohama
11/20 Kawasaki
11/23 @ Nagoya
11/27-8 Yamagata
12/4 @ Kyoto
FC TOKYO – UNOFFICIAL NABISCO CUP GROUP A SCHEDULE
3/31 Nagoya
4/14 @Omiya
5/22 Niigata
5/26 @Sendai
6/5-6 Kyoto
6/9 @Cerezo Osaka
A very late Happy New Year from Aishiteru Tokyo!
I haven’t been able to put as much time as I’d like towards updating the site over the winter break, but I’m still posting odds and ends on Twitter via @aishiterutokyo so if you’re a Twitter user feel free to follow!
It seems like the team officially starts activities on the 24th, which generally means a press conference with the new players (and hopefully a sponsor announcement, and a foreign striker, and ponies and rocket cars for all).
For now, news in brief:
Schedule News
-The team will have training camp in Miyazaki Prefecture this year rather than spending a million dollars going to Guam.
-Preseason Match: 2/27 at home vs. Albirex Niigata. Not quite as exotic as vs. Consadole Sapporo in Okinawa last year but hey.
-Season Opener: 3/6 at home vs. Yokohama F. Marinos. This will be the second time the two squads have met on opening day; the first was 10 years ago as FC Tokyo won its first J1 match 1-0 on a late goal by Tuto.
-Week 2: 3/13 away at Urawa Reds. Again. Yippee. Given how much tickets go for I should just buy up as many as I can and make a profit.
Player Transfers
In: Morishige, Matsushita, and a bunch of kids from the youth squad
Out: Asari (retired), Fujiyama (to Consadole Sapporo), Kondo (to Consadole Sapporo), Bruno (unknown), Sahara (will return to Kawasaki Frontale), Moniwa (to Cerezo Osaka)
Rumors: A few still festering but nothing’s gained any traction beyond a day or two. As of right now the squad only has three experienced forwards (Akamine, Hirayama, and Suzuki) on the roster, plus I think one or two of the youth members.
NT News
-Hirayama is the new hero of Samurai Blue after scoring a hat trick to help a team of fresh faces come from behind in Yemen earlier this month. He, along with Ishikawa, Tokunaga, Nagatomo, and Konno will be on the squad for Japan’s match against Venezuela on 2/2.
-Depending on call-ups, these 5 players may be with the NT up through March 3rd, giving Jofuku difficult circumstances under which to plan his lineup.
An entire season has come and gone, and for the most part I managed to blog about all of it; or at least the parts that mattered 
I’ve written about 102 posts in 2009, compared to about 30 posts in 2008. Granted, the bulk of those posts were certainly earlier in the season before I got a bit overwhelmed with work and the like, but I’m certainly happy with how I managed (mostly) to keep up with things. I’m nowhere close to what Furtho & Agent Orange are up to over in Omiya (300+ posts this year alone!), and sometimes I have trouble consistently getting up reports as regularly as Barry over in Shimizu, but for a two-bit operation I don’t think I (or my guest writers/assistants, Lantis and Andre) have done that badly considering that this was basically the first “full year” of operations for the blog.
The site currently receives a couple thousand visitors a month; plus a fair number of RSS feed reads. Although to be totally honest I have no idea how many of those hits are actual people since people rarely write comments =P (Seriously, people, comment! Let me know what’s up!) Additionally, @aishiterutokyo on Twitter has about 50 followers, the vast majority of them Japanese fans.
In 2009 I attended 28 games; 20 league, 7 Nabisco Cup, 1 Emperor’s Cup. 7 of these matches were away, including 3 stadiums I’d never visited previously (Hitachi, Kashima, and Nihondaira) plus my first J1 match at Saitama Stadium. In addition the Nabisco Cup group stage match against Shimizu brought me to Komazawa Stadium for the first time. Schedule conflicts prevented me from attending 3 home games (including Ishikawa’s hat trick vs. Omiya, the tie vs. Kyoto, and the Nabisco semifinal vs. Shimizu), and while I may be forced to miss a game or three next Spring due to similar conflicts I intend to make it up in my away matches. With the help of Andre I managed to complete the tifo I’d been mulling all season; the three 8.5-feet-tall nobori we created ended up in many a photo after the Nabisco Cup.
This was also an important year for me in that I started to establish connections within the supporter community. I met Yuji, the webmaster behind Tokyo Web Life (pretty much the authoritative FC Tokyo fan site). For the first time in my three years (!) of supporting the team, I finally made an effort to befriend the members of LA12, the main group of ultras that organize tifos and lead chants. I’ve criticized LA12 in the past, and I’ve always felt that they were somewhat resistant to the idea of me being behind the goal, but after a few of them saw my blog this year they finally started to understand that I’m not some tourist and there’s now somewhat of a mutual respect.
I’ve also continued to improve my knowledge of ‘the game’ itself; this is part of overcoming a disability known in the soccer world as “being American.” But I’ve learned enough to be able to tell when a player is diving, when offside is really offside, and when Tokyo will utterly fail against a set play (sadly, the answer to this is ‘nearly every time’).
With that in mind, I’ve already got a laundry list of things I want to do for next season.
- Add More (Japanese) Writers. While Lantis (hopefully) and Andre (probably) will continue to contribute next season, my grand plan is to assemble two or three Japanese writers with good enough English skills to handle translating articles.
- Better SNS & Multimedia integration. Anyone who’s been following @aishiterutokyo on Twitter knows that it’s been really easy for me to post brief notes as well as live updates from matches. I’ve experimented a little with the Lifestream plugin for WordPress this year, but for next year I’m hoping to find a better method. The same goes for YouTube videos and photos.
- Visit More Practices. This is unfortunately tied to my work schedule, but I would like to make the trip out to Kodaira more often and talk to the players.
- More Collaboration with Supporter Groups. I’m not sure what form this will take but hopefully it will go towards getting more foreign fans to stand with us behind the goal; I’m planning on doing romaji versions of the ’song sheets’ that fans can pick up at The Shack on gameday. Furthermore, the idea of doing a joint scarf or tee-shirt design has been floating around. I consider scarves to be quintessential supporter gear and have a couple design ideas percolating.
- Flesh out the site a bit more. The long-waiting “How To Buy Tickets At Lawsons” section, maybe a bit more for history and statistics, that sort of thing.
- Form A Penya. FC Tokyo recognizes groups of supporters as penya – you don’t get anything from the team except for acknowledgment that you exist, but it’s still Something. My intention is to submit for an International Supporters Penya under the TOKYO DAMACY 1999 slogan. Hopefully if we get more foreign supporters behind the goal, we can actually do stuff as a group… we’ll see how it turns out!
Is there anything I’ve overlooked? Let me know! The comment section is there for a reason
In any case it’s already shaping up to be an exciting 2010 for FC Tokyo and Aishiteru-Tokyo.com, so I hope you’ll all continue to stop by this blog! Thanks to everyone for your support and I hope you have a good offseason. In the meantime I’ve got photos to choose for my exhibition in 10 days, but early next week I’ll be doing a rundown of Tokyo’s signings and releases.
The 2009 J.League Division 1 season came to a close not with a bang, but with a rain-soaked whimper at Big Swan Stadium in Niigata.
Tokyo took an early lead off of a superb goal by Hokuto Nakamura in the 12th minute and proceeded to defend and attack with valor for much of the rest of the game. Sota Hirayama in particular had several close chances and anyone watching the game could see the anguish in his face as each time he came up just short.
Unfortunately, a gift of 3 points to end the season was not meant to be as Niigata equalized in the closing seconds with a header by retiring (?) player Naoto Matsuo off, you guessed it, a corner kick. Gonda had no chance and will have to be content with tying the J.League shutout record at 15 matches.
The 2,800 (!) Tokyo fans that made the trip to Niigata were fortunate enough to see both Fujiyama and Asari take the field for the last time; Fujiyama was substituted for Hanyu late in the game and wore the captain’s mark while Asari replaced Suzuki following the equalizer goal. While it may have been hard to tell at first sight if it was tears or rain streaming down Asari’s face following the game, it would seem that many Tokyo fans could have used an umbrella as well, so to speak.
With the draw (combined with a Shimizu draw and Urawa’s loss), FC Tokyo ends the season in 5th place. This is the team’s best finish of the one-stage era (2005~) and is an improvement of one place over last year. For accomplishing this, the team will receive from J.League 40 million yen, or roughly $440,000US.
I was going to do a final “summing up the season” post here but I’m seriously lacking the energy at the moment. Many thanks are owed and they will all be written out in time, I’m sure. In the meantime a hearty otsukare to everyone out there in the blogosphere in the stands, and on the field!
As the season winds down to a close, we have stuff to look forward to (or not?) next season…
First, last week’s game against Vissel Kobe. We won, 1-0. Hiramatsu scored a fantastic header off of a Suzuki free kick in the 87th minute. If that was all you saw of the game, congrats: you saw the relevant bit.
Due to several fortunate results, Tokyo is now in sole possession of 5th place heading into the last game of the season vs. Albirex Niigata. A win, plus a Hiroshima draw or loss, would put Tokyo in 4th place. Not only would there be a decent bump to the end-of-season prize we would get from being in the top 8 (5th place receives 40 million yen while 4th gets 60 mil.), but we would have a Chance In Hell of going to the ACL next season.
I’m going to repeat that. Despite everything the team has been through we could still conceivably play in Asia. IF we get 4th place, and IF Kashima, Kawasaki, or Osaka wins the Emperor’s Cup. So, to start with, go Kyoto!
The Kobe match was also a day for farewells of various sorts. For starters, it was the final home game of “The Last Legends of Tokyo Gas” -- Satoru Asari (7) and Ryuji Fujiyama (8). With a combined 31 years of service for FC Tokyo and Tokyo Gas, the two players were often immortalized in gateflags simply as 社員. They were celebrated in a pre-game tifo:
Following the game the two players made tearful speeches to the home supporters. While Asari is officially retiring and may continue on with the team as a coach, Fujiyama had previously expressed his desire to continue playing “until my body falls apart” and, in a stunning announcement in front of the home crowd, announced that he will be playing for J2 side Consadole Sapporo next season.
After the speeches, the two players made their way around the pitch:
Unfortunately, it appears that the game was also the last stand at Ajinomoto for Bruno Quadros, who will not be resigning with the squad. I’m also seeing rumors that Hideki Sahara will be returning to Kawasaki Frontale.
In even less attractive news, I give you our 2010 uniforms:
The home kits are ugly as sin and I refuse to purchase one… what were they thinking with the ‘bib’ design? To be completely honest the photo of Nagatomo makes it look worse than it actually does due to the immense number of flashes going off at once. That said it’s still a mediocre design and adidas should be ashamed.
I could grow to like the away kit, though.
In other bulletpoint-worthy news…
-We’re after a bunch of players, and none of it’s worth reporting on until we actually sign someone.
-The team has withdrawn from its annual Guam Camp due to the costs involved (roughly $1 million) and will instead train in Miyazaki Prefecture this winter.
-World Cup draws announced! Japan in the pot with Holland, Denmark, and Cameroon. I say we have a fair shot.
Now, to get another hour or so of sleep before I go to El Loco for the match…
Hey all,
Sorry for the lack of reporting lately – I’ve been busy with band-related stuff and to top it all off I was away this weekend so I didn’t get to attend the Chiba game. Fortunately previous guest writer Andre was, so here’s his report:
I would like to start by thanking Asahi [one of the leaders in LA12 - ed.] for helping me get into the visitor side of Fukuda Denshi after I had to buy a home ticket on account of the visitor side being sold out. Thanks Asahi!
An interesting point has to be made in that every single bottom team relegated to J2 from J1 for next season (Kashiwa, Oita, and JEF) all won their games this weekend. As the season comes to a close these bottom teams seem to have been re-energized, having nothing left to lose. FCT got beaten squarely by pride. The JEF fans were loud and made us have to scream and shout even louder to get FCT into the match. Going into this game FCT has had a difficult run of play post Nabisco Cup, and it seems to have taken its toll on Jofoku`s men. After barely beating Thespa Kusatsu 3-2 (Emperor`s Cup), and the loss to Urawa in J1 play and losing against Vegata Sendai (coincidentally a team going into J1 next season) the week before in the EC, FCT needed more than a week of rest for this game against JEF. Add the fact that Jofoku has a stretched squad already, tired legs and having won some major silverware maybe the team is already looking forward to next season and post-season player moves? It sure seemed like it. Everything was even during the first half. JEF came out strong,fast, and loose, finding space practically everywhere. This lead JEF`s Tatsunori to score on a cross from Baiano in the box. Defensively Bruno was the only starting defenceman who played strong adding a more attacking role. JEF pressed and pressed, capitalizing on a sloppy FCT defence, and midfield. The only error of the game by the JEF defence allowed Akamine to score, slipping it under the JEF goalkeeper. 1-1 at halftime.
The second half was an incredibly different affair. Again the FCT defence looked like it didn’t make the trip from Tokyo. With less than five minutes played in the second half another cross into the box got Baiano a free header that Gonda could do nothing about. Shocking to say the least. But we had 40 plus minutes to play and maybe to salvage a point, right? Nope. The team seemed to unravel a little bit after the JEF goal. There were times of attack but Hirayama was stymied every time he tried to play the ball. Jofoku brought in Hanyu for Otake, nothing. Tatsuya even hit the post. The change, and what proved to me that the squad is so stretched at this point in the season, was that Yusuke Kondo was brought in. To do what? Score goals? I realize that he hasn`t played very much this season but having watched him against Thespa he is, to put it bluntly, really bad. He is too big and too slow to attack the way he does. FCT showed against JEF that it needs fast strikers to play the ball into the box and pressure the defence. It is what FCT is good at and what gets points on the board. No Ishikawa and no Cabore. No speed. Hirayama does not have the speed and neither does Yusuke. Both are more attacking mid fielders at best, poachers. Neither of them have the burst to get them over the top. Tatsuya does but is relegated to the outside to feed Yusuke and Hirayama. It wasn`t working, and I beg Jofoku to seriously look at what opportunities Tatsuya has to offer in a more striking role for the upcoming games against Kobe and Niigata.
Finally, the ref was lucky to get out of the game without us running onto the pitch and throwing him out of the stadium. Near the final ten minutes it seemed as if the entire Fukuda Denki stadium was colluding against us. Everybody seemed in slow motion from the ref to the staff. JEF players had been taking their time with the ball right after their go ahead goal. Jofoku was so irate that he was given a talking to by the ref. We saw red, and then Hirayama did, in the form of a card. It was a ridiculous display of refereeing in the final 30 minutes. The major call was the second yellow of the game against Hirayama for an alleged elbow. A JEF player had climbed over Hirayama`s back and he, Hirayama, shucked him off. Then the second yellow, followed by the red. No Hirayama for the final home game of the season against Kobe on Saturday. If anything this is a stern reminder of what is wrong with FCT right now. You are only as good as your last game and we should not be resting on our Nabisco Cup laurels. Full points in the final two games of the season can get us to at 55 points on the year and possibly, if fate is with us, top 5. Worthy of our season. Jofoku has a lot to think about this week. We need to rally behind him and the Red and Blue this weekend, because man, they are going to need it.
| 2009 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Final | ||
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First Half 1- 0 Second Half 1- 0 Final |
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| August 1st 2009, 2:09PM kickoff at “Kokuritsu” National Stadium (attendance 44,308) | ||
| GK 20 Shuichi Gonda DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga DF 4 Bruno Quadros DF 6 Yasuyuki Konno DF 33 Kenta Mukuhara MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama MF 28 Takuji Yonemoto MF 40 Tatsuya Suzuki MF 22 Naotake Hanyu FW 24 Shingo Akamine FW 13 Sota Hirayama |
Starting Members |
GK 1 Eiji Kawashima DF 19 Yusuke Mori DF 17 Kosuke Kikuchi DF 2 Hiroki Ito DF 26 Kazuhiro Murakami MF 29 Hiroyuki Taniguchi MF 18 Tomonobu Yokoyama MF 14 Kengo Nakamura FW 9 Chong Tese FW 10 Juninho FW 34 Renatinho |
| 60′ 5 Yuto Nagatomo (for Akamine) 74′ 15 Daishi Hiramatsu (for Hanyu) 86′ Hideki Sahara (for Suzuki) |
Substitutes | 70′ 6 Yusuke Tasaka (for Murakami) 79′ 7 Masano Kurotsu (for Renatinho) 84′ 23 Kyohei Noborizato (for Yokoyama) |
| 22′ Yonemoto 59′ Hirayama |
Goals | |
| 58′ Yonemoto 62′ Hanyu |
Cautions | 24′ Yokoyama |
| Ejections | ||
Report
In a season where fans have begun to express concern at the nearly regular showings of diving, complaining, and otherwise poor sportsmanship in the Japanese game, the soccer-kami sat up on their mountain, cracked open a tall can of Sapporo, and declared with a booming voice “on this day, at Kokuritsu, there shall be a good clean 90 minutes of championship-caliber soccer.”
And by Gods, they got it.
This year’s 3rd edition of the Tamagawa Classico played out on the national stage, in front of a sold-out crowd of over 44,000 at Tokyo’s National Stadium with many more watching nationwide on TV. Supporters for both teams were as ready for combat as the players, with fans lining up throughout the frigid and sometimes rainy night. We got to the campout at 5am and enjoyed some chatting with fellow supporters as well as delicious dolphin stew. When the gates finally opened, Tokyo supporters streamed through the turnstiles to hunt for seats, quickly filling the home end of the stadium. Kawasaki fans soon joined them, and both team’s supporters would complete gorgeous choreography displays suitable for such a grand arena. But after all of the flag-waving, balloon blowing, and toilet paper throwing, the match finally began, and of course that’s what you’re here to read about, right?
Well, fuck that, let’s watch those tifos:
The game started with both teams attempting to gain control, and was pretty even in the first 15 minutes. Kawasaki pressed with a couple close shots (including a close-range bullet from Juninho that flew over the crossbar for reasons that defied us at the time), but Tokyo despite their sloppy defensive play somehow fought back and showed that they would not be pushed around. Then, 22 minutes in, Tokyo pressed with a counterattack that saw the ball fall in front of 18-year old Takuji Yonemoto, who had been awarded the J.League New Hero Award (given to an under-23 player for outstanding contribution to his team in the Nabisco Cup) the night before. 30 yards out and with players swarming around him, Yone did what comes natural to a young player with more balls than brains and shot a curving bullet that everyone expected to fly safely into the hands of Kawasaki’s keeper.
Until it went in and the home end erupted in cheers.
Yonemoto’s goal was a fitting sequel to that daisy cutter against Shimizu in the semi-finals, and it threw Kawasaki back on their heels while giving Tokyo the confidence needed to solidify its defense and push on offense. This continued till the whistle to end the first half, which passed by in what seemed like a moment.
15 minutes later, both teams came out for the second half seemingly ready to outdo their first-half performance. Kawasaki pushed hard, committing more men to the attack only to be denied each time as either Gonda or a swarm of Tokyo players practically threw themselves on top of the ball in an attempt to stop the Frontale attack. The fans in the away end, sensing an opportunity to get back into the game, sang at an even greater volume than before.
Suddenly, a Kengo Nagamura free kick lead to a Tokyo counter with Suzuki and Hirayama screaming down the pitch. As Kawasaki’s defenders caught up with them, Suzuki flipped the ball that Sota, whose last appearance on the national stage at Kokuritsu was as a high schooler, was waiting for.
The only thought that came to mind was “finally.” Anyone who’s watched Hirayama play this season knows that he’s had a desire verging on obsessive to score on a header (going so far as to shave his head for aerodynamic purposes), and yet in each game and in each practice shot it appears that once the ball comes into contact with his glittering dome the rebound is almost magnetically attracted to the “anywhere but the goal” area. Well, this day was different and Tokyo took a commanding 2-0 lead with but half an hour left in the match.
With a 2-goal cushion, Jofuku opted to reinforce defensively by bringing in Nagatomo (who started on the bench b/c of his shoulder) and Dashi Hiramatsu. This defensive posturing allowed Kawasaki to press the attack in a series of crosses, volleys, and corner kicks, each of which ended in a spectacularly heart-stopping moment as Tokyo’s supporters struggled to see where the ball was. According to the official statistics Kawasaki took 17 shots in the game, but from where we were standing it seemed like they took 20 in the second half alone. Crossbars were hit, Gonda was flying everywhere, and I recalled the highlights I’ve seen of Tokyo’s stunning effort against Urawa 5 years ago with each player exerting everything they had to stop the ball. Yonemoto was everywhere at once, stealing balls from Juninho and Tese and showing why he was the New Hero. Hiramatsu gave Frontale a free kick minutes after coming on after a hard tackle to stop a Kawasaki drive. And so it continued, punctuated only by a swift counterattack that should have been a 3rd goal as both Nagatomo and Suzuki failed to find an open net. Jofuku completed the defensive alignment by subbing out Suzuki for Hideki Sahara, but by then the wind had left the Frontale sails. Kawasaki pushed, Tokyo didn’t break, and after a surprising 4 minutes of extra time the referee sounded the final whistle, bringing an end to 90 minutes of dive-free, hard-fought soccer and giving Tokyo its first championship in 5 years. And the soccer-kami smiled.
The MVP award was, unsurprisingly, awarded to Takuji Yonemoto, making him the youngest player to win the Cup MVP; he gets one million yen (US$11,000) and bragging rights for the rest of his life.
Many more photos and video to come in a separate post, including the post-game victory rally at Ajinomoto Stadium. For now a hearty congratulations to my fellow supporters and a tip of the hat to Kawasaki’s supporters and players. It seems that the post-game conduct of Frontale’s players has sparked a bit of controversy, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that they played a fantastic match. Tokyo just played more fantastically, and are deservedly your 2009 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Champions.
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