With a troublingly decisive Week 3 match swiftly approaching, here’s the latest courtesy of Chunichi Sports:
-Following an intra-squad match on the 18th, Hideki Sahara called an abrupt “blue sky meeting” (apparently this just means a meeting held outside) with his fellow defenders to discuss the state of a defense that has given up 7 goals in two matches. Said team regular Teriyuki Moniwa, “…certainly everyone knows what’s going on but nobody was quite willing to step up and say something about it. But Hideki’s been watching from the sidelines and so he was able to make a good case as to what we need to do.” Manager Hiroshi Jofuku joined the meeting partway through and contributed to the discussion.
-Naohiro Ishikawa started in today’s practice match versus Kokuchikan University. Early in the match he took a cross from Hanyu and headed it in for a goal, making a case for starting time in Saturday’s match.
-In the same practice match, 5th forward Sota Hirayama also continued to make a convincing case for seeing time on the J1 field. Continuing the impressive form he displayed in Sunday’s satellite match, Hirayama intercepted a midfielder’s pass, avoided getting tripped up by a defender, and curved a shot from 20 meters out to get the score. Saturday is the predicted start of the Tokyo cherry blossom season, and Chunichi’s writers predict that Hirayama could bring FCT’s offense to full bloom. While one can usually expect such… flowery prose from Japanese sports writers, Hirayama is one of a growing list of players (including Sahara and Ishikawa) who have sat through the team’s two losses mostly on the sidelines and believe they can make an impact. We’ll see if they get their chances on Saturday.
I’ll post a report after I’ve caught up on sleep, but to sum things up, FC Tokyo played an error-prone first half but managed to find a solid offensive groove once rookie GK starter Ogi calmed down after giving up a goal on a bad play and freezing on a free kick by Hulk. Fortunately for the Gasmen, Verdy was playing just as poorly, but to their credit for the first time since April they managed to make it an interesting match.
On FCT’s scorecard, Cabore scored first to equalize at 1-1 and from then on it was the Hirayama Show, with #13 equalizing at 2-2 at the end of the first half, then punching in two more goals for a hat trick that would propel FC Tokyo into the next round of the Nabisco Cup, where they will play Oita Trinita.
Good times. I’ll post a full report tomorrow along with YouTube vids. Now to pass out.
Ore, ao to aka,
Isshou ao to aka,
Ore, ao to aka, Midori no dai-kirai, TOKYO!
Because I’m not going to get my photos up tonight as much as I’d like to, I’d like to illustrate how the game went:
Imagine, if you will, that Edward Norton is wearing a blue + red kit instead of a pair of boxers and a swastika. Then further imagine that the black kid about to be handed a startlingly expensive bill for dental restoration work represents Verdy. Got that in your head? Okay, then you have some idea of how today’s match went.
Though the weather in Tokyo was miserable throughout most of yesterday, the rain finally cleared around 11AM this morning – it was cloudy throughout the day but over 19,000 people were in the stands – precious few of them Verdy fans. Guys, I know you’re already eliminated from the quarterfinals, but seriously, it’s a Derby match, have some goddamned pride in your team.
In any case, security was more or less the same today as it was before Urawa and Gamba had their little catfight, so at least that’s not changed yet. Although I should note that a guy two rows in front of me holding a gateflag that showed a masked FCT fan strangling the Verdy mascot was asked to put his flag down so it wouldn’t get in the official J-League photo or something like that.
The banner above is basically telling Hirayama to man the fuck up – and to his credit he did so and had a couple solid chances.
With Nagatomo, Konno, and Kajiyama off the roster to serve their country and Akamine scratched for reasons I’m not sure of, it was up to Cabore and the rest of the Tokyo roster to get the ball into the net. The first 10 minutes more or less defined the game – Bruno Quadros scored in the second minute of play, sealing the victory and kicking off an attack that left Verdy GK Doi constantly on the defensive.
After about the first 15-20 minutes things reached a more equal attack/counter-attack balance, with most of Verdy’s shots sailing far wide of the goal. The first half was also a good indicator of how much of a whiny pussy Hulk is – every time he fell over he would look for a foul, then upon not finding it give his “I’m going to cry if you don’t give me a free kick” face, as seen in the last Tokyo Derby:
Unfortunately after a good half-dozen such occurances the ref probably figured Hulk would start crying, so for a good strech from midway through the first half to some time into the second half, FC Tokyo was the recipient of several questionable foul calls – one notes that Verdy took 21 free kicks as opposed to Tokyo’s 12. There were also several non-calls that should have been called for Tokyo, particularly a nasty takedown on Hirayama as he approached the Verdy goal early in the second half.
Also notable on the Tokyo squad was Emerson – though he got taken down several times throughout the game he always got back up and was on-hand to create some solid attacks for Tokyo.
But all was moot as two minutes after receiving a yellow card, Sahara slammed in a glorious header off of a free kick, for all intents and purposes sealing 3 points for the Gasmen. Yusuke, who came in for Hirayama at the 65 minute mark, kicked in a third goal for good measure as the FCT supporters sang out the closing minutes in style.
Ore… ao to aka…
Issho ao to aka…
Ore… ao to aka…
Midori no ga dai-kirai
TOKYO!
(sung to the tune of the Great Escape theme)
In other Group B results, Shimizu S-Pulse dispatched Jubilo in round two of their Shizuoka Derby by the score of 4-2, likely solidifying Shimizu’s trip to the second round. S-Pulse leads the group with 10 points, followed by FC Tokyo with 7, Jubilo with 4, and Verdy with 1. Verdy is all but eliminated from contention, while Jubilo needs a lot of luck and FC Tokyo needs at least one more win plus a bit of luck. Next weekend FC Tokyo hosts Shimizu out in Matsumoto Stadium, a game I hope to attend one way or another.
In other random news, FC Tokyo will play a “pre-season” friendly match at home against Olimpia Asuncion, Paraguay’s oldest and most storied club team. Don’t ask me why they’re playing a “pre-season” match in the middle of the season, but it should be fun either way.
I’m falling asleep at my keyboard so this will not be as in-depth and analytical as the Jubilo preview (and in fact I’ll probably end up re-writing some of this in the morning). I’m still trying to find a comfortable pace at which I can write this blog, but I assume anyone reading this will bear with me.
Tomorrow’s match marks the home leg of the Tamagawa Clasico between Kanto rivals FC Tokyo and Kawasaki Frontale. Gasheads are still smarting from last year’s 7-0 home thrashing at the hands of the dolphins, a low point if ever there was one in the dismally mediocre 2007 season. Fortunately, it’s a new season and a new team, perfect for the exorcism of demons of seasons past. FC Tokyo has 3 wins, 5 draws, and 4 losses all-time in the series. Kawasaki currently sits in 10th place and is at risk of falling several spots with a loss.
So, let’s go ahead with my predictions.
How FC Tokyo Can Win
-Get the ball into the net. Cabore, Hanyu, and Otake have been instrumental in reviving the team’s attack, and indeed they’ve had many more chances to score this year than they ever did last year. There is a difference, however, between a shot and a goal, and that can often be the difference between leaving the field with three, one, or no points. Even a shot their goalkeeper knocks away is better thana scrum in the box that the Kawasaki defenders clear to the sideline; the more pressure they put on the GK the better the chance is he’ll make a mistake.
-Stop Juninho. FCT managed to keep Verdy’s Brazillian Brigade in check for most of the match last Saturday, but Juninho is arguably better than anyone on Verdy’s squad and will give Otake and Nagatomo a run for their money. Although the 4-2-2-2 against Jubilo worked well in creating chances at goal, expect a more conservative 4-3-1-2 to adjust for Kawasaki’s offense. To counter Juninho’s speed, Bruno may get another start following his appearance against Jubilo.
-Fewer turnovers. Far too many were committed against a Jubilo team that couldn’t capitalize on them. Kawasaki, on the other hand, will be more than capable of making Tokyo regret its mistakes.
-Hirayama must perform. Although fans on Wednesday night were appreciative of his performance, reaction on the blogosphere afterwards shows that #13 hasn’t done enough to atone for his lack of effort earlier in the season. If Cabore isn’t fit to play a full 90 minutes following his early exit on Wednesday, Hirayama needs to draw his line in the sand and come through with some big plays.
Wild Card
The weather in Tokyo since the other day has been, for lack of a better word, shit. The wind is blowing, it is raining, it is damp, it is cold, it is miserable. British fans attending the match will feel right at home. I’ve been told the rain is supposed to stop at 12PM (kickoff is at 4PM), but whether that turns out to be true is another matter. The condition of the pitch could certainly affect play, and if it starts raining during the match all bets are off.
In Other News…
Speaking of #13, Sota Hirayama has been called up to the Japan National U-23 Olympic Team’s training camp in Saitama next week after being left off of the squad for last month’s match against Angola. He’ll be joined by fellow squadmate Youhei Kajiyama.
Aishiteru-Tokyo.com was launched in April of 2008 when dokool decided to troll the Rising Sun Forums and was instead invited by other English-language J.League bloggers to start his own.
About the Writers
dokool lives in Tokyo, Japan, where he spends his nights at punk shows and his weekends at FCT matches (and more punk shows. He can be found at most home games (and reasonably accessible away games) in the LA12 cheering section, often snapping away with his DSLR.
Lantis, a friend of dokool's from the New England otaku scene, joined the site in early 2009 as an assistant writer (maintenance posts, compiling news from official sources, setting up templates, and poking dokool with a sharp stick until he writes his match reports).
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