Pick Up Match

FC Tokyo (J1) 1-2 (1st 0-0, 2nd 1-2) Shimizu S-pulse (J1)

The 94th Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Soccer Championship Tournament had one of its Round of 16 (4th Round) matches on Sunday 7 September. Ahead of other seven matches to be held on Wednesday September 10, FC Tokyo (J1) and Shimizu S-pulse (J1) went head to head at Tokyo Ajinomoto Stadium.

FC Tokyo were without Morishige Masato and Muto Yoshinori who had been with the Japan National Team so-called SAMURAI BLUE, and also Shimizu didn’t have several players including Milivoje Novakovic and Kaneko Shota. Instead, both teams had young players and new international players on the roster for this match. Centre back Michele Canini played for FC Tokyo for the first time while Bueno also put on Shimizu jersey for the first time and Mizutani Takuma, listed as Class 2, had his first career start of an official match in his young career.

The match started off quite even. In the 12th minute, FC Tokyo’s Mita Hirotaka sent a vertical feed to Edu, who turned around and fired a shot. Then Shimizu, two minutes later, had Takagi Toshiyuki caught a long pass from the back line and threatened Tokyo’s goal. FC Tokyo tried to mix their quick attacks with unharried offence to look for an opportunity to score the first goal. Meanwhile Shimizu always left at least three defenders at the back line for a safe build-up. Both teams allowed few decisive moments to each other and the first half finished scoreless.

In the second half, one strike of the striker changed the match for Shimizu. In the 69th, Omae Genki fired an amazing middle range shot into the goal from outside of the box to give Shimizu a much-awaited first goal. FC Tokyo did not stay quiet, either, backed up by their home crowd. In the 75th, Kono Hirotaka penetrated into the box, received a pass from Edu and struck an equalising grounder to the back of the net.

Shimizu, however, did not miss the opportunity FC Tokyo allowed after their own goal. One minute later, the ball was passed to Kije Lee and to Takagi Toshiyuki, whose cross feed got deflected by a defender. The ball went back to Kije Lee again and he somehow put it into the goal for the lead. FC Tokyo, striving for another equaliser, had Edu and goalkeeper Goda Syuichi barely miss to tie the score, but the match heard the time-up whistle with the score remained 2-1. Shimizu won the close contest to advance to the quarter final.

Match Report (Japanese version only)

Comments

Massimo FICCADENTI, Head Coach（FC Tokyo）
The Emperor’s Cup is a very important tournament with AFC Champions League at stake. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t play this match with our best line-up. They had almost five defenders in place to minimise the space behind them, but we could show our attacks. But the goal we lost after we tied the match was huge until the end. We should have stopped both goals we allowed, but we have to accept this result.

GONDA Shuichi（FC Tokyo）
The goal we gave away after we tied the match was really disappointing. The way we lost our balls were not good, and we let them execute many counter attacks. If we keep playing this way, other teams will think like “When we play FC Tokyo, we just have to stay back. So they will start forcing their attacks.” In the 22nd week of the J.League season against Kashima Antlers, we forced to attack the middle where their guards were high, and then their counter attack caught us. We need to make adjustments not to make this mistake again.

OENOKI Katsumi, Head Coach（Shimizu S-Pulse）
We had limited number of players, and it took me long to decide who to play, then I went with three backs. Sometime it went to five backs, but I told our players to stay high and put pressure there as much as possible. We didn’t allow a goal in the first half, and that made our game plan easier. Then that led to our two goals in the second half. With our roster being limited, each player worked harder. I believe this win will help us to have a stronger depth and better competition within our team.

MIZUTANI Takuma（Shimizu S-Pulse）
I started for the first time in my professional career. It was different from the match against Sagan Tosu in the week 22 when I made a pro debut in the middle of the match, I was very nervous today. My nervousness was at its peak when I stepped up the stairs to the pitch, but it got better after the match started. So that was good. During the match, I tried to stay low and put my body early to big players like Edu. I also enjoyed being part of our attacks sometimes. Tomorrow, I have school, so I am so busy.

特別協賛

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