2019 MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE 41st Sec - Tokyo Verdy vs Tokushima Vortis

Match Report

The season has now entered its last two matches. For Verdy, the campaign ends with consecutive home games. Today’s match was also the first at Aji no Moto Stadium since August 18. With only two matches remaining for the team to play with its current emblem, they hoped to deliver a victory to the archaeopteryx who has been their mascot throughout their long history.

In squad news, Masashi Wakasa was dropped after picking up an injury the previous week and Naoya Kondo was chosen to pair with Tomohiro Taira. Meanwhile, Klebinho returned after serving a one-match ban for cumulative yellow cards and took his place at front central midfield.

As the whistle blew for kick off, it was Verdy who had possession and the early initiative. Rather than letting their opponents dominate the ball, the players used the full length and width of the pitch to draw the opposition forward and create space as they aimed for the finish. In the 8th minute, a series of quick passes ended with a switch of play to the opposite side and had the opposition on its heels in front of goal. In the 25th minute, Paraiba dribbled through a tight area in the center and found his way into the box, only to be brought down before he could complete the final ball. The referee held his whistle, signaling no foul, and play went on. Although Verdy had spent nearly the entire match inside opposition territory, their opponents began to reclaim possession in the final minutes before the break and took advantage when the defense were slow to react, setting up Sugimoto for a beautiful swerving mid-range effort that gave Tokushima the lead. In response, the Verdy players took their attacking intensity up a gear and bore down on goal with the final whistle imminent, but the move came to an end after a powerful midrange effort from Kajikawa was batted away by a good save from the goal keeper, allowing Tokushima to take their lead into half time.

Despite having conceded the lead, Verdy hoped to continue with the same momentum after the break and push for the equalizer. However, their hopes would see be dashed. In the 47th minute, a cross came in from the left side. Despite plenty of numbers in the penalty area, the balls seemed to find the one gap in space and Kawata was there to volley home and extend the lead. Once again, the Verdy players would up their intensity and push into opposition territory, but Tokushima were now content to defend their lead and began dropping back in defense, stifling any attacking impetus. Still, Verdy played a number of balls forward into the wide areas and the middle, patiently stretching the defense and carrying the ball in front of goal several times. In the 61st minute, Klebinho found space for a shot inside a crowded penalty area but was unlucky to see the ball head straight into the arms of the goalkeeper. Time was slipping away and the players began showing signs of desperation, but a volley from Junki Koike off a corner kick in the 70th minute would narrow the lead to one goal and once again lift the mood. As the match drew to a close, Verdy inserted Joeru Chima Fujita and Mizuki Arai to try and add dimension to the attack, but Tokushima were growing ever tighter as the whistle approached and the equalizer never came.

Today, Verdy were able to dominate the ball and create clear chances against one of the top teams in J2. Now, they must rue what elements are still missing in order for them to claim victory. Details aside, the truth is that they have yet to find an answer. What must be done to raise the quality of their finishing and become a team that can claim victory. Next week, they will have one last stage to mark the end of the season and must continue to work in search of a solution.

Manager Hideki Nagai

Your thoughts on the match?
In thinking about what we’re trying to accomplish, I honestly think that we played well in the first half and even in the second, excluding the first few minutes. But given the kind of football that I demand, the final step of scoring goals is something we can’t bypass and an area where we still must improve. That is something that I’ve felt not just today, but in every match. We only had two games left and I know the expectations of the fans were high, so I feel very sorry that we weren’t able to deliver victory to them. With that said, I still want us to prepare over the next week so that we can end the season on a positive note by playing good football and getting the win.

What was your defensive plan for dealing with their right wingback, Tamukai?
Purely in terms of positions, it would of course be Rihito (Yamamoto)’s task and I didn’t have any particular worries about his ability to defend. On the contrary, I think Rihito did an excellent job of playing as both a holding midfielder and side attacker from that position. I think it was partly due to his efforts that we were able to maintain the initiative for so long today and in that sense, there are two approaches we can take to football. One approach is the first you mentioned, in which we allow the other team to control the ball and think about how to defend. The other is the approach where we control possession and play football our way. The personnel selections I make will depend on that approach. Personally, I don’t feel that Rihito or even our entire left side played that badly. But of course, the sloppy way in which we began the second half is something we have to address.

Other than the result, tell us your thoughts on the match in its entirety.
With my footballing philosophy, it’s difficult for me to speak to that, as it’s not the case that I focus on our ideals at the expense of results. There’s not one millimeter of me that believes it’s okay for us to lose as long as we play well. Rather, it is my belief that playing good football gives you a better chance to win. So, in those terms, the loss today means that I cannot compliment the way we played. But in terms of our actual performance, I believe that with each passing week, we have a greater chance of winning the next time and that is something that I think has value. You could say that we’re missing something, but in my mind, we’re missing all sorts of elements. Right now, the players are doing their best to address those problems and I am certain that will eventually enable us to play better football. For that reason, I think it is important that we continue on our current path, in order to give ourselves a better chance to win.

Your opponents today have spent the past three years building their team. What do you think separates them for yourselves?
Since we lost today, anything I say will sound like sour grapes, but in truth, if you compare what they’ve done in three years to what we’ve done in about three months, I don’t think we lost in terms of our play, even though we lost in terms of the score line. Of course, I believe that if we spend more time we spend on our development, we will not get worse. Rather, we will, in fact, get better. But even so, we’re playing at the professional level and I want us to always think about results as much as we do our performance. I would like to say that I admire the way Tokushima play football and, personally, I’m a big fan of their manager. So, putting aside the competitive aspects, I’m glad that both teams had a chance to play the way we like, today.

MF 19Junki Koike

Your thoughts on the match?
We did what we set out to for most of the match, but Sugimoto’s goal at the end of the first half and the other goal at the beginning of the second half both came at times when it’s especially important not to concede. I think that ultimately made the difference. To play like we did and still lose is both frustrating and a disappointment. In the future, we have to become able to win matches like these.

Tell us about your goal.
I’ve been able to score at the posts throughout the season and I think the key to today’s goal was how well I could control the ball with my first touch.

In the post-match interviews, your opponents said they were confident they could defend with a 5-4 block.
I think that’s been a constant issue for us, this season. We still need better quality, in terms of knowing where and how we’re going to draw defenders out of position. In some ways, we did that today, but we still struggled to finish off moves. It seems like we’re repeating ourselves every match about demanding more quality and I’m sure the supporters are growing frustrated too, but we’re still a work in progress. It’s a fact that we’re not achieving results, but we still have the final game at home and I want us to end the season with a win.

Including the play in the first half, when it seemed like you could have been given a penalty, the team did seem to pull off the kind of attacks you’ve worked on, today.
Several of our moves unfolded in an ideal way. Taking those moments as positives, I hope we can increase the frequency with which we do that in the future.

MF 38Ryota Kajikawa

Your thoughts on the match?
We began the match well and as we were battling to see who would control possession, they began to retreat and that allowed us to pin them back. With that said, even though there were moments when we seemed on the verge of scoring, we failed to capitalize and that allowed them to hurt us with single isolated chances. I think we were wasteful. It was only those brief moments when we failed to close them down and we absolutely needed to be tighter in those situations. I think that shows that we’re still lacking in terms of competitiveness.

Up until you conceded in the first half, it seemed like the match was progressing at your rhythm in both attack and defense.
We knew it would be tough for us if we allowed them freedom of movement, so we decided to press them from the front and I think that worked well. That’s why I absolutely wanted us to carry our momentum to a win, today. It’s frustrating.

The opening goal was always going to be important, today, and you were done in by a single chance from the opposition.
Even after we conceded, we didn’t end the first half badly and we wanted to regroup after the break. Instead, we allowed them to score on the opening possession. We needed to concentrate more after in the opening minutes after the break. Giving up one goal happens a lot in football, but if you hope to come back and claim the lead, you can’t let the other side score a second. In fact, the score ended 1-2, so if we hadn’t allowed that second goal, it would have been a better match for us. The way the game unfolded, we absolutely could not afford to concede two.

Even after you cut the lead to a single goal, it seemed like you were lacking that final push.
We were moving the ball well and probing the gaps, but we made mistakes at the end of moves and had problems building combinations. The way we move the ball into the middle sometimes made it difficult to put the proper pressure on their goal. We simply have to communicate better with the players on the inside and work harder to get on the same page. That means continuing to demand greater quality, including on an individual level. To bring the style we want to play to maturity, all of us have to improve individually. Once we do that, we can put things together as a group.

In the post-match interviews, your opponents said they were confident they could defend with a 5-4 block.
We just have to improve the final areas where we are out of synch. We haven’t been scoring enough goals, so we can’t fault our opponents for saying that. We just have to continue pinning our opponents back and then improve our quality at the end of moves.

In terms of players moving off the ball to give the ball holder more options, there seemed to be some improvement.
That’s something we worked on in training and if we improved, it’s because we were all challenging ourselves in that area.

Next week, you play Gifu in your final match of the season.
There’s no need to make any dramatic changes from what we’ve been doing. Of course, we have to focus on getting the result, but we do that not by adjusting to the other side, but by playing the way we need to play. I hope we can make it into a match that will give positive momentum for next season.

MF 24Yuta Narawa

Your thoughts on the match?
We conceded at a bad time at the end of the first half. Up to that point, we had been accomplishing a fair amount of what we set out to do and when we allowed ourselves to get too open, they took advantage with a single shot on goal. We can’t blame Kami(fukumoto) for what happened, but I do think we were a bit unlucky, there. In football, you’re going to concede goals like that from time to time, but if you ask me if we played with the same energy and quality in the second half, I’d have to say that there was a bit of a let off, especially in the opening minutes after the break. In thinking about the season as a whole, I think we broke down on our own, today.

So you feel that rather than any added intensity from them at the start of the second half, it was more that your side let up a little?
That’s how it felt to me, personally. I don’t know if they talked about pushing hard after the break, but there’s no doubt that we were the ones chasing at that point. We gave up a goal right when we needed to attack the most. In terms of where they are as a team, they’re in the hunt for promotion, so after ending the half at 1-0, if we could have kept things at that score for a longer period in the second, they would inevitably have been under a lot of pressure. That we gave up a goal from that one chance, at that time, is down to us more than them. That’s my perspective as someone on the back line.

Up until you conceded in the first half, it seemed like the match was progressing at your rhythm in both attack and defense.
We were doing what we wanted, in attack and defense, with little stress. With that said, their second goal was scored by the player on my side of the pitch. Normally, I would be responsible for that area, but I was forcing some of that duty onto Paraiba and that gap in marking allowed them to score. It wasn’t as if we were completely broken down or that we had been put under pressure for a long period, so giving up that goal really hurt. A truly strong team would not give up a goal there or even if they did, they would be able to come back afterward, so I think that shows that we’re still lacking.

Shortly after conceding the second goal, you allowed the opposition to have control of the ball for a short while.
After the second goal, it became clearer for them how they had to play and when we’ve gone up against a 5-4 block this year, the challenge has been how to find ways to move the ball and break them down. It played out that way today, too. Even with the score at 0-2, we had chances to show them something different from we had so far, but in the end, we were only able to score from a set piece. The result is a bit hard to digest. I think it shows how much we still have left to do.

On the one hand, precision at the end of moves remains a major theme for the team, but on the other, you’re also struggling to defend in moments that require it most.
Given how even the competition in this league is, the first goal is going to be important in any match, but today, we gave up not only the opener but then a second goal. It’s very difficult to win points from the match in those circumstances. We are working in pursuit of a football style that will enable us to come back from a 0-2 deficit, but even then, it’s still important to get the opening goal if we want to earn points. Sometimes you concede because the other team is better than you, but for us, the great majority of the goals we give up come from our own mistakes. If we can’t make improvements where we’re capable, we won’t be able to meet our goals for next year as well.

MF 40Joel Chima Fujita

How did it feel to make your home debut, today?
It was my third match on the pitch, so in some ways, I’m getting used to it, but I’m still not able to play at the same speed as everyone else. I felt things were moving pretty fast. I will continue working hard so that I can become fully accustomed.

It was your first time to play at Aji no Moto Stadium for the senior team.
I’m not the kind of player who focuses too much on where we play. I was able to play my usual game.

You played at the libero position. What instructions did you receive from the manager as you came on?
We were losing, so we needed to go out in search of a goal. The manager told me to up the tempo.

In attack, you made deep runs and called for the ball, which seemed to add some dynamism to the attack.
We needed to get a goal, so I was playing with that in mind.

In defense, you allowed your man to beat you. That’s something to work on.
The physical battle for the ball has been an issue for me and I was beat on the first try today. It led to a dangerous moment for the team, so I definitely want to improve in that area.

This was your first match since the U-17 World Cup ended. What did you hope to show?
After playing against physically strong players from around the world, I wanted to show some of the craft that it takes to get past that but it didn’t really go well. I will reflect on that.

How did the match look from the bench?
I focused on being sure I could come on the pitch at any time by thinking about how I would play and putting myself in the shoes of the other players.

You’re known for being vocal on the pitch. How about today?
Coach Hosaka told me to make my voice heard as soon as I took the pitch and try to direct the team. I was told to act as if I controlled everything, so I focused on it even more than usual. I concentrated on making sure I took the initiative in communicating.

Share The Match!

SCHEDULE