The match began with Verdy attempting to move the ball and enter opposition territory, but mistakes led them to lose possession and suffer repeated counter attacks, ending with Zelvia carrying the ball into the final third. After conceding a shot on goal in the second minute, Verdy would give up the ball in their own half in the 11^th minute and allow a fierce mid-range shot before they could close down the ball holder. Matheus came to the rescue on that occasion, but their own mistakes and inability to win the physical duel for the ball, or transition quickly in defense, had put Verdy on the back foot. In the 23^rd minute, a free kick was conceded from point blank range. The ball deflected off an opposition player who had wedged into the Verdy wall, ending the danger, but it was still a telling moment. Verdy’s first chance of the day came in the 38^th minute when Joel Chima Fujita and Koki Morita combined, the latter sending the ball to Haruya Ide, who was in position to run at the defense with the ball at his feet. After beating his marker, Ide swung his left foot at the ball from inside the penalty area, but his shot went over the bar. At this point, Verdy seemed to have finally grasped hold of the momentum, but at the close of the first half, they allowed an opposition attacker to easily run with the ball at his feet from outside the penalty area. Matheus left his line to block the shot, but the half still ended with the team unable to find their rhythm.

As the second half began, Verdy were once again unable to flip the switch on their attack. On the other hand, they allowed Machida to push deep into their territory and fire promising shots. Finally, in the 66^th minute, Matheus left his line to suppress a run by Hirato into the Verdy penalty area and his hand caught the Zelvia man, bringing him down for a penalty. Hirato successfully converted the penalty himself in the 67^th minute and put Verdy down a goal. Now behind, a chance would fall Verdy’s way in the 77^th minute. It was a free kick from the left side and substitute Yuhei Sato sent the ball to the far post, where Masashi Wakasa met the ball with a diving header that was unfortunately saved by the goalkeeper. With the chance seemingly still alive, the team were then disappointed to have Wakasa flagged for offside. After that, Verdy continued to throw attacking options onto the pitch, but they were unable to bridge the gap and the match ended with a 0-1 defeat.

Verdy now have only three matches remaining this season, two of which are home games. The players must, of course, seek results but good play is also demanded if they hope to build momentum for the coming season. In their next fixture, Verdy will encounter V-Varen Nagasaki, a team competing for promotion, at home. It is a moment in which they hope to prove their mettle by dominating the play and earning a win.

Your thoughts on the match?
As this was a derby, we began the match with plenty of motivation, but especially in the first half, our play after we crossed the halfway line was extremely poor. That’s the biggest thing we have to look back on, today. In the second half, we changed our personnel and positioning, which improved things a bit, but when I think of what we are normally capable of achieving in terms of spacing, numerical advantages, and tempo, I honestly think that we have a lot to regret about our performance. I know that the players worked hard until the final whistle, but I believe that they can do better and I hope they will look back on today and make the necessary improvements. I will work with them now to make the necessary preparations for the remaining three matches. Finally, since this was a derby, I want to acknowledge the Verdy fans and supporters who came to the match and lent us strength until the final whistle. Our job is to repay them with victory and I am very sorry that we couldn’t do that today. In addition, the players and I will do everything that we can to prepare so that we can pay them back at our next home fixture.

Can you tell us what tasks you assigned to Fukumura in the second half?
I told him to give width to the shape, take positions high on the pitch and aim between the lines. After that, I wanted him to get behind the defense and play balls into the middle. I think he did those things well. If I were to be greedy, I would like to see him get into the final square zone or finish zone and play key passes, as I think he is a player who can play the kind of passes that lead to us setting up a clear chance. That burden doesn’t fall on Fuku(mura) alone, however. It also depends on the timing of the runs the players receiving the ball in the middle make and late runs from a third man as well. I honestly think we could have done all those things better, today.

Despite pushing your opponents back, you couldn’t attack effectively. Do you think the players weren’t on the same page about how to break them down?
Naturally, there are gaps in what each player can do individually and I while I do believe that they each have a picture in mind of how things will work as a team, I think some of them have a different variety of picture. By that I mean differences in timing and other small points that, today, were a big problem.