The matched opened with Gifu retaining possession and taking the initiative in attack. For the second week in a row, the Verdy players struggled at first to move the ball around the opposition’s high press, letting their precision drop and failing to develop a passing rhythm. Once they were able to settle down, however, the team were able to build up from the back and use the full width of the pitch to attack the opposition goal. In the fourth minute, Kanya Fujimoto and Sato combined on the left side, enabling the latter to place a cross in front of goal while Douglas fought on the front line to connect. The second ball fell to Kajikawa, who tried to find the net first time but failed to get his shot on target. Following that chance, Verdy’s combination play would continue to bring them into the opposition area but in each case, their finishing let them down and the attacks ended with no result. In response, the momentum would gradually shift Gifu’s way. As their opponents tried to develop the play from the wide areas. Verdy struggled to win the ball in the center of the pitch and found themselves pushed further and further back into their own half. In the 39th minute, Koya Kazama made a deep run into space, threatening the Verdy goal, but his shot failed to find the target as well. Kazama would repeat the trick, however, at the close of the first half, finding space in front of goal for a powerful shot that sent Verdy into the half-time break down a goal.

Hoping to put the first half behind them, Verdy emerged from the break looking to push back and were nearly rewarded immediately after the whistle. Inoue took an early shot in the team’s first move and though his effort cannoned off the post, it immediately established the team’s intention to get something from the match. Later, in the 56th minute, the back line evaded the opposition pressure with one-touch passing, allowing Fujimoto to control the ball from a deep position in the Verdy half and play a long pass behind the defense. With an eye on the back line, Douglas dropped back to stay onside and then burst into space, looking to get on the ball. Though a defender tracked back to cover, Douglas was able to cut inside from the right and fire a left-footed shot that found the right corner of the net and brought the score level. Verdy now looked to finish the match off and streamed forward after their goal. Alan was brought on for Fujimoto and Leandro for Sato, giving the team a potent lineup of talented attackers. With their Brazilian trio combining up top, Verdy would continually threaten the goal, but were still lacking in their finishing. In the 79th minute, the team built through Douglas and advanced into the penalty area where Leandro tried a shot, only to see his effort fly straight into the chest of the goalkeeper. In the 86th minute, Kota Watanabe responded first to a lofted ball on the right wing and played a looping through pass behind the defense. Leandro emerged into the space with perfect timing and rounded the keeper, only to have his shot cleared away by a defender before it could reach the goal. For the remainder of the match, it was Verdy who were pushed back and unable to attack, even finding themselves on the other end of a dangerous opposition move that looked primed for the finish. In the end, however, the final whistle would sound with the score at 1-1 and Verdy walked away with their second consecutive draw.

With the team looking to strengthen their position in the upper reaches of the table, it cannot be denied that the last two results have seen the campaign stall. However, it is not true that they took nothing at all from both encounters. It is up to the players now to identify the necessary changes over the coming week and perform their best in training to prepare for the next match.

Your thoughts on the match?
I think we started well in the first half. We had the ball and we carried it forward into their penalty area. At about the 15-minute point, they started to control the ball more and dominate the play, which forced us to drop deeper in defense. Even when we had the ball, we couldn’t achieve any depth and as a team, we played without skill for the remainder of the half. After the break, we were able to raise our intensity and aim for goals. Even after the score went to 1-1, we used all three substitutions and tried to get the win. While we created the greater number of chances, it’s also true that they had some as well. Overall, I think a draw is a fair result.

Why did you choose Shion Inoue over Tatsuya Uchida today, despite Uchida having played in every match so far?
First of all, I would like to say that Shion (Inoue) has been training well and that he also played well during his appearances in the Emperor’s Cup. Uchida has been playing non-stop this season and this week I felt, both physically and mentally, that he needed a rest.

When the match was 1-1 and the play became more open, you had trouble winning the ball in midfield. What do you think was the reason?
First I think we have to stop giving up the ball. Especially against a team like Gifu, who try to dominate possession, losing the ball in the way we did hurt us a lot. The other element is that Gifu themselves played well. They haven’t been getting the results they would like lately, but from last season on, they’ve been playing excellent football, the kind I like to see. They find themselves down the table at the moment, but I think they deserve to be in a higher position. We shouldn’t forget that we were playing against a team of that quality.