Kawasaki Frontale vs FC Tokyo 5/11/2022 J1 Round 34

 

Match Report

Source: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1512d63831675fa7ed2a092c32aa6046e80bcb11

Kawasaki unable to claim their turnaround third consecutive league victory... although winning against FC Tokyo in the "Tamagawa Classico" despite fewer players on the field, it is Yokohama FM who claim victory. 

5th November, J1 Round 34 FC Tokyo 2-3 Kawasaki Frontale Ajinomoto Stadium

Round 34, the final round, of the J League took place on the 5th. In the match between FC Tokyo and Kawasaki Frontale, Kawasaki claimed a 3-2 victory. But, as table leaders Yokohama F Marinos were victorious against Vissel Kobe, Kawasaki couldn't close the 2-point gap and finished the season unable to claim their third consecutive league victory. 

Second place Kawasaki stormed into the final round, holding on to a 2 point difference with table leaders Yokohama F Marinos, which had before been a point difference as wide as 8. As the two teams had a goal difference of 11, Kawasaki F needed a win, but as Yokohama FM could win with either a draw or a victory, taking back this lead would be hopeless. If Kawasaki had won but Yokohama had lost, they would've become the second club in league history to win the league three times in a row. 

In what was the league's 40th "Tamagawa Derby" between the two sides, held at Tokyo's home ground, FC Tokyo were not going to be able to ensure a league victory. Manager Albert Puig, who took the role this season, set up a 4-3-3 formation. Goalkeeper Jakub Slowik, 4 at the back consisting from left to right as Japanese national team defender Nagatomo Yuto, Morishige Masato, Kimoto Yasuki and Nakamura Hotaka. Midfielder Higashi Keigo took the anchor role, and the inside-half positions consisted of Tsukagawa Koki and Matsuki Kuryu. The forward three consisted from left to right of forward Adailton, Luiz Phellype and Watanabe Ryoma. 

Kawasaki also had a 4-3-3 formation. Goalkeeper Jung Sungryong, four at the back consisting from left to right of defender Noborizato Kyohei, national team defender Taniguchi Shogo, Jesiel (who recently returned from injury), and national team defender Yamane Miki. Joao Schmidt was the anchor, and the inside half position consisted of Tachibanada Kento and Wakizaka Yasuto. The front three consisted from left to right of Marcinho, Kobayashi Yu and Ienaga Akihiro. 

Kawasaki took control of the ball at the start of the game, and landed the opening goal at the 19th minute of the first half. Maintaining possession of the ball on the left wing, Marcinho then moved into the centre. His pass was received by Wakizaka, who shot with his right foot from in front of the penalty area, and saw the ball fire into the right corner of the net. 

Kawasaki led with that important opening goal, but at the 26th minute the flow of the game changed. When Adailton's counter attack was not prevented, goalkeeper Sungryong raced out of the penalty area and tackled him. This was deemed an obscruction of an obvious goalscoring opportunity, so Sungryong was shown the red card. In place of Noborizato, Kawasaki subbed in goalkeeper Tanno Kenta. Tachibanada moved to the left back position. 

After that, with the advantage of having more players on the field, FC Tokyo's pace changed. At the 43rd minute of the first half, Nakamura sends a cross from the right side to Adailton, who sends the ball towards the goal with an overhead kick. However the ball goes wide. In the first half's injury time, Matsuki volleys the ball from just behind the penalty area, but the shot doesn't manage to be on target. 

Up 1-0 in the first half, at halftime Kawasaki brought off Wakizaka and brung on defender Kuruyama Shintaro. Kuruyama takes the left back position, and thus Tachibanada returns to the centre half. However, the struggle of having fewer players doesn't change, and they concede. At the 2nd minute of the second half, FC Tokyo cross the ball into their opponent's end from the right wing, and there is a bit of a free-for-all. At the end of that, Adailton slams the ball into the goal, and FC Tokyo equalize with Kawasaki. 

At the 14th minute, Kawasaki make two more substitutions. Kobayashi and Schmidt brought off, and instead forward Chinen Kei and midfielder Oshima Ryota are brought on. Then at the 17th minute, Chinen starts pressing on the opponent. Working with Tachibanada, they snatch the ball from Morishige deep within enemy territory. Without a moment's delay, they send out a cross, and Marcinho floats the ball directly into the goal. Kawasaki manage to take lead once more, 2-1. 

At the 21st minute, FC Tokyo swap out Nagatomo and Tsukagawa for forwards Konno Kazuya and Mita Hirotaka. Immediately after, Kawasaki's Taniguchi gets caught in an aerial duel, and suffers a nosebleed. But after the bleeding stoped, he returned to the pitch. 

At the 29th minute of the second half, FC Tokyo once again find their equalizer. Konno sends out a big cross from the right side, and once more by Watanabe on the left. Finally, Adailton takes the shot and the score becomes 2-2. But just after that, Kawasaki's Kurumaya crosses the ball from the left side, and Watanabe commits an own goal. Kawasaki claim back a 3-2 lead. 

Kawasaki manage to overcome and claim victory of a vicious battle despite having fewer players on the pitch. However, elsewhere, table leaders Yokohama FM have beaten Kobe 3-1. Due to this, with a point total of 68, Yokohama FM retain their 2 point lead over Kawasaki. Kawasaki are unable to get their third league victory in a row, and Yokohama clinch their first league victory in 3 years. 

Player Comments

Kawasaki Frontale

Taniguchi Shogo: We weren't strong enough, and it was clear that winning the league three years in a row wasn't an easy task. If I look back, I think things like "I wish I'd done this" or "I wish we'd won this game". I want us to come to terms with the fact that it's not easy to win the league three years in a row, and move on to the next season. We were the only team aiming for a third consecutive league victory this season, so we took part with a determination to achieve this. In the end, we weren't able to achieve this, which is disappointing. We've got to improve ourselves, and on a personal level I need to become a player who can lead his team to victory. I felt we really needed to have players like that. 

Tanno Kenta: No matter how much I defended the goal, I couldn't do anything about the crosses sent in by the opposition. I was hard to get control of situations like when we conceded the first goal. So I made improvements and was able to play better in that aspect. I think that the fact that everyone battled together with all their might helped us to win that game. Everyone was able to play this season despite having a lot of tough situations like injury and Covid cases. This week we were able to have everyone come back (from injury, etc.) to training, and the players in the match had only their power to show off. I'm glad this played a big part in the results. But 2nd place isn't enough for this team. Today, we won our last game, but I don't think we did enough throughout the year. We need to all grow stronger. We need to be a team that can win no matter who is missing. I think we need to get stronger as a team, as do the players. 

FC Tokyo

Tsukagawa Koki: I've only been at Tokyo for 3 months, but I've been able to spend a really fulfilling time, and in order to play well all next season, I want to do my best to grow as an individual and become a player who can lead us to a higher league position. 

Interviewer: Do you think you were trying hard to exert yourself against your former club, Kawasaki F?

T: That's probably true. I tried too hard to shoot and it would fly off somewhere, so I think it would've been better if I'd played more calmly (laughs). But, being able to give things my all is one of my strenghts, so I hope I can show that off while also consolidating what I've learned in Tokyo, all while continuing to grow. The match itself was a lot of fun. 

I: What were you mostly feeling when playing against Kawasaki? 

T: Today ended up being an exciting game so, you know, there was a lot of good individual stopping, and powerful kicking. I think we played with confidence. 

I: Did you also learn a lot?

T: I'd say I did learn a lot, I think I can know fit into the foundations for FC Tokyo. Every team has its strengths, every player is unique, but FC Tokyo is good because we're FC Tokyo. So I'd love to be able to grow more.