FC Tokyo 2-2 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

FC Tokyo 2-2 S-Pulse
Nagatomo 85 ---------------- Hiraoka 26
Matsushita 87 --------------- Fujimoto 68

Att. 28114

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Tsujio
DF Hiroi
DF Bosnar
DF Arata

MF Hyodo
MF Honda
MF Ono

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used

M. Yamamoto on for Ono (57)
Ota on for Fujimoto (84)
Nagia on for Johnsen (91)

Report

Right, no beating about the proverbial bush, the truth of the matter is that was a

HUGE FUCKING COCK UP

We got lucky with other results going our way this weekend, (both Kawasaki and Nagoya suffered heavy defeats meaning we were the only team in the top three to pick up any points) but the fact is we should be five, not three, points clear going into the World Cup break. 2-0 up with five minutes to go - we'd done the hard part, we just didn't have the balls to finish the job.

The travelling thousands

To say Saturday was two points lost is, of course, stating the bleeding obvious. I just hope everyone at the club is feeling the sense of waste as keenly as the thousands of orange heroes who journeyed up to the capital. If we end up missing out on a position due to a two point deficit, this game will come back to haunt us. I'm not pointing any fingers - it was a tough old match, and we'd done well to contain the home team up to that point. Nishibe for his part had a great game and wasn't at fault for either of the goals. The returning Bosnar was immense, as was Ono. Why he won't be on the plane to South Africa is a complete mystery to me.

The precise reasons for allowing a team back into a game at 2-0 down with five minutes to go allude a mere mortal like me, but what I do know is as shitty as this was, as gutting as it was to leave with a point when we should have shut the game down and left with all three, we need to learn from it and move on. Shit happens, and we've done exactly the same thing to other teams fairly recently ourselves. Yeah, it's two points lost, blah blah fucking blah, but if you let it, things like this can get on top of you and erode confidence. Hey, I didn't take a module of sport psychology back in 2001 without learning a thing or two. We can get things back on an even keel starting with Yokomari at home next week in the cup.

As for Saturday's good points, well both goals came from set pieces and both were very well taken. Hiraoka's header came from Ono's perfectly weighted ball into the box, and Jungo, who has always been a mean striker of a free kick, swung it over the wall and into the net right in front of us. Up until the 85th minute we'd kept the home team in check for the most part, but just couldn't see it through. I don't why Ono was substituted quite so early and while I don't believe the capitulation was purely down to this (we increased out lead and kept Tokyo at bay for nearly half an hour in his absence), taking our linchpin off before even the hour mark had me scratching my head.

"Fish and Chips" I should have known better really...

Well, anyway, bollocks. We drew, and that's that. On the bright side, it was my first time in three visits not to leave the grey bowl of the Ajisuta in defeat, and like I mentioned, our nearest rivals both lost. This meant we actually extended our lead at the summit to such that even if Kashima and Frontale win their games in hand it won't be enough to claim top spot from us.

Okazaki receives a sending off to South Africa

The first game after the World Cup is the biggest of the season: July 17th versus Jubilo Iwata in the Shizuoka Derby. This game will sell out, and if it's even half as much fun as last year's corresponding fixture, you won't wanna miss it!

Videos

Our opener:




From another angle:



Jungo's freekick which made it 2-0:

Gutted.

I don't know about Shizza, but that one word explains exactly how I am feeling tonight, and I suspect I am not the only one.

I really don't get it this season. There have been so many games where I've watched safe in the knowledge that we were playing better football or were the better team and then later have headed home disappointed. Games that should have been victories turning into draws, and when we should get a point we often end up with nothing. Frustrating to say the least.

Oka-chan, my personal hero, got us off to a good start a brisk 6 minutes in and although it was one -all at half time I felt we were evenly matched and we had a good shot at winning the game, but I would have settled for a draw given that Grampus have been one of the better sides this year and that we were away from home. Yajima came on and blasted a beautiful little number into the top right-hand corner of the net and confirmed my belief - for yes, we STILL believe - that we could win.

And then what happens? Nishibe decides that he hasn't done his clown routine for a while and true to form, royally buggers it up and gifts Nagoya an equalizer. My fellow UK Ultras and I had a hard time believing it really happened, especially after a great save in the first half. (Speaking of saves, the Nagoya goalie had to go to some length to keep us out in the first, just catching a great little shot with the tips of his fingers, lucky git.) Unfortunately Grampus rapidly followed their equalizer with a free kick by Tamada and put themselves into the lead.

But still, we believers declared that all was not lost and there were a solid 30 minutes for us to equalize, possibly even take the lead again. And certainly we dominated the last half hour with Grampus only breaking away a few times, giving us one very hairy moment towards the end when it looked like being an extremely unjust result of 4-2. Honestly, I think I would have cried. Despite pounding the pressure and the addition of Hara, we just couldn't get the ball to hit the back of the net. Too many silly shots squandered, too many occasions when the ball was passed to the invisible man, and too many mistakes.

I guess that's football, and its just the way the cookie crumbles... but I would really like to see us playing the way I know we can. So much young talent in the team willing to score, so lets see them do it!

That said, good to see Okazaki in the starting line up again, he's clearly hungry for first team football and is getting the ball in the net regularly, hopefully a few more games will see him increase his goal tally, and Hara too if he gets on the park sooner in future.

Oh, and it has to be said - both Shizza and I were impressed with the way Nagoya didn't waste time messing around in the last ten minutes - so many other teams do, especially when there is real danger of your opponents getting that equalizer. Then again, maybe they didn't perceive any danger...