* Not actually a shop

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Kobe 0-2 FC Tokyo

J1 Matchday 3

Well in Kazuma!
The performance was far from our best, but FC Tokyo stayed perfect after three games of the J1 season thanks to a 2-0 win at Kobe on Saturday afternoon. It felt a lot like 2009, with Naohiro Ishikawa scoring a brilliant goal on the counter attack just after the half hour, while Kazuma Watanabe put the icing on the cake with his first goal for the club with the last kick of the match.

The Tokyo XI showed three changes from the 2-2 draw with Ulsan on the Tuesday, and that meant that the same XI that started the previous league match against Nagoya were called on here, with Aria Hasegawa, Naotake Hanyu and Lucas all reclaiming their starting spots.

The Gasmen started out on the front foot and we probably should've gone ahead in the third minute, but Hasegawa scuffed his shot somewhat after surging into the box following an interception by Hanyu and a cushioned ball from Lucas. The three players coming back into the XI combining for a goal would've made Mr. Popovic look a genius, but Aria couldn't finish and the Kobe 'keeper parried out for a corner.

Kobe got a foothold in the game and then began to look the more threatening side, with that little weasel Yoshito Okubo buzzing around and looking to stretch our backline. He set up the chance of the first half hour too, when he got to the byline on the left and crossed for his captain Takayuki Yoshida about nine yards out, but luckily for us Shuichi Gionda was up to the task and got down low to save Yoshida's shot on the turn.

With Kobe looking by far the better team, The Gasmen turned back the clock three years and took the lead with a goal that would've brought a tear to the eye of Hiroshi Jofuku... a headed clearance from our box (by Kosuke Ota), Yohei Kajiyama collects the loose ball and releases Ishikawa down the right, then receives the return pass from Nao, holds off his man and plays in Lucas on the left side of the box, the big man spots Nao ghosting in unmarked on the right, belts a cross across the box and Nao smashes home on the half volley... yep, change Ota for Nagatomo and Lucas for Cabore and thats how it used to work for us under Jofuku back in '09, at least until Cabore took the oil money and ran in September...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

FC Tokyo 2-2 Ulsan

Asian Champions League Matchday 2
写真
Should've been the winner...
On a beautiful early spring day FC Tokyo played our first ever home game in the A.C.L. yesterday when we hosted South Korean outfit Ulsan. Having taken a first half lead courtesy of Yuhei Tokunaga's superb chip from the edge of the box, we were then pegged back twice in a manic last 10 minutes, after the Koreans equalized, captain Yohei Kajiyama put us back in front with 83 minutes gone, but then ex-Spews striker Maranhao made it 2-2 with two minutes left.

First things first though: Where was everyone?
A very disappointing crowd of 14,110 was all we could muster to our A.C.L. home debut on a perfect weather day, a national holiday, but I'm sure no one at the club is surprised as they did absolutely nothing to promote the game. Yet another opportunity wasted by our marketing department, who couldn't sell ice to the eskimos. And am I still bitter at the club for the farcical 'lottery' they held to decide which SOCIO members would get one of the 900 A.C.L. kits in the first release? Well after seeing every single one of those 900 kits yesterday, yes, I most certainly still am.

Anyways enough of that, I should just write a(nother) letter to the club... to matters on the pitch then, and our XI showed three changes from the epic win over Nagoya, with Aria Hasegawa, Naotake Hanyu and Lucas replaced by Takuji Yonemoto (Yone! You beauty!), Tatsuya Yazawa and Kazuma Watanabe respectively, in what is now (still!) our stock 4-5-1.

Watanabe was straight into the thick of things and fired off the game's first shot in the opening minute, but as things got going it was clear from the outset that Ulsan were going to be a much tougher proposition than Brisbane two weeks ago, as they looked very solid at the back and a threat on the counter, with ex-Gamba frontman Lee Kuon Ho the danger man.

Ulsan looked to get the ball wide and fire crosses in for their beanpole striker Kim Shin Wook to attack, but Tokunaga and Kosuke Ota did well from their fullback positions to restrict opportunities for the likes of Lee and former Gamba, Oita and Cerezo midfielder Akihiro Ienaga to cross. With a lot of the game happening in the midfield third of the pitch a goal before halftime didn't look likely, but it took an audacious moment of skill to break the deadlock in the 37th minute.

Monday, March 19, 2012

FC Tokyo 3-2 Nagoya

J1 Matchday 2
Superstar.
Whoa buddy! How good was that?! J1 football returned to Aji Sta on Saturday night, and FC Tokyo turned on the style, delivering a superb second half performance en route to a 3-2 win over 2010 champions Nagoya.

A 14 minute burst that featured a brace from Naohiro Ishikawa and a third goal in four games from Aria Hasegawa saw The Gasmen turn the game on its head, cancelling out Keiji Tamada's first half opener, but there were some anxious moments in the closing minutes after Kensuke Nagai pulled it back to 3-2 with an 87th minute goal.

The Tokyo XI showed just one change from the win over Omiya, with Ishikawa replacing Tatsuya Yazawa, but there was some fantastic squad news, with Takuji Yonemoto returning to the 18 for the first time in 11 months following his knee injury sustained at Chiba last April.

Hasegawa started the game alongside Hideto Takahashi in central midfield with Yohei Kajiyama further forward supporting Lucas, and the opening exchanges were fairly even as both sides looked to construct play from the back. Nagoya looked threatening at times, with Josh Kennedy proving an excellent link man, and though Tokyo had some success working the ball down the right through Ishikawa and Yuhei Tokunaga, Aria seemed to be trying a little too hard on his home debut and played some terrible passes when a cooler head was needed.

After a couple of early warnings, we found ourselves behind in the 36th minute, with Kennedy the architect. The big Aussie pounced on a loose ball and slipped a perfect first-time through ball right down the middle for Tamada to run on to, and with Masato Morishige caught up the pitch and Kenichi Kaga flat-footed, Tamada ran in on Shuichi Gonda and slipped the ball past him and inside the far post.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Gas Talk Special - Mr. Popovic in Brisbane

In this Gas Talk Special, we hear from FC Tokyo manager Ranko Popovic before and after the away match against Brisbane in the Asian Champions League. And yes, he's speaking English rather than Serbian!

I'm indebted to Scott McIntyre, an Australian football journalist who works for television network SBS, for providing me with this audio, the video version of which first appeared on SBS's The World Game website. Scott spent four years in Japan in the early 2000s and fell in love with The Gasmen, and he's still a proud Tokyo supporter from afar.

This podcast runs just under 16 minutes in two parts (broken up by a burst of music):
  • Part 1 (up to 8mins 43 secs) Mr. Popovic talks about his hopes for FC Tokyo, the club's preparations for their A.C.L. debut, and what he expected from Brisbane.
  • Part 2 (to end) from the mixed zone straight after the game, Mr. Popovic speaks about how pleased and satisfied he was with the 2-0 win and his priorities for the season in terms of juggling our J1 and A.C.L. fixture list.
Listen on the player below, through iTunes (to subscribe, search "Gas Talk"), or download the mp3 by clicking on the Gas Talk logo.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Omiya 0-1 FC Tokyo

J1 Matchday 1
THUNDERBOLT!
After 12 months of paying our debt to society in the second division, FC Tokyo returned to J1 on Saturday night when we visited Omiya. It was far from the most convincing of displays, but we claimed all three points thanks to an inspired performance in goal by Shuichi Gonda, and a wonderstrike from Lucas in the 61st minute.

The Tokyo XI showed just two changes from the 2-0 win over Brisbane in the A.C.L. last Tuesday, with Naohiro Ishikawa and Kazuma Watanabe replaced by captain Yohei Kajiyama and Lucas, which meant that Aria Hasegawa, so impressive in a deeper role against the Roar, started in the hole, while Naotake Hanyu moved out to the right wing.

After all the build-up to our J1 return, we should've been behind after just 20 seconds, when Kenichi Kaga dawdled on the ball, Keigo Higashi pinched it and strode in on Gonda. Luckily for us though the big number 20 was on his game from the start, and saved low to his right.

We lacked rhythm in the early stages, and as in the Super Cup, the game seemed to be happening around Aria as the hosts looked the more threatening. We were indebted to Gonda again in the 22nd minute, after a sensational double save to deny Omiya's ex-Niigata midfielder Cho Young Cheol. Higashi broke away down the right and fired a perfect low cross along the box for a sliding Cho to meet at the far post.

The South Korean international made good contact but again Gonda got down well, but when Cho was first to the loose ball he looked certain to score from a tight angle, only for our keeper, while still lying on the floor, to flick his right leg up scorpion-style and batter the ball away to safety. Truly remarkable, and that sentence didn't do it justice in the slightest.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Brisbane 0-2 FC Tokyo

Asian Champions League Group F Matchday 1

Yaza slides in to open the scoring.
On a wet and windy Tuesday night in Brisbane, before an excellent weeknight crowd of over 12,000, FC Tokyo's Asian adventure got off to the perfect start as The Gasmen stifled and overran the defending A-League champions, 2-0.

A complete team performance, highlighted by dominant displays by central midfielders Hideto Takahashi and Aria Hasegawa, gave new manager Ranko Popovic his first win in charge of The Gasmen, and delighted the boistrous travelling Tokyo fans, who drew praise from their Australian counterparts for their passionate support of the team.

With Lucas and new captain Yohei Kajiyama left back in Japan, Popovic's starting lineup showed a total of four changes from the Super Cup, with Kazuma Watanabe replacing Lucas as the lone striker, Naotake Hanyu effectively replacing Kajiyama and playing in the hole as Hasegawa moved back alongside Takahashi, Kenichi Kaga coming in for Kenta Mukuhara for his first Tokyo appearance with Yuhei Tokunaga switching to full back, and Shuichi Gonda reclaiming his place between the sticks as Hitoshi Shiota moved back to the bench.

The teams felt each other out at first, and it took until the fourth minute for Watanabe to fire off the game's first shot, but a general pattern began to emerge early on that Tokyo's collective pressing was having an effect on Brisbane's trademark fluid passing game. The home side, whether suffering from debut-A.C.L. nerves or not, misplayed several seemingly easy passes, and Tokyo looked a threat on the counter down both flanks.

With Takahashi and Hasegawa both affording little space to Brisbane's key playmaker Thomas Broich, and the entire Tokyo XI pressing as a group, the home side found it difficult to mount sustained periods of attack, and it became clear throughout the first half that The Gasmen's fierce pressing of Kashiwa in the opening 25 minutes of the Super Cup had simply been a dress rehearsal for this game.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Gas Talk Brisbane v FC Tokyo Preview

FC Tokyo begin our first ever Asian Champions League campaign in Brisbane tomorrow night, and ahead of the game I spoke to two Brisbanites to get their thoughts on the game.

Chadd Friend, the man behind the Brisbane Roar podcast, Roar Cast, joined me in Part 1 (via Skype, last night) to talk about the Roar squad, Brisbane's unique footballing philosophy, and just what it means for the club to be entering the A.C.L. for the first time, while in Part 2 David Ashkanasy, the man with a foot in both camps as a Queenslander now living in Tokyo, spoke about how the game might go, Brisbane's strengths and ways for The Gasmen to counter them.



You can listen to this 43 minute podcast on the player above, or download the mp3 by clicking on the Gas Talk logo. (Apologies, but the podcast may not be on iTunes until tomorrow at the earliest.)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Kashiwa 2-1 FC Tokyo

Fuji Xerox Super Cup

The curtain was raised on the 2012 J.League season yesterday when Kashiwa defeated FC Tokyo 2-1 in the Super Cup at Kokuritsu. Over 35,000 supporters turned out on a lovely early spring afternoon, and were treated to an entertaining game that was as encouraging for The Gasmen as the result was frustrating.

I knew the team I posted last week was unlikely to be our actual XI for this game, but Mr. Popovic threw me for a loop by opting for five in midfield, with Aria Hasegawa handed a first Tokyo start in the hole behind Lucas, while he also started Hitoshi Shiota in goal and Yuhei Tokunaga at centre back, though the latter move allowed Kosuke Ota to make his debut for us on the left side of defence.

The first 25 minutes were enough to convince me that we'll be extremely competitive back in the top flight, as we snapped at the champions' heels, giving them little time on the ball, countering aggressively (with Naohiro Ishikawa prominent) and generally just having the better of things everywhere apart from their final third, where there was a serious lack of end product to make our dominance count where it mattered most: on the scoreboard.

And then, in the 26th minute, with their very first shot of the game, Kashiwa took the lead thanks to a 30 yard screamer from Jorge Wagner. As we built play starting another attack a ball from Ota up to Lucas was scrambled clear and thumped upfield by a sliding Kashiwa defender, right into the path of Wagner who was dawdling on the edge of the centre circle. With our central midfield bypassed by the clearance, Wagner ran at our backline, set himself to fire and launched a rocket to the left of a slightly flat-footed Shiota.

A fantastic goal, but one that should be entered into the dictionary as the very definition of "against the run of play." Things evened out after the goal, but while we never mounted a sustained assault on their goal, we certainly didn't deserve to go in at half time two goals down, though thats what happened after a frankly ridiculous decision by "Japan's best referee" (according to me, on twitter, on Friday), Yuichi Nishimura.