Going Out In Style

FC Tokyo 6-2 Sendai

J1 Matchday 34

What a way to end the season! FC Tokyo finished 2012 in style, demolishing Sendai 6-2 before a crowd of just under 31,000 on December 1st. Lucas and Nemanja Vucicevic both bagged braces, with Jang Hyun Soo and Kazuma Watanabe also getting on the scoresheet. Sendai had lost any hope of winning the league the previous Saturday and were understandably flat, but Tokyo deserve all the plaudits for a brilliant display.

Ranko Popovic started with the same XI that drew away at Gamba Osaka in the last game, and after an early spell of Sendai possession Tokyo were quickly into gear, with Hideto Takahashi's long-range drive hitting the bar in the 7th minute. Just a minute later Takahashi, stationed right on the halfway line out on the left, spotted Lucas' run through the defence and lofted the ball forward to meet the Brazilian's run. Lucas nodded the ball on, held off a defender and dinked the ball left-footed past the on-rushing Sendai 'keeper and into the net for 1-0.

In the 17th minute Lucas grabbed his second, and 10th of the year, finishing off a sublime passing move that began with Yuhei Tokunaga's throw-in from the right. Watanabe received the ball and found Lucas, who played it forward to Yohei Kajiyama just on the edge of the box. Casual returned to Lucas, who played another one-two with Aria Hasegawa and darted into the Sendai penalty area. The 'keeper came out again but Lucas kept his composure and finished superbly with the outside of his right boot as the home end went mental.

Sendai were not in the game at all, but things evened-out slightly after the second goal, and the Tohoku side worked their way back into the game with a brilliant close range header from Shingo Akamine in the 35th minute, the ex-Tokyo man flicking Wilson's cross from the right past Shuichi Gonda. Wilson had a shot well saved by Gonda just before half time, but we went into the break 2-1 up and good value for our lead.

Akamine had a golden chance to level things up in the second minute of the second half but missed the target with only Gonda to beat, and then our two goal lead was restored just two minutes later when Jang headed in Hasegawa's corner from the left, the South Korean defender's second goal of a promising debut season.

In the 56th minute it was 4-1 after Watanabe took Hasegawa's pass from just inside the box and showed great close control to take the ball around the 'keeper and fire into the roof of the net with his left boot. It had been a bit of a lost season for Kazuma, but he finished with goals in each of the last two giving him six for the season.

After a bit of a lull for 20 minutes or so Tokyo produced a grandstand finish, and it was no surprise that Vucicevic, coming off the bench for the 13th straight game since his arrival, was at the centre of things. Sota Hirayama (on for the last 10 minutes in what will probably be his last Tokyo appearance) started the move for our fifth, dribbling up field before playing the ball out to fellow sub Naohiro Ishikawa on the right. Nao played a square ball into the centre which Kajiyama stepped over, Vucicevic played it forward to Casual who continued his run, and with the 'keeper advancing again Kajiyama played it back across to Nema who smashed home with his left foot. Another brilliant goal, and as we sat there scratching our heads wondering where this kind of performance had been all season, we weren't to know the best was yet to come.

In the 92nd minute Nema found Nao who dashed into the box, but with defenders surrounding him he was dragged to the floor, only for the ball to break perfectly for the ever-alert Nema, who produced a stunning turn on the ball reminiscent of Zinedine Zidane in his pomp, and with the crowd already out of their seats he passed the ball into the net for 6-1. Absolutely outrageous piece of skill, and his sixth goal in 13 appearances was without doubt the pick of the crop.

With the very last kick of the game Sendai grabbed the scantest of consolations when Muto lashed a volley past Gonda, but we were outstanding all game and our six goals were our best ever return in J1 play.

The sha-sha-shaaas got a good working over after the game, and everyone went home happy, with hope that we'll do a lot better than our 10th-placed finish this season in 2013. More displays like this, and that will be guaranteed.

Up the Gas!

Matchdays 31 to 33

I've been busy with J-Talk Podcasts, and not able to pay much attention at all to this blog in the final month of the season, so let's start our wrap-up with a brief look at Matchdays 31 to 33.

Nagoya 1-0 FC Tokyo

J1 Matchday 31

The Wednesday after we smashed Sapporo at home we headed to Nagoya, who were still well-and-truly in the hunt for the third ACL spot. Tulio scored the only goal of the game with a far post header from a corner in the first half, and though we outshot Grampus 16-6 there was no way through for us. The result saw us stay in ninth, but our own ACL hopes were all-but extinguished.

FC Tokyo 0-1 Kobe

J1 Matchday 32

Kobe came to town on November 17th in deep relegation trouble, and somehow left with all three points after a farcical game that frankly shouldn't have been allowed to finish. Heavy rain throughout the day soaked the pitch, and it only got stronger throughout the game, with players unable to dribble through huge pools of water from late in the first half.

Kobe scored an excellent goal through young fullback Ryo Okui, who played a one-two with striker Keijiro Ogawa and finished smartly from outside the box in the 27th minute, but the second half was a complete joke with the ball stopping dead everywhere on the pitch apart from some narrow spaces right on the touchlines. We had some chances in the second half but it was impossible to pass the ball along the floor, and one wonders if the game would've been postponed had we gone ahead, and not Kobe.

Gamba Osaka 2-2 FC Tokyo

J1 Matchday 33

For the second straight game we took on a relegation-haunted opponent, and while we'd all been entertained by Gamba's struggles throughout the season, I'd wager most observers still expected them to get out of jail in the last couple of games of the year.

After some early Gamba pressure, with Shuichi Gonda called into action to make a fine, low save from Akihiro Ienaga's shot, Aria Hasegawa had the ball in the net in the 14th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for a very borderline offside. Seven minutes later though we took the lead with a Yuhei Tokunaga thunderbolt from just inside the area. Kosuke Ota played a deep cross from out near the left touchline in search of Lucas, and when the ball sailed over the big man and his marker's head, Tokunaga arrived completely unmarked and lashed in at the keeper's near post.

Kazuma Watanabe and Aria both had close-range shots superbly saved in the 33rd minute, but Ienaga was not to be denied four minutes later though, and he got the hosts back on level terms with a header from a Yasuhito Endo freekick, although the ref missed an obvious foul on Jang Hyun Soo as our South Korean defender was pulled down by his shirt right in front of where Ienaga met the ball. Ienaga then struck again with half an hour left to give Gamba what looked to be a priceless lead that would've taken them out of the bottom three, although again we had complaints as Leandro flattened Masato Morishige as he started his run to meet a loose ball in the box.

But just as Yamagata did to us in our final home game of 2010 (I'm still having flashbacks of Yuzo Tashiro getting in front of Yasuyuki Konno and heading in Montedio's equalizer), there was to be a twist in the tail late on, and again, as has so often been the case since his arrival, Nemanja Vucicevic was heavily involved again, as he took a pass from Ota and unleashed a fierce shot that cannoned down off the bar (and may have crossed the line), with Watanabe outjumping Konno and heading home from a yard out for 2-2.

We had a chance to win it in stoppage time too, but Lucas made poor contact with his shot and the final whistle blew soon after, a hugely satisfying point in a game that meant a lot more to the hosts than it did to us. We stayed in 10th, and Gamba in 16th, and by now of course we all know how the last day of the season played out for them.