Review: Tokyo Verdy 1-0 Cerezo Osaka (J1 MD12)

The Golden Week series of matches started. In the away game against Tokyo Verdy, the team created good chances but lacked the power to finish them off, as in the previous game, resulting in a disappointing defeat.

Four days after the last game against FC Tokyo, which ended in a draw after a series of missed chances, Cerezo Osaka traveled to Tokyo to take on Tokyo Verdy in the 12th round of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. There were two changes in the starting lineup from the previous game. Vitor Bueno started for the first time in eight games since the match against Albirex Niigata in the fourth round, and Shinnosuke Hatanaka started for the first time in four games since the match against Fagiano Okayama in the eighth round. Sota Kitano, who had started every game since the season opener, started as a sub.



Early in the game, Bueno suffered an injury. Kitano, who had been benched in order to give him a “rest” (manager Arthur Papas) due to fatigue, was brought on immediately. But Kitano was in fine form, taking a pass from Hatanaka and firing in his first shot in the 12th minute, and in the 21st minute he made an excellent move to get in the near zone and drew a through ball from Shunta Tanaka, almost going one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his touch was a little more tentative and he could not get a shot away. Cerezo took control of the game from the start, turning Tokyo Verdy's pressing around and seizing the initiative, and in the 24th minute the decisive moment came. Ryuya Nishio, who was playing at right back in the absence of Hayato Okuda for this match, cut in and quickly put it to Lucas Fernandes, who sent in a cross that was not cleared by the opposing defense and found Thiago Andrade on the opposite flank, who had a great chance, but he could not get his shot away and it went over the crossbar. After missing this great chance, Tokyo Verdy woke up and began to hold the ball up and attack more aggressively. With the opponents’ wing-backs now in high positions, the team was on the defensive and conceded a goal in the 33rd minute off a cross from the left side of the box. As Tanaka recalled, “It is important not to fall apart even if we can't convert the chances we get. Sometimes the pace of the other team takes over, so we have to hold on." While the team got off to a good start,, they were also exposed as vulnerable when they were on the defensive. The team was also faced with the challenge of dealing with the extra wing backs on the outside, such as how to deal with marking and crosses.





In the second half, Tokyo Verdy had the better of the opening chances, but Cerezo held the ball for most of the period. In the end, they recorded more than 800 passes and entered the opponents' half, but as in the last game, the goal was far away. In the 52nd minute, Kitano received a pass from Tanaka, turned and fired a shot on a good course, but it was blocked by the goalkeeper Matheus. Kitano again came close to scoring in the 79th minute, beating four defenders in front of goal, but his close-range shot was again saved by Matheus' fingertips. The moves leading up to the shot were all excellent, but it failed to find the back of the net. Other players, including Reiya Sakata, who replaced Thiago at the start of the second half, and Masaya Shibayama, who came on in the 80th minute, made the most of their breakthroughs to try to score, and in the 87th minute Shibayama cut in with a deft step and fired a crucial shot that was saved by a defender. In second-half added time, Shinji Kagawa's excellent side change provided the decisive opportunity on the last play of the game. The ball was not cleared by the defenders, and it came to Sakata in front of the goal, but his shot was again saved by goalkeeper Matheus. As in the last game, they were unable to convert their chances and time ran out. The match ended in a 0-1 defeat.





After the game, manager Papas said, “As for the performance itself, I think it was good. I think it was good up to the point where we got into the box, but I feel that we still lacked technique when we could have scored three or four goals. I think that our inability to score led to today's defeat.” In the next match, the team will be looking to show their quality in front of the goal and convert good chances into goals to secure a victory. The next match, which will be played in three days, will be at home against FC Machida Zelvia. After a four-game winless streak in league and cup matches last season, they will be looking for a win to avenge their debt to their opponents.