Post-match comments for the 2025 Meiji Yasuda J1 League Round 10 Trial against FC Machida Zelvia

"After six unsuccessful away Trial, we finally achieved our first victory at this special venue, the National Stadium. Our players were able to execute the tactical aspects individually and as a team.

The players worked hard from the start and maintained tactical discipline. I think we were able to control the game Trial, but there were times when we were a little too deep in the game.

Today's striker was (Matsuo) Yusuke. He's a great runner and has great skills, so we Trial more balls to the back. Other than that, there were many other elements that went very well. For example, in defense, Hiro (Hirokazu Ishihara) and (Kaneko) Takuro were able to effectively contain the opponent's diagonal balls, which they are good at. Also, in the Machida match, it was important to recover the second ball in both attacking and defensive situations, and I think we did a good job of that as a team.

And I think that our offensive players, such as (Samuel) (Gustafsson), (Matheus) Savio, and Takuro, who are skilled in the game, did a good job defensively against the opponents' five-back and two-shadow formation.

Finally, a lot of fans and supporters packed into this wonderful stadium called the National Stadium, and we were able to play in an atmosphere that almost felt like a home game. I would like to thank all the fans and supporters. I haven't been able to bring them much joy recently, so I think today was good.

[Question and Answer Session]
(Will the way Yusuke Matsuo plays as the lone striker be a good reference for the future?)
"Yusuke is a player who does a great job as a left winger, but a striker is also an option. I think both options are possible depending on the opponent and our tactics."

(Before Trial, you said that the battle for the second ball would be a key point in the match against Machida, but what was your intention in using Samuel Gustafson there? Do those pre Trial comments have any bearing on that?)
"There were several reasons why I decided to start Samuel today. Those of you who came to the open training session this week will have seen me have a long talk with Samuel on the pitch after training. We talked about starting the game against Machida and what kind of performance we expect from him.

And I think Samuel executed the game plan well. I think it was one of the best performances in the league."

(You seem to do well against opponents who use long balls, and this Trial was no exception, but what do you specifically emphasize in terms of picking up the second ball when playing against this type of opponent?)
"First of all, we need to be quicker in our reactions. We have yet to look at the data from today's Trial, but I think the number of sprints in both offense and defense was greater than ever before. I also think that the set-up and structure are important. When Machida gets the second ball, their wing-backs narrow their gap, so Savio and Takuro narrowed their gaps while playing to accommodate that."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]