On the 24th, after the second round match against Gainare Tottori in the 1st round of the 2024 J.League YBC Levain Cup, Hidetoshi Takeda spoke about his thoughts on scoring his first official goal for Urawa Reds, as well as his own gains and challenges from the match.

(In the scene where he scored the first goal, did you manage to show the kind of jumping movement you were looking for in front of the goal?)
"The side change came in a good way, and since it was two against one on the side, I didn't think I needed to get involved and decided to go inside. Getting in front of the goal was something I had been working on, and it's something I'm told every day, so I'm glad that it led to a result.

The shot was unexpectedly taken with my right foot (instead of my left, which is my dominant foot) and I didn't quite hit it, but a goal is a goal. I'm glad it was a goal because it was definitely on target."

(What about creating the rhythm of the game?)
"I wanted to get the ball out myself more, so in the second half I thought I would drop back a bit to get more touches on the ball. I could have had more touches on the ball, but since I hadn't really played with this group of players, it was hard to get a grip on where I wanted to receive the ball, and I was struggling with how I should move."

(I wonder if Samuel Gustafson had a sense of it?)
"Basically, I thought it would be best to leave it to them and then go forward and receive it, so I thought I'd let them touch the ball and then just smack it."

(In the second half, he scored a goal from his own corner kick.)
"I wish I could have kicked the ball more, but I'm glad it led to a goal. I kicked the ball where I was aiming."

(After all the hardships you've been through since the camp, it must be a very emotional day for you today.)
"I've been training every day, and I feel like I'm improving, little by little. I actually scored a goal, but I wasn't able to perform well enough to be satisfied with my play, so I'd like to continue to value my daily training."

(How did you feel playing against Shota Tanaka, who was your classmate at Aomori Yamada High School?)
"We had been chatting before the match. It had been a while since I last played against a player my age who was on the same team as me, so I was really looking forward to it. We get along well, but our families were also close, so I think it was a bit of a filial piety to be able to play together in this match, and I think both of our parents enjoyed watching the match."

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