On June 30, Maciej Skorza director held a press conference online and expressed his enthusiasm for the Meiji Yasuda J1 League 19th Yokohama FC match [MATCH PARTNER MHI] to be held at Saitama Stadium on Sunday, June 1.

(The J1 League has passed the turnaround point after 20 Trial. What do you think about your record of 8 wins, 7 minutes and 5 losses so far?)
Of course, we wanted to get more points and stay higher Pos. We are quite a few points behind the leaders and I think it will go away even more since several sections will be played while we are at the FIFA Club World Cup. We knew this situation from the beginning, so our objective was to accumulate as many points as possible in April and May, and I think the players did their best in a very crowded schedule. And since the last of the series of games is on Sunday, I hope to get a good result there."

(Yokohama FC game will be the last game before the Club World Cup, but considering that it is a milestone, I think it will be a special game, not just a game. Maciej What kind of match does the coach see it as?)
It's not just a 1 Trial with three points on the line, but if we all work hard here and show our team spirit, we will gain confidence for the Club World Cup, a difficult tournament, and we will be able to take on the challenge in an even better atmosphere.

(I would like to ask you about the J1 League now that we have passed the halfway point. Maciej I think the coach mentioned the word "stability," but what is your assessment of the defense?)
I think that the defense is not as strong as it was two years ago. First of all, if we review the past four months, we had to work on finding the best members in the team, and we also had to go through the process of adapting new players like Danilo (Boza), for example, who is new to the J-League, to play in the J-League for the first time. And although we were not very stable as a team at the beginning of the season, I think we are becoming more stable as a whole. However, there are still some individual mistakes that stand out, so I think hard work in those areas will continue to be necessary.

(What concerns me in terms of goals conceded is the number of headed goals conceded, seven out of the 19 goals conceded, which I think is a lot. I think that the fact that they concede headed shots, especially on the nearside, is something that the opponents are trying to counteract, and I think Urawa Reds we can take countermeasures as well.)
'We have to improve, not only on the near side, but also with regard to where we defend in the penalty area. We know that this is a weak point, and we have told the players about it in feedback at meetings and in training, but it still requires instantaneous judgment, and it is still difficult.

(On the other hand, I think it is wonderful that we have not allowed any central breakthroughs.)
(On the other hand, I think it is great that we have not allowed them to break through the center of the field. However, I think there is still room for improvement in the linkage between the side backs, volantis, and wingers on the flanks.

(Given the kind of headed turnaround play you showed against Kawasaki Frontale, Motoki Nagakura players would also like to see a little more time before the Club World Cup, is that a possibility?)
'It will be a pretty big challenge for me. There are a few things we will have to manage, one of which is regarding the strikers. I want to extend Thiago's (Santana) playing time, and Mikiki is always preparing to be in the starting lineup, so we have to think about what to do in the last Trial before the Club World Cup.

(There are many ways to look at the results, but 22 points at home 10 Trial is not bad, and maybe that pace is that of a winning team, but 9 points away 10 Trial is maybe the pace of a relegated team. They won 1, 6 and lost 3 away from home, but I think 6 draws is quite a waste of time. Kyoto Sanga F.C. Some Trial think that one point is inevitable, as in the war, but what does the team need to do to make the draws Trial not so bad, to make the aspirations one more step higher?)
'I think that's where we need to improve if we are to achieve our goals at the end of the year. I think it is very bad from a data point of view that we have only 9 points and 1 win in 10 Trial away from home. However, we have to think about how to turn these draws into wins.

And I think the mental aspect will be one important point. In away games, I think there will be times when we are not in control of the game. At home, except for the opening game against Kashiwa (Reysol), we did not have such a time. However, in the second half of the first half, I see that we are gradually becoming able to control the game even in away games. We have to play with courage even away Trial. I think we have to create more goal scoring chances. One point per Trial is not what we want."

(If your goal for the season is to finish in the middle of the table, then a draw away from home is fine, but if your goal is to win the championship, it may come down to how the team can have a mentality of not being satisfied with a draw. That includes Maciej the coach's decision to change players. How do you think about those things for the second half of the season?)
I think that even considering the stats so far, there have been some variations in the performance of the sub players when they Trial take the pitch. This year, there were no cup competitions in the first half of the season, so there were not many opportunities for the subs to play under the same kind of pressure as in the J-League. I have also been fighting to find the best team members, and when I found the ones I thought were the best, I wanted to let them play together for as long as possible to promote linkage and automation, but there were not many situations where the subs had to play for long periods of time. However, there were Trial times when the subs played well, as in the home FC Tokyo game, for example."

(We know that our opponents are strong in the Club World Cup, but which way are you going to swing in the battle between how good we are and how we manage to take our chances?)
'Wisely 1 Trial 1 Trial we will prepare ourselves by thinking about how we can win the game. The question was which way to fight, and I think it will be a mix of the two."

(I think your next opponent Yokohama FC will defend well with three or five backs and exploit the Reds' openings, but what will be important in attack to get a goal against a well-defended opponent?)
Yokohama FC What is important in attack to get a goal against a well-defended opponent? If you look at the expected value of goals conceded, they are second in the league. This means that they are a team that is difficult to create chances against. I think Trial will be a game where we push and they defend with a solid five-piece defense, and we will have to find a way to break down that defense. To achieve this, I think it is important to have well-timed moves to the back and to link up with the backs of the defenders. I think the speed of play in the final third is also important."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)