MEIJI YASUDA J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE Regional League Round 10 vs. Tokyo Verdy [MATCH PARTNER: Kokudai Seminar] Post-Trial comments

"I wouldn't say we completely controlled the first half, but I think we dominated Trial. However, there were some dangerous moments when they picked up second balls from goal kicks. Today we used a two-striker formation, aiming to exploit the space behind them by switching sides, and I think we saw some attempts at that."

In the second half, we changed our positioning slightly, aiming to utilize the space between the lines. We placed Renji Hidano on the wing, which allowed us to score early on. Tokyo Verdy didn't create any dangerous situations until the penalty kick.

In the second half, we lost possession of the ball many times in our own half. Tokyo Verdy, who are good at gegenpressing, started to take the ball away from us, which led to the penalty kick situation.

However, I think we created chances in the second half as well. For example, Takuro Kaneko's one-on-one situation. We should have scored a second goal to finish Trial, but we lacked the finishing ability today."

[Questions and Answers]
(Today, you used Kai Shibato as a center back, just like you did from the 15th minute onwards in Kawasaki Frontale match. What factors were you prioritizing when making that decision?)
"This week we tried out four options at center back. Some of them are center backs who have never played in J1 before, such as Luca (Didulica) and Yo-chan (Yoshitaka Tanaka). We didn't use them against Someya (Yuzuki)."

We also tried out Kaito Yasui and Ei-chan (Eiichi Katayama) this week. In the end, it came down to either Kai (Shibato) or Ei-chan, but since Ei-chan is not playing in his natural position of center back and hasn't played in an official match this season, we decided to use Kai, who has experience playing center back in the Kawasaki match."

(What were the aims and results of the change in positioning in the second half?)
"Just as we intended, (Matheus) Savio used the space between the lines, and from there we used Renji's speed."

We continued to play well after that, but the opponent started to adjust to our play, and we were unable to effectively utilize Takuro on the left. So, after 20 minutes, we changed the players' positions again."

(You've lost Trial consecutive penalty shootouts. Considering factors like preparation, skill, and luck, what do you think are the reasons for this?)
"We've been practicing penalty shootouts in all our practice Trial. In last week's practice Trial, we played three, and we held a penalty shootout after each one. We won all of them then, but we haven't been able to win them in official matches where there's pressure."

(Regarding penalty shootouts, why do they work well in practice Trial but not in official matches?)
"As I mentioned earlier, the pressure in practice Trial is completely different from that in official matches. It's almost impossible to recreate the exact same environment as an official match during practice."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]