| Tokyo Victory | |
| |
| Nickname | |
| Kanji | |
| Romanji | |
| Captain | Shironishi |
| Manager | Hiraizumi |
| Last Season Finish | 1st |
Tokyo Victory is East Tokyo United's derby rivals. They are the defending League champions and Emperor's Cup winner[1].
Overview[]
The unmarked Gino scores
Tokyo Victory played ETU during a pre-season friendly and though ETU was considered to be in disarray with reports of player brawls, Hiraizumi refused to take ETU lightly. Hiraizumi stated that Takeshi Tatsumi was a man who went for the throat the moment you let your guard down but was still confident of a victory[2]. However, it was ETU who opened the scoring by exploiting Mikumo's pride. By continuing to attack Salic, ETU made it seem that Salic was the weak spot and then mounted what looked like a proper attack with Tsubaki. Thinking that Tsubaki was the one he had to stop, Mikumo went after Tsubaki but left Gino unmarked. The unmarked Gino then exploited the gap left by Mikumo and scored from a back-pass by Tsubaki[3].
Mochiba taking a dive
Hiraizumi corrected the flaw at once, confident in his ability to turn things around. On the field, Mochida told his captain, Shironishi, that he was going to turn things around and at once targeted Tsubaki - identifying him, not Gino, as the key player for ETU. Mochida managed to manipulate Tsubaki into giving away a penalty, by making it seem as if Tsubaki performed a late tackle on him. Mochiba then equalised from just outside the penalty area, beating both Dori and ETU's wall.[3]
Murakoshi scores the equaliser
In the second half, Mochida continued to put psychological pressure on Tsubaki whose playing style began to deteriorate. Eventually, Tsubaki ran into Dori as the latter was trying to save a weak shot at goal from Mochida. This resulted in Tokyo Victory taking the lead 2-1. However, Murakoshi, struggling with his identity as a player after being stripped of his captaincy, unexpectedly made a determined run and scored an equaliser in the dying minutes of the game, resulting in ETU drawing with Victory 2-2. However, after the game, Murakoshi noted that Victory was not playing seriously and ETU had in fact given it their all.[4]
As stated by their manager Hiraizumi during the league press conference, Tokyo Victory won both the league title and the Tengu Cup in the previous season. However, they had to drop out of the Japan Cup, making it the only title they missed. Hiraizumi stated that this year they were planning on making a clean sweep of all the major titles.[5]
Tokyo Victory's 15th league match was against Nagoya Grand Palace, which they lost 1-0, thanks to a goal from Pepe.[6] Mochida did not play against Nagoya Grand Palace and watched the game from the stands before leaving early at risk of a fine, complaining the match was boring.[7] Mochida had in fact been absent from the team after receiving an injury early in the season and while Mochida is an injury-prone player, Mochida's absence was more pronounced within Tokyo Victory in the current season and contributed to Tokyo Victory falling in the rankings in the current season when they are the defending champions.[8] The situation inside Tokyo Victory had gotten so bad that in the lead-up to their match against ETU that their manager Hiraizumi was threatened with a mid-season firing if the slump continued.[9]
Victory met ETU for their 17th League match, which resulted in a draw.[10] Once again, ETU opened the scoring thanks to a goal from Tsubaki and ETU went into half-time in the lead. However, Mochida came on the field in the second half and turned the tide of the game by once again targeting Tsubaki. Mikumo scored the equaliser and Victory looked to snatch a win when Shironishi's shot hit the back of the net. However, Shironishi was ruled off-side and the goal disallowed. Victory players ended the match in better spirits than the ETU players, with Shironishi initiating the handshake with Murakoshi[11].
Following the 17th league match, the season entered a break period that saw Hiraizumi join the coaching team of the Japanese All Stars for the Primal Cup All Stars game. Tokyo Victory captain, Shironishi, was also included in the Japanese All Stars lineup[12].
League Standing[]
Halfway through the season (after 17 matches), Tokyo Victory entered the League's summer hiatus in 6th place with 27 points[13].
Player Roster[]
Tokyo Victory has a number of National Players, including their captain Shironishi and Mochida, as well as three foreign players - the Croatian Salic and the two Brazilians Leonardo and Alison. Mochida is their play-maker.
| Jersey # | Name | Position |
| 1 | Mamiya | Goalkeeper |
| 2 | Yamane | Defender |
| 4 | Toshiki Akimori | Defender |
| 7 | Hori | Midfielder |
| 8 | Nozomu Shironishi (Captain) | Midfielder |
| 9 | Leonardo | Forward |
| 10 | Ren Mochida | Midfielder |
| 11 | Hino | Midfielder |
| 13 | Salic | Midfielder |
| 24 | Akira Mikumo | Midfielder |
| 39 | Alison | Defender |
| Pratama Arhan | Defender |
Trivia[]
- Tokyo Victory is based on Tokyo Verdy which is currently in J. League Division 2 having been relegated since 2006, despite being the 4th most successful team in the J. League.
- The team's mascot is a bird named Wasshi[14].
References[]
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 23
- ↑ Giant Killing Anime; Episode 3
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Giant Killing Anime; Episode 4
- ↑ Giant Killing Anime; Episode 5
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga, Chapter 23, Page 04
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 106, Page 5
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 106, Page 9
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 106, Page 12
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 107, Page 4
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 122, page 03
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapters 108-123
- ↑ Giant Killing Manga; Chapter 125
- ↑ Giant Killing manga; Volume 18
- ↑ Giant Killing manga; Volume 13