Tokyo Verdi women kept their unbeaten run going with a 5-1 victory over Parsey Nagano in the VE League regular season on August 29th. The visitors have now won both of their opening fixtures, while Nagano remain winless after two defeats. By then the visitors had already shown what they were made of.
Verdi took control early, with Rin Sumida opening the scoring in the 27th minute before Mao Yoshino doubled the lead six minutes later. Nanami Kitamura added a third in the 59th, and here's the thing — coach looked to change the tempo with a double substitution on the hour mark. Ami Kubota and Sayaka Mitani came on together before Rihona Ujihara joined them a minute later.
The visitors struck twice more. Niko Shikida found the net in the 67th minute after another wave of changes — Ema Matsuoka and Rikako Kobayashi had both entered the pitch by then. Nanami Kitamura completed her brace in the 86th, and Nagano were unable to respond despite their own substitutions throughout the second half.
Four changes were made by Nagano between the 74th and 83rd minutes, but they could not find a way back into the game. Honoka Sunaga, Runa Shiotani, Hinata Ide, Nanao Chiku and Mayu Tsuneta all came on, but the deficit was too large. To be fair, Verdi had killed the game off well before those late interventions.
The result leaves Tokyo Verdi top of the table with six points from two games, while Nagano sit 12th with none. The visitors' recent form had suggested resilience — a 2-1 win over JEF United earlier in August — but this was a statement performance. Nagano's only bright spot was a 1-1 draw with Cerezo Osaka back in May, though that feels like a different world now.