Tokyo held JEF United Chiba to a 2:0 win at the National Stadium on Thursday in the third round of the J-League 1 regular season. The hosts controlled the tempo from the first whistle and put the game to bed early with goals in the second half. And here's the thing — this was the sort of result we were backing before kickoff, with a sixty-two percent confidence level for the home side.
Shion Homma picked up a yellow card at minute thirty-four after a late challenge, giving the visitors something to talk about in the opening exchanges. JEF United managed only one shot on target all evening and could not string together any sustained pressure. By then it was clear the visitors had nothing to do all evening, while Tokyo were picking their moments carefully in midfield.
Takayuki Hidaka came on for Kazuki Tanaka at minute sixty-six as the home side began to manage their lead. Takahiro Ko then opened the scoring at minute seventy-two, finishing from close range after a well-worked move down the left flank. The goal shifted the remaining tension away from the pitch entirely, and Soma Anzai doubled the advantage at minute eighty-five with a composed finish of his own.
Tokyo made four substitutions at minute seventy-nine, bringing on Hayato Inamura, Hirokazu Ishihara, Takumi Tsukui and Taishi Taguchi in quick succession. Indio and Takahiro Ko were then replaced at eighty-six and eighty-eight minutes respectively as the hosts rode out the remaining minutes without further incident. JEF United made no changes of their own, which said something about the state of affairs.
Statistically the match told its own story. Tokyo enjoyed sixty-three percent possession and registered five shots on target from seventeen attempts inside the box, while the visitors managed just one shot on target from four attempts. The hosts created two big chances compared to one for JEF United, and their seventeen key passes versus four showed where the creativity lived.
The result leaves Tokyo eighth in the table with eight points from five games, two wins and two draws. JEF United remain bottom of the division with zero points after five defeats, a run that started at home against Kavosai Resol and has now stretched to five straight losses.