THE MATCH HAS ONLY JUST BEGAN, AND AS EXPECTED... TOHO, WITH SAWADA AT ITS CORE, IS SETTING THE PACE! WHILE SHUTETSU IS SLOW ON THEIR FEET...
THROUGH PASS FROM SAWADA! SHUTETSU IS LATE TO REACT AND TOHO HAS THE FIRST SHOOTING CHANCE!
AH, BUT TOO BAD, IT'S SLIGHTLY OFF TARGET, AND IS GOING OVER SHUTETSU'S GOAL! THEY'RE LUCKy, THE DEFENDERS WERE DEFEATED AND THE GOAL KEEPER DIDN'T REACT!
SHUTETSU IS CIRCULATING THE BALL, WAITING FOR THEIR CENTERFORWARD NITTA TO SHAKE FREE FROM HIS MARKERS... BUT HE DOESN'T HAVE HIS USUAL EDGE, AND TOHO'S PLAYERS ARE MANAGING TO STICK TO HIM!
AH, AND SHUTETSU'S CIRCULATING PASSES ARE EVENTUALLY INTERCEPTED BY SAWADA! SHUTETSU DOESN'T MANAGE TO SET UP THEIR USUAL COUNTERS!
THE TINY TECHNICIAN, AFTER DRIBBLING THROUGH THE MIDFIELD, IS ONCE AGAIN SENDING A REALLY GOOD PASS! THIS TIME TOHO'S FORWARD IS CONTROLLING THE BALL TO SHOOT PERFECTLY... BUT THIS IS GIVING ENOUGH TIME FOR SHUTETSU TO CLEAR THE BALL ON A HAIR'S BREADTH!
AH, BUT RATHER THAN WAIT FOR A PASS IN THE FRONT LINE, NITTA WENT BACK TO GET THE BALL! HE'S AIMING FOR A DRIBBLE BREAKTHROUGH TOWARDS THE OPPONENT'S GOAL!
... BUT NO GOOD! THE SHOOTING STAR IS ROUGHLY MARKED, AND THE OPPONENT DOESN'T LET HIM MOVE AS HE WANTS! THE FATIGUE FROM THE PREVIOUS MATCH ISN'T HELPING, BUT TOHO'S PINCER ATTACK WAS WELL DONE!
UNLIKE SHUTETSU, TOHO ISN'T RELYING ON A SINGLE STRIKER! AFTER THE TWO CENTER FORWARDS, SAWADA IS PASSING THE BALL TO THE RIGHT MIDFIELDER, AN EASY BALL ALLOWING HIM TO SHOOT IMMEDIATELY!
THE ANGLE FOR THAT SHOT WAS KIND OF HARD THOUGH! AND IT'S HITTING THE GOAL POST!
SHUTETSU IS TRYING TO CIRCULATE THE BALL TOWARDS NITTA... BUT ONCE AGAIN THE TINY TECHNICIAN IS READING THROUGH THEIR PASSES AND MANAGES TO INTERCEPT THE BALL! TOHO IS COMPLETELY DOMINATING THE MIDFIELD...
AND HIS PASSES ARE ALWAYS FINDING UN UNMARKED PARTNER... THIS IS A TRUE SHOOTING STORM FROM TOHO!
THIS TIME IT'S ON TARGET, BUT SHUTETSU'S KEEPER IS BARELY MANAGING TO TOUCH IT... SHUTETSU IS ONCE AGAIN SAVED FOR NOW!
SHUTETSU, TO AVOID SAWADA, IS OMITTING THE MIDFIELD TO SEND A VERY LONG FEED FORWARD! IN THE SEMI FINALS, DESPITE A ROUGH MARKING, NITTA MANAGED TO SCORE WITH THAT KIND OF BALL THANKS TO AN UNUSUAL SHOOTING STANCE!
... BUT THIS TIME IT'S NO GOOD! TOHO ISN'T MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE AS KUNIMI AND KEEP ON MARKING NITTA EVEN IN THE AIR! TOHO IS WINNING THE BATTLE FOR POSITION IN THE AIR, AND IS GAINING POSESSION OF THE BALL!!
THE FIRST HALF WENT ON, WITH A HUGE DOMINATION FOR TOHO... BUT STILL SCORELESS, WITH NITTA BEING CLOSELY MARKED AND TOHO NOT MANAGING TO FINISH THEIR ACTIONS WITH A GOAL JUST YET...
THE FIRST HALF IS OVER! TOHO IS UNDOUBTEDLY LOOKING AS THE FAVORITE, WITH AN OVERWHELMING POSESSION OVER SHUTETSU! BUT SHUTETSU IS HOLDING ON, AS TOHO IS STILL LACKING IN SCORING POWER SINCE HYUGA AND SORIMACHI LEFT THE TEAM!
