We did well to win. It was a tough match, but I think the support of the fans kept our players fighting until the end. Of course, there was some luck involved, but the players showed their determination to win until the very end of the match, and they fought really well.
Niigata is a team that really works hard, so I thought it would be a difficult game. Also, looking at the games of Kashiwa and Kashima, who won the ACL, this was a very difficult game. I knew the game would definitely develop like this. I think the players are more tired than I expected. Also, we have a match against Matsumoto in two days, and Matsumoto is a very tough team, so we will try to recover our condition as much as possible and do our best to win consecutive games at home.

Q: Please tell us why you made changes to the starting lineup and the substitutions you made in the second half, and what effect did they have?
A: I wanted to give him a little rest because of the schedule, but the situation was such that I couldn't afford to do that, and I was worried about Jae-Suk's foot condition in the first half, so I replaced him before it became too big. I think LINS Lima De Brito showed LINS Lima De Brito strengths, so I think there was a part of the first half where he was downwind, but we had more balls at his feet and Niigata was under pressure. I put Anderson PATRIC Aguiar Oliveira in to try to give us more momentum forward. I don't think the game content was something we could praise, but I think Takashi's goal is a symbol of that, and I think the desire to score at all costs led to that goal.

Q: The scene where Usami scored his goal was exactly the same as the one that scored Higashiguchi in the match against Shimizu. I thought you spoke to the GK during the meeting, but did you also give instructions to the FW?
A I've never taught it to Ohmae either (laughs).

Q: Did you say anything to Usami about scoring a goal today, based on what you learned from last time?
A: As I said earlier, I think my determination to score a goal no matter how and contribute to the team's victory led me to play in a way that exploited the opponent's weaknesses.