With some holes in his side's play exposed late in the first half, Tatsuki shakes things up at half-time, sacrificing a defender for an additional midfielder to pack out the middle of the park and allowing them an additional attacking option, under the condition that Tsubaki tracks back to cover the gaps left by those attacking runs despite his booking in the first half.
Things prove to be tough for our team of choice in the second half however, with Tokyo Victory taking the game to them, and even with the use of all his substitutes to bring in some new faces and fresh legs Tatsuki can't do anything to change the game. As if that isn't bad enough, disaster strikes as a mix-up between Tsubaki and his goalkeeper allows Tokyo Victory a soft second goal. At this point, enter Murakoshi, who steps up to the plate as the heads of some of his team-mates drops to salvage a respectable draw for the team.
I even surprised myself a little when it came to how impatiently I've been waiting for this episode after being left hanging with the score tied last time around, even if it is just a pre-season friendly - Such is the compelling nature of the football on show in this series thus far. Thankfully the second half of this opening game didn't disappoint, avoiding going down the Roy of the Rovers route in preference to a slightly more realistic take on this kind of game, with the possible exception of Murakoshi's sudden transformation into Frank Lampard - He didn't exactly seem like the goalscoring type to me, but oh well. All in all though, the football fan in me is continuing to love Giant Killing - Tatsuki's managerial style continues to evoke comparisons with a number of well-known coaches in the modern game, while I found myself "ooh"-ing and "ahh"-ing with the crowd at the match itself. Hopefully we'll be moving on to the football season proper too, where things should get all the more exciting than this pre-season malarkey.
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Anon