Popovic content despite loss

Tokyo boss Ranko Popovic was happy with his team’s performance in the J.League Super Cup final, despite the 2-1 loss to Kashiwa Reysol.

The Emperor’s Cup winners could not recover after Reysol’s two first-half strikes on Saturday, but managed to pull a goal back through Aria Hasegawa’s header to put pressure on the J.League champions.

“I think it was a good game – not a good result for us, but this was our first game after pre-season preparations and we did not do bad at all,” Popovic said.

“We moved the ball around well, but we could not finish as we wanted.”

After pressuring Reysol for the first 20 minutes, Tokyo fell behind through Jorge Wagner’s powerful strike against the run of play.

Leandro Domingues doubled Reysol’s advantage from the penalty spot, but Popovic questioned the decision to award the spot-kick.

“(Hideaki) Kitajima fell down in style, huh?” Popovic said.

“Well, we have to forget about that. It’s going to be a long season. We need to learn from our mistakes, and while producing football that entertains the fans, also be more focused on the result.”

Kashiwa Reysol manager Nelsinho Baptista, who was able to celebrate another trophy despite unsteady play from his team, was far less jovial.

“Both teams had some problems finding their rhythm. We felt a bit of pressure (as champions), but after Wagner’s goal we relaxed,” he said.

“After we recovered the ball, we often wasted it with bad passing. It took us a while to stabilise our game, but in the second half we were much better.”