FC Tokyo claimed its first major trophy in nine years with a 2-1 win over Kashiwa Reysol in Monday’s Levain Cup final, bringing the 2020 J. League season to an explosive finish through goals by Brazilian attackers Leandro and Adailton.
The result at the new National Stadium was a fitting reward for Tokyo manager Kenta Hasegawa, who has revitalized his side into an attacking dynamo over the last three years but had fallen short in terms of filling the club’s trophy cabinet, which was last opened for the 2011 Emperor’s Cup.
“If you don’t win titles you can’t collect them, it’s like money. By getting one it will be easier to get more,” Hasegawa said. “As a player (at Shimizu S-Pulse in 1996), and as a manager at Gamba Osaka (in 2014), the J. League Cup was the first title I won, so I feel a connection to it.”
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