[Oshikatsu ELECTRA] The Fujifilm Super Cup as seen by an otaku

*The photos in this post were taken from the team's official Twitter account. Sorry about that.

I started watching soccer around the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, and now I tend to go to Kawasaki Frontale matches whenever I can.
Since I couldn't go to the Fujifilm Super Cup held yesterday, February 17th, I cheered from home while screaming at the top of my lungs.

The match that day was Vissel Kobe vs. Kawasaki Frontale.
It was the league champion versus the Emperor's Cup winner from last year.

I was eating before the match. I checked the starting lineup as soon as it was posted by the official account on LINE and Twitter.
I have multiple favorite players, so I couldn't help but wonder how things would go. The manager had said in the press conference the day before that he would be "making significant changes to the lineup," so I had prepared myself, thinking, "Well, it's this time of year... they're busy."

...The goalkeeper had changed, too.
The center-backs, the middle, and the front line had all changed.

...He is on the bench, though.

Yes, for the second match in a row. He was scheduled to appear following the match during the recent China tour.
Since it's just a schedule, it depends on how the match unfolds.

Kickoff was at 1:35 PM.
I live without a TV, so I turned on TVer. I worked while listening to the live stream as background music.
The match remained 0-0 until the end of the first half.
There were some good chances along the way, but they didn't count.
When I don't understand something on my own, I look at the Twitter timeline. It's a tool for raw emotions, so I get a real sense of things through the words of my fellow Frontale-supporter followers. What you might call watching via Twitter.

In the second half, there was suddenly a chance for Frontale.
The new side-back, Sai van Wermeskerken, scored a goal.
IT'S HERE━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━!!!!
I reacted without thinking. The Twitter timeline was also getting hyped. First, it was 1-0.
I wanted an insurance goal, but for now, all they had to do was crush the opponent's chances.

As I stared intently at the computer running TVer, I heard the words about a player substitution.
"...Kawasaki Frontale is making a player substitution."
I watched closely at those words.
Huh...? He's there...

He's here.

His appearance in two consecutive matches was confirmed.
Did they put him in hoping his presence would provide a good spark?
He entered on the side to snuff out the opponent's chances. Sometimes he even moved up to the front line.
Even in the away uniform, I can tell it's him because he pulls his socks up above his knees. He rarely shows his absolute territory.

Before I knew it, we were in additional time, and I was certain of the victory at the final whistle.
The first title of the year. It really shows that they meant it when they said they wanted to win everything they could.
Even if people say it's just an expensive training match, winning this game alone connects to the ACL on Tuesday and the league opener next weekend.

However, looking at the official Twitter that day, I wanted to retweet (repost) everything. Maybe it's just the otaku in me that makes me grin while doing it, even if my favorite player isn't in the picture.
And then, I gathered photos on my smartphone, filling up the folder.

Maybe I was too excited, but I couldn't sleep, so I connected my smartphone printer in the middle of the night and printed them out.
(...I'll make it tomorrow.)
I summarized the match results, printed them out, and called it a day.

The next morning, I started the work of putting it all together in my notebook. I posted the result on Instagram, but I also announced it on Twitter for the time being.

I've been wanting to do a time-lapse of my creative process for a while, so I put it together like that for now.

I managed to finish it, so I posted it on Instagram and am grinning to myself. If Frontale keeps winning, I'm sure days like this will continue.
I just imagined that if my favorite player performs well, it'll probably be even worse.

I want some new merchandise soon, so I'm thinking of buying some during the upcoming three-day weekend.
Sorry for the talk about my creative process, which doesn't feel much like 'oshikatsu'.