CHŌFU, Japan (Interstat) — Teruhito Nakagawa scored twice and FC Tokyo scored six unanswered goals to rout Mito at Ajinomoto Stadium on Sunday. Nakagawa struck in the 32nd and 46th minutes as FC Tokyo turned a competitive opening half into a one-sided result. Soma Anzai, Daniel Gomez, Alexander Scholz and Marcelo Ryan also scored, while Hirokazu Ishihara recorded two assists. Mito could not find a response and remained without a goal in the match. FC Tokyo controlled possession and created the clearer chances throughout, and the visitors were unable to mount a comeback after falling behind before halftime.

Nakagawa opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, and his second goal just after halftime gave FC Tokyo a 2-0 lead. Anzai made it 3-0 in the 66th, Gomez scored in the 70th, Scholz added another in the 76th and Marcelo Ryan completed the scoring in the third minute of stoppage time. Ishihara helped set up the attack, and K. Tokiwa, Rio Omori and Fuki Yamada also supplied assists. FC Tokyo’s K. Sato received a yellow card in the 15th minute. Mito made changes in the 63rd and 64th minutes, but FC Tokyo kept the pressure on and added four second-half goals.

Nakagawa finished with two goals in 64 minutes before being replaced. Anzai and Scholz each scored, and Gomez and Marcelo Ryan added goals after entering as substitutes. Ishihara recorded two assists, while K. Tokiwa, Omori and Yamada each had one. Mito made five changes: Taniguchi K. and Kato C. entered in the 63rd minute, Hugo Leonardo followed in the 64th, Yamazaki K. came on in the 72nd and Okumura J. in the 78th. FC Tokyo made five changes of its own, bringing on Bangnagande K. and replacing Nakagawa T. in the 64th, Sato K. in the 68th, and Nagakura M. and Ko T. in the 80th. The substitutions did not slow FC Tokyo, which maintained its attacking rhythm and finished the match with a clean sheet.

The result moved FC Tokyo to 3 wins, 0 losses and 1 draw in the competition and 5 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw across all competitions. Mito dropped to 0 wins and 4 losses in the competition and 2 wins and 4 losses overall. Mito was shut out for the third consecutive competition match and remained winless in the competition. FC Tokyo’s previous competition draw came against Kashiwa Reysol, and its lone loss across all competitions came against Mito. FC Tokyo had entered after a scoreless draw with Kashiwa Reysol and a 4-0 win at Verdy, while Mito had lost to Okayama and Urawa Reds after beating FC Tokyo in the most recent head-to-head meeting. Mito had opened its recent run with a 7-0 win at Fukushima Utd, then lost to Shimizu S-Pulse, FC Tokyo, Urawa Reds and Okayama. FC Tokyo had beaten Ehime and Shonan Bellmare before losing to Mito, then beat Verdy and drew with Kashiwa Reysol. That prior head-to-head result gave Mito some hope, but FC Tokyo controlled the rematch from the opening stages.

Nakagawa’s two goals in 64 minutes topped the list of key performances. Anzai scored once, Scholz scored once, Ishihara had two assists, Marcelo Ryan scored once in 26 minutes, Gomez scored once in 22 minutes, K. Tokiwa had one assist, Rio Omori had one assist in 26 minutes and Fuki Yamada had one assist in 10 minutes.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of FC Tokyo 1, Mito 1. Interstat’s ELO system gave FC Tokyo an 88.9 percent probability to win. FC Tokyo had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5, and the total score of 6 went under the over/under line of 2.5.