Sako: Sadly, I don't feel like winning Umehara now

Sako talked about his performance and opponents in the final stage of The 4th TOPANGA League in an interview by Hori which was published on December 22.

• Sako was actually surprised by the overall result in B league. He didn't have much confidence until he got to play.
• "When you look at the list of players, getting 3rd place [in A league] is good enough for me. Of course, I feel terrible for the matches I lost, but I really lost so I can't really complain."

Final stage of TOPANGA League

• Sako admits that he was completely defeated in those three matches against Bon-chan, Momochi, Umehara.

vs. Bon-chan

• He points out that Bon-chan trained with Pugera who has better Ibuki. (Bon invited Pugera to train with him after the second stage)
• Sako researches by looking at the videos that his opponents lost.

vs. Uryo

• He thinks Viper will do better than Chun-Li against Elena, and Uryo's Viper is scary.
• They both live in Osaka but since Sako doesn't go to the arcades they rarely see each other.

vs. Michael-tan

• He thinks it's in Elena's favor.
• "If you watch out for kara-throw and fMK, all Ken has left is Hadoken in that range."
• Dealing with Hadoken and Healing are the keys.
• Sako thinks it's good to see a young player like Michael (23 years old) compete with the men in 30s.
• "This old man isn't done yet!" is also an inspiration when fighting young players. (laugh)
• "If there's a SF2X player who can compete at highest level at 40, I can do it, too." (laugh)

vs. Momochi

• "I lost in the mind game, then I lost the game itself."
• "At the beginning, I won because I made Momochi play my game."
• In the second half, Momochi played extremely defensive, so Sako went in and got countered.
• He says he completely lost confidence when Healing didn't help (gain life lead). He was too afraid of getting countered so he wasn't sure what to do, being aggressive or defensive.
• (His wife asks "Do you think you're mentally strong or weak?") Sako thinks he's mentally weak as seen in Momochi match. He thinks he should give himself more time between a match instead of eagerly continue which is a bad habit.

vs. Daigo Umehara

• "[Umehara] was too strong [to the point that] I laughed during the match." (laugh)
• "[Umehara's] fending and the way he uses hop kick and crMK>Hadoken were amazing."
• "All I can say is he was great! I completely lost!" (laugh)
• (When pointed out that Sako used to use Evil Ryu) "I think there's no better Evil Ryu than [Umehara's]"
• "Umehara's Evil Ryu should be illegal." (laugh)
• (His wife asks "What if you use Evil Ryu, too?") Sako thinks if he uses Evil Ryu the score may change, but outcome will be the same. "Sadly, I don't feel like winning (Umehara)."
• "I will train hard to close the gap." (between himself and Umehara)
• "Fighting game becomes fun when you get to fight Umehara."

Future

• Sako will attend Shadowloo Showdown in February.
• There's possibility that he will change character.
• He also plans to play Guilty Gear Xrd.