J1 - R25 Match Reports

Kyoto Purple Sanga Gamba Osaka 1-2
K: Sato 23’
G: Yamaguchi 1’, Roni 26’

In the Kansai-derby this afternoon, visitors Gamba emerged as winners, and with that went by Kyoto on the table to regain the ”best Kansai-team title”. It was an interesting match, with plenty of chances at both ends. All the goals came early in the match, but it was never boring. Yamaguchi headed home the opening goal in the 1st minute of play on a corner to give Gamba the lead, but Kyoto were soon to equalize through midfielder Yuto Sato. His brother scored for Sanfrecce yesterday, and Yuto didn’t wanted to be any worse. He swivelled around a man to take a shot that went via a defender and in. Just 3 minutes later Roni got loose after a Kyoto defender slipped, and the brazilian made no mistake alone with the goalkeeper. Kyoto got close on several occasions in their search for the equalizer in the 2nd half, but neither Sato or Yanagisawa managed to score with their efforts. Kyoto gave 16 year old wonderkid Miyayoshi his debut here, and the young striker had a fabulous debut, as he got to play the last 20 minutes. Clearly a star for the future, and Kyoto will probably start to match him little by little. Kyoto had 14 shots to Gamba’s 16.

Omiya Ardija Urawa Red Diamonds 0-1
U: Takahara 29’


Takahara scored his 5th goal of the season
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/2445133794/in/photostream/)

Urawa took a very important win when they met cross-town rivals Omiya away in the Saitama Derby. Naohiro Takahara’s lone goal proved to be the winner, and with Urawa climbed to 2nd place in the table. In the 13th minute the match were put to an halt due to heavy rain, and postponed 45 minutes or so. The pitch were slippery, but when the players returned the rain had stopped atleast.
Omiya looked a bit off the pace, and Urawa showed early that they meant business. They came forward over and over again, especially through the flanks where Hirakawa and Soma gave Omiya’s defence a hard time. Robson Ponte in the middle provided the strikers with many balls as well. Man of the match has to be Hajime Hosogai though, who neutralized Omiya’s attacks with his clever positioning and enormous work-rate. Takahara’s goal came in the 29th minute, when Takahito Soma found him with a brilliant through-pass. Takahara swivelled around the goalkeeper, only to step back again before taking the shot that went through GK Ezumi’s legs. 1-0 to the Reds, and it was totally deserved. Omiya looked poor in attack, and neither Lavric or Denis Marques managed to cause much danger. Lavric seemed more interested in injurying the Urawa-players, while Marques tried to dribble the whole Urawa-defence on his own.
The 2nd half weren’t as eventful as the first, but Urawa still looked to be in control. They got off to a good start, creating several chances that should have gone in. Only near the end did Omiya start to attack, and although taking possession and placing Urawa under pressure, they didn’t create a single shot on goal that were dangerous. All in all a well-deserved win for Urawa, who are now trailing 1st placed Nagoya by 3 points.

Kawasaki Frontale FC Tokyo 0-1
T: Akamine 5’


More reasons to cheer for for Tokyo's fans
( picture from Aishiteru-Tokyo blog)

Japan’s hottest striker at the moment is Tokyo’s Akamine, who once again came on the scoring sheet. With that he took his tally to 10 goals this season, which makes him the japanese player with the most goals. His goal came after only 5 minutes, when he headed home a corner-kick. A shock start for the home team, who were in need of a win to not fall too much behind the frontrunners. Frontale are now 7 points behind leading Nagoya, and needs to find their form again if they want a shot at the title. They were unlucky to lose here though, and outshot Tokyo 20-6. Akamine got injured 10 minutes after scoring the goal, and it was a blow for Tokyo losing their best striker so early. Just before the break, captain and perhaps Tokyo’s best player Yasuyuki Konno received the marching oder, which made matters worse for Tokyo. But the visitors packed their defence, and managed to prevent Frontale from scoring. The home team looked sloppy in passing, and although they had many shots few of them were dangerous. Especially Juninho looked a bit off-form, and squandered several chances. Tokyo are now only 2 points behind Frontale in the table.

Nagoya Grampus Eight Albirex Niigata 2-0
N: Ogawa 50’, Sugimoto 90’

Nagoya’s fabulous form continued when they met a struggling Albirex side at home, and beat them 2-0. Albirex won last round, but with this result they got 5 defeats in the last 6 and are sinking like a stone on the table. Nagoya are reigning alone at the top of the table, although Oita are Urawa are chasing only 3 points behind.
Albirex played at times some decent football this match though, and were on level with the home team for the first half atleast. We didn’t see much chances before the break, but just after the restart came the opening goal. Ogawa, who’s been in good form lately, finished off a very nice attack to make it 1-0 in the 50th minute. A few minutes before the goal, Nagoya had some other big chances as well, and the fans were pleased to see the home team finally take the lead. Keita Sugimoto added another in injury-time, as a result of Albirex throwing everything forward leaving space for the speedy Nagoya-attackers. Nagoya had 13 shots to Albirex’s 10, and it was a deserved home win.

Vissel Kobe Shimizu S-Pulse 0-1
S: Okazaki 90’

Shimizu are in good form at the moment, and they beat Kobe 1-0 away this round thanks to a last-minute goal from Shinji Okazaki. The speedy little striker are scoring alot these days, but he still has a tendency to blow too many chances. Shimizu are now in 9th place, while Kobes form puts them in danger of joing the fight against relegation. Shimizu looked the most dangerous side before the break, and the closest Kobe came to scoring were some few long-distance shots. It evened out a bit in the 2nd half though, and especially near the end did Kobe look lively. They missed 2 100% chances within the last 10 minutes, and instead it was Shimizu that scored in the last minute of the match. Okazaki met a corner on the first post, and with a diving header he found the back of the net to give the win to Shimizu. Kobe had 12 shots to Shimizu’s 11, and a draw would have been most fair.

Jubilo Iwata Yokohama F Marinos 0-1
Y: Oshima 49’

Neither Jubilo or Marinos could afford to lose this one really, and it was the visitors that emerged as winners after a 2nd half goal from Hideo Oshima. That means Jubilo now are falling behind the teams above them, and there’s a gap of 5 points up to safe place for them. To make it worse, their play-off spot is under serious threat with JEF winning again, narrowing the gap to just 2 points. Both teams were clearly showing that they didn’t want to take too many chances, but Marinos looked slightly better than Jubilo. The first half ended scoreless, but it took only 4 minutes into the 2nd half to get a goal. Hideo Oshima headed home a cross, and brought with that joy to the travelling Marinos fans. Jubilo got a few chances to equalize near the end, but a solid Marinos defence led by Nakazawa did well in neautralizing the attackers, and when they got to chances Enomoto in the goal saved it. All in all a deserved win for Marinos, who outshot Jubilo 13-6.

Kashiwa Reysol Kashima Antlers 1-1
KR: Popo 22’
KA: Marquinhos 89’


Ogasawara is out for 6 months!

It took a last-minute penalty for Antlers to avoid defeat this match, as they travelled to Reysol for a tough away match. The match had very few chances overall, and neither of the teams looked interesting in attacking. That’s not what we’re used to from Antlers’side, but perhaps the participation in ACL are wearing down the players. Popo have Reysol the lead in the 22nd minute, when he were masterfully played free by compatriot Franca. With Lee out, there’s more responsibility on the 2 brazilians, and they showed here that they can manage without Lee too. Antlers had a few big chances to equalize, but neither Sasaki or Koroki, who both came on as substitutes, managed to place the ball in the net. Sasaki were fouled after being played through beautifull in the dying minutes, and the referee pointed to the spot. Marquinhos made no mistake, and scored a very late equalizer. There were some really bad news for Antlers as well, as their playmaker and arguably best and most important player Mitsuo Ogasawara broke his foot. That will keep him sidelined for (atleast) the rest of the season, which is a huge blow to Kashima who’s chasing the double.
Reysol had 5 shots to Antlers’s 8. As a sidenote Reysol’s Alex were ”attacked” by a Kashima-supporter carrying one of those big flags down by the corner-flag, and fell to the ground. Alex were soon up and running again, but either way a disgrace to J.Leage that such things happens.

Consadole Sapporo JEF Utd Ichihara 2-3
C: Davi 43’, Anderson 74’
J: Bosnar 14’, Maki 46’, Yazawa 90’

The 2 bottom-placed teams met in Sapporo this round, but for one team there is still a good chance that they will avoid the drop. That team is JEF, and they took an extremely important win this match. It took a goal in injury-time for them to win it though, and the match were full of drama earlier as well Eddy Bosnar, who recently said in an interview that he’s 100% sure JEF will stay in J1 next year as well, got the honour of firing JEF up in an early lead fron the penalty-spot. New signing Fukai were fouled inside the box, and Bosnar made no mistake from the spot. Consadole’s DF Minowa were also sent off for the foul on Fukai, and JEF got a good start to the match. But just before the break, Consadole’s Davi went on a soloraid to equalize for the hosts. Despite being a man down, Consadole were fully on level with the visitors, and there were chances at both ends. In-form striker Maki gave JEF a 2-1 lead just after restart, with a well-taken header. But once again did Consadole manage to get back into the match, when Anderson equalized with a header in the 74th minute. Consadole were reduced to 9 men shortly after that, due to Davi receiving marchinhg order as well. The brazilian is no doubt very gifted, but he’s got alot of temperament as well and often gets in trouble on the pitch. With a 2-man advantage JEF managed to find the winning goal in injury-time, when Aizawa met a cross from Nemoto and fired it home. Consadole had 8 shots to JEF’s 14.

Tokyo Verdy Oita Trinita 0-2
O: Ueslei 45’, Uemoto 58’

Oita continues to impress, and this round Verdy were beaten 2-0 away. That means Oita are in a joint 2nd place, only 3 points behinf frontrunners Nagoya. Oita aren’t showing any signs that they will crack yet, and it’s not unlikely that they will finish in a top 3 position ( atleast) which will give them ACL. They were by far the best team this match, and their sturdy defence prevented Verdy from getting to any chances at all. Surely a well-deserved win for the visitors. They got off to a good start, and took immediately control of the match. Takahashi’s shot gave Mu Kanazaki a golde chance to score the opening goal after Verdy’s GK had to give a rebound, but the talented midfielder squandered his chance. Just before the break the notorical goalscorer Ueslei were on target to give Oita the lead, whe he curled in a free-kick. Verdu got Daisuke Nasu sent off early in the 2nd half, and Oita were quick to take advantage of that. Uemoto doubled their lead in the 58th minute, and with VErdy looking hapless up front it was never any doubt that the points would go to Oita. Verdy only had 3 shots on goals to Oita’s 11.