V: Nakashima 12’,51’, Sekiguchi 80’, Nakahara 84’
Kaio seems upset...
Cerezo have made it a habit of falling apart in the last stage of the match, and with that giving up a seemingly comfortable lead. They did it against Avispa and Sanfrecce recently, and now they did it to Vegalta as well. A great first half saw Cerezo 3-1 up, but all that effort were worthless after they conceded 3 after the break. With that the promotion-train has already left the station for Cerezo’s sake, and only a miracle will see them finish 2nd or 3rd now.
Vegalta got off to the best start, as Nakashima masterfully curled the ball into the top corner to make it 1-0. Just a few minutes later, Sakemoto equalized after a scramble in front of the goal. Brazilian left-back Gilton, who’s been under some critiscism earlier, made amends with a nice goal as he came racing down the left-side. Kaio made 3-1 in the 35th minute, after Vegalta’s goalie suddenly found himself out of the goal. With that, things looked very good for Cerezo, but that were all to change after the break. Cerezo still played good football though, and had the most of the chances. But they couldn’t find the goals, and Nakashima scored a 2nd after beating Germano for the header to make it 2-3 shortly after the break. As the game came to an end, Sekiguchi equalized with a brilliant solo-effort with just 10 minutes to go. Shortly after late-substitute Nakahara took away all hopes for Cerezo with another goal.
Cerezo had 21 shots to Vegalta’s 10, and clearly the home team should have deserved to win. Cerezo doesn’t seem to strong mentally though, and perhaps that’s the main reason why they won’t be in J1 next year. Surely they have enough qualities atleast. Over 20 000 showed up for this match.
Mito and Avispa fought it out in a very tight and evenly contested match this round. Neither of the teams managed to find the net, and it ended a scoreless draw. Mito are in 10th now, 4 points behind Avispa in 9th, and a win would have taken them only 1 point behind. Both teams adopted a very defensive strategy, and we didn’t really get that many big chances. Avispa had the most of the shots, but nothing that scared Mito’s goalkeeper. Mito tried on occasions to break through Avispa’s defence, but with literally 10 men behind the ball it was an impossible task. According to local reports, there were some racist comments among the away crowd, pointed towards Mito’s brazilian Biju. Mito had 7 shots to Avispa’s 14.
A last-minute goal from Watanabe means Montedio are almost certain to finish within the top 3 at the end of the season. 9 points ahead of 4th placed Shonan, with only 4 matches left, Montedio has to lose all their remaining matches for that not too happen. With only easy matches left as well, Montedio should be able to hold on to the 2nd place which gives automatic promotion. As for the match, it was evenly contested, and with a bit more luck Shonan could have won it. Both teams had a player hitting the bar, and in total we saw plenty of big chances at both ends. But despite of that, we had to wait all the way until the 90th minute for the only goal of the match. For Shonan’s sake, the loss means they are 90% sure of playing in J2 next year as well. Both teams had 14 shots each.
G: Kan 90’
The 2 newly-promoted teams Roasso and Gifu fought it out in Roasso this round, and with Gifu’s Kan salvaging a draw in the last minute, Gifu still holds an unbeaten record against their rivals. Both teams came out of the locker rooms at a high pace, and it was an entertaining match with lots of action in front of both goals. The opening goal came in the 35th minute,when on-loan striker Satoshi Nakayama broke free to make it 1-0 to the home team. Gifu’s DF Kota Fukashi got sent-off early in the 2nd half, which made it a hard task for Gifuto get back into the match. But they didn’t gave up, and although Roasso had the most of the chances Gifu matched Roasso in terms of play, despite being a man down. They got what they deserved when late-substitute Kazunori Kan, back from injury for this match, equalized with a brilliant goal in the 90th minute. Roasso had 14 shots to Gifu’s 7.
ST: Fujita 79’
Sanfrecce showed their superiority once again, as a frenzy 2nd half saw them put 5 goals behind struggling Sagan at home. They seem to be miles ahead of the other teams in J2 this season, and have won a whopping 28 out of 38 matches so far this season, and scored 89 goals. Sagan became atleast one number too small here, and suffered their 2nd big loss in a row. The first half didn’t provide too many chances, and Sagan did a good job defending their goal and managed to keep Sanfrecce at bay. That were all to change after the break though, and just 5 minutes into the 2nd half scored Moriwaki with a header from a corner. Soon after, Morisaki scored 2 quick goals to make it 3-0. Shimizu and Sato added 2 more, while Fujita gave Sagan a consolation goal in teh 79th minute. Sanfrecce outshot Sagan 16-7.
Y: Gokyu 10’, Miura 55’
E: Oki 50’, Yokotani 53’
Kazu still going strong, or atleast he thinks so himself...
Yokohama have now gone 5 matches without a win after only managing a 2-2 draw at home against 14th placed Ehime. Yokohama’s season have been a total disaster, and one have to wonder how this team managed to beat the likes of Urawa and Marinos in J1 last year. They are probably the least exciting team in the league, and currently lies in 11th.
Gokyu gave the home team the lead after only 10 minutes, when he headed home a beautiful cross from Takizawa. That was the only goal of the first half, but Ehime had plenty of chances to equalize. Instead, they had to wait until after the break for that, and soon after Susume Oki headed home the equalizer A few minutes later Yokotani gave Ehime the lead with a powerful shot from distance. However, soon after the J.League-legend Kazuyoshi Miura made it 2-2 with a clever shot. With that, Miura scored his first goal this season, and the 41 year old became the oldest scorer ever in J.League. Miura, or King Kazu as he’s named, has been involved in 23 matches this season, starting 19 of them, and it was about time he scored. All in all Ehime were the best team, and shold have taken all 3 points. They outshot Yokohama 20-13.
After 7 matches without a win, it was about time Thespa took 3 points again as they beat Tokushima 1-0 at home. Thespa had few problems beating a weak Tokushima side, but due to their defensive strategy they didn’t had too many chances. They opted for the long ball, and that caused trouble for Tokushima on several occasions. Especially on the goal, when Goto gave Thespa the lead in the 26th minute. Tokushima tried to get back into the match in the 2nd half, and did some attacking substitutions. But either Sosa or Sugawara found the net, and the closest they got were a shot from Sugawara that just went wide. Thespa had 14 shots to Tokushima’s 11.
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