Meiji Yasuda J1 League

Match 6

Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 Kashiwa Reysol

Sunday March 21th 4 pm

SANKYO FRONTIER Kashiwa Stadium, Chiba

S-PULSE GOALS Suzuki(4), Santana(28)

YELLOW CARDS

RED CARDS

ATTENDANCE 3,236

LINE UP

GK Gonda

DF Hara, Valdo, Suzuki, Fukumori

MF Takeuchi, Kawai, Kaneko, Nishizawa

FW Santana, Carlinhos

SUBSTITUTIONS

Ryo Okui on for Valdo(34)

Katsuhiro Nakayama on for Shota Kaneko(70)

Yusuke Goto on for Carlinhos Junior(70)

Akira Silvano Disaro' on for Thiago Santana(85)

Kota Miyamoto on for Yosuke Kawai(85)

REPORT

Manager Lotina showed rare emotion at the end of the game celebrating victory with his staff and players!

This was an important win indeed, which will give plenty of needed confidence to the team for the games to come! Played under Dantesque deluge and storm wind conditions, it was never an easy game, especially with Valdo getting injured in the first half, but S-Pulse this time took its very few chances, two goals out of a mere three shots on target.

In the 4th minute they did well to earn a corner kick that Nishizawa curled away beautifully for newly-signed center back Yoshinori Suzuki to head in from behind everybody else.

In the 28th minute Kawai sent a big cross to Nishizawa lurking on the right who sent Hara behind Reysol’s defense. Hara’s cross was perfect for Santana to head in, giving no chance to the opposite goalkeeper. One of the fine goals of the season so far!

After that, it was a question of containing their opponents’ attacks, a job they are getting and better and better at doing with.

The goal they conceded in the 66th minute was a bit self-inflicted by kicking the ball away nowhere twice in row and allowing their opponents to shoot from long range with no true opposition. Fortunately, goalkeeper Gonda, kept his defenders tight to see the end of the game safely.

We will see a break from the J1 League until match 7 on April 4th when S-Pulse will welcome newly-promoted Tokushima.

Before then, S-Pulse will have to travel north again to Sendai for a game counting for the Levain Cup. A good result there would give them a chance to qualify for the play-offs! On another note, Shimizu S-Pulse played their first game of the new Elite Under 21-League (at least 3 over-21 players must participate) on Monday, March 22nd at the Miho Ground and beat Mito with a goal by Goto. The same game saw quite a few young promising players having at last a full game, including Noriega and Kuribara! Keep tuned!

NEXT GAME

J1 League Levain Cup Group D

Match 2

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Vegalta Sendai 

Saturday March 27th 2:00pm

Yurtec Stadium Sendai, Sendai