J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP
Play-OffS / 2nd leg
Shimizu S-Pulse 1-2 Kashima Antlers
Sunday June 6th 3 pm
Kashima Soccer Stadium, Ibaraki
S-PULSE GOALS Thiago Santana(21)
YELLOW CARDS Elsinho(45+3), Ryo Okui(90+3)
RED CARDS
ATTENDANCE 7,274
LINE UP
GK Kengo Nagai
DF Elsinho, Valdo, Yoshinori Suzuki, Naoya Fukumori
MF Eiichi Katayama, Kota Miyamoto, Keita Nakamura, Kenta Nishizawa
FW Akira Silvano Disaro', Thiago Santana
SUBSTITUTIONS
Yosuke Kawai on for Keita Nakamura(37)
Yugo Tatsuta on for Yoshinori Suzuki(37)
Katsuhiro Nakayama on for Akira Silvano Disaro'(66)
Ryo Okui on for Elsinho(74)
Ryo Takeuchi on for Kota Miyamoto(74)
Yusuke Goto on for Eiichi Katayama(74)
REPORT
The miracle almost happened but this time very harsh luck prevented an upset.
In the 23rd minute, once again Santana scrambled an early goal against the odds. But then disaster struck with Yoshinori Suzuki being carried off with a fractured skull in 37th minute together with Nakamura with a torn ligament in his left knee.
It just completely broke the balance of the whole team at the very worst moment. Then they conceded an equalizer in the dying minutes of the first half.
In the second half they did well to resist but their final hopes to reach the semi-finals were dashed by a goal conceded in the 71st minute. All in all, considering the conditions, they left the Cup with heads high, but will have to regroup to compensate the long absence of two of their mainstay players.
They still have two weeks until the next game for the J1 League and can take some rest. But they will on duty again on Wednesday for the 2nd Round of the Emperor’s Cup at home against the non-league side of Fukuyama City (Hiroshima Prefecture).
NEXT GAME
Emperor's Cup JFA 101st Japan Football Championship
2nd Round
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Fukuyama City FC (Hiroshima Prefecture)
Wednesdayday June 9th 7:00pm
IAI Stadium Nihondaira , Shizuoka