Meiji Yasuda J1 League

Match 17

Shimizu S-Pulse 3-1 Fukuoka Avispa

Sunday June 18th 6:00pm

IAI Nihondaira Stadium, Shizuoka

S-PULSE GOALS Nishizawa (7), Santana (41), Nakayama (44, 56), Kololli (85)

YELLOW CARDS Katayama (47), Santana (90 + 1)

RED CARDS

PENALTY KICK

ATTENDANCE 10920

LINE UP

GK Gonda

DF Katayama, Yoshinori Suzuki,Tatsuta, Yamahara

MF Nishizawa, Shirasaki, Shirasaki, Goto

FW Kamiya, Santana

SUBSTITUTIONS

Disaro on for Kamiya (68)

Hara on for Katayama 68)

Takeuchi on for Miyamoto (77)

Kololli on for Nishizawa (77)

Taki on for Goto (77)

REPORT

At long last the home jinx has been eradicated!

A great performance and this again the best defense of the J1 League!

There was not much change as far as the 4-42 system was concerned, but the mental approach was definitely new and although Gonda had to help with still occasional defense mistakes, the same defense showed a vastly improved resolve in protecting their goal and speeding the game on counter attacks with a minimum of back passes.

The new approach was epitomized in the first chance at goal in the 7th minute when a counter found its way to Santana who controlled a heading from its defense before sending Kamiya on the left of the box. The latter’s low cross found Nishizawa who converted it into a fine goal across the mouth beating three defenders in the process.

But Fukuoka went into the attack forcing Gonda into a superb save in the 12th minute when a corner kick was perfectly headed towards goal.

In the 17th minute Katayama came close to convert a fine set piece.

In the 37th minute Gonda had to extend himself again when S-Pulse’s defense allowed a cross inside their box for a free heading.

But in the 41st minute Tatsuta sent a long pass to Kamiya on the right flank who passed the ball back to Nishizawa who sent a curling cross into the box which was superbly headed in by Santana between to defenders to send the ball inside the far post.

The second half saw defense taking over until the 80th minute when S-Pulse could not clear the ball properly to allow a Fukuoka’s forward to beat Gonda with the perfect middle-range shot.

But this time S-Pulse did not fold and in the 85th minute a long clearance found Santana in the middle of the field who controlled the ball long enough to allow substitute Kololli to run past the defense on his left and perfectly control his teammate’s pass before coolly lobbing the charging goalkeeper with the side of his right foot to seal the game once for all.

A fine and so timely win indeed!

It was not all perfect, but the change was palpable from the very moment the team warmed up. The win was achieved without quite a few first-string players either on international duty or injured. When these come back the team will even be stronger for it with a powerful bench to nail games down.

First, some players will be given a chance to impress their new managing staff on Wednesday in a third round of the Emperor Cup at home against Kyoto Sanga.

After that, the real test will come with a series of three difficult away games against Cerezo Osaka, Yokohama F Marinos (technically a home game but played at the Japan national Stadium in Tokyo as a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the professional J League) and Kobe, a fellow struggler.

A lot of work, but this time we can entertain reasonable hope!

NEXT GAME

Emperor’Cup

Round 3

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Kyoto Sanga

Wednesday June 22nd7:00pm

IAI Nihondaira Stadium, Shizuoka