Urawa Red Diamonds 3-3 S-PULSE
Saitama Stadium 2002


S-PULSE GOALS Tese 64, 69, Tiago 71
YELLOW CARDS Matsubara 40
RED CARDS None
ATTENDANCE 33458


LINE UP

GK Rokutan
DF Kamata, Kakuda, Futami, Matsubara
MF Musaka, Takeuchi, Edamura, Shirasaki, Tiago
FW Tese


SUBSTITUTIONS

Freire on for Futami (46)
Duke on for Edamura (62)
Kitagawa on for Tese (81)


REPORT

On a beautiful Saitama Saturday, S-Pulse and Urawa produced a six goal thriller which few of the 30000 plus crowd in attendance will be likely to forget. To say who was more content with the final score is a tough call to make given the way the game unfolded, but what is certain is few left the stadium anything other than fully entertained.

Urawa, who started the game top of J1 and firm favourites, appeared to be cruising to victory thanks to a goal from Koroki in each half, his first a fine overhead volley. The match took an unexpected turn just past the hour however, with Tese aspiring to outdo Koroki with his own spectacular goal to bring Shimizu back into the game. Five minutes later the captain tapped home substitute Duke’s shot which had come back off the post, and another fine goal from the red-hot Tiago on 71 minutes saw the guests ahead. Having lost their advantage, Urawa were forced back onto the attack, and boasting more goals this season than any other J. League team, it was always going to be a challenge to keep them contained. So it proved when Koroki completed his hat trick from close range on 74 minutes.

Both teams were eager to get back in front, with 15 shots to 16 in S-Pulse’s favour by the time the game ended. Each side went close to snatching a winner, the drama not letting up for the six minutes of additional time, so when referee Murakami blew his whistle both sets of fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Defeat would have been harsh on either team, so while fans might have left wondering what if?, a draw was a fair reflection of the afternoon’s action.

Attention now turns to Wednesday’s Levain Cup game in which S-Pulse face Urawa’s neighbours Omiya. Neither team is able to progress beyond the group stage, so you can look forward to an open and pressure-free game, perhaps with some unfamiliar faces in the starting line ups. The bread and butter of the league returns on Saturday with the visit of Yokohama F. Marinos, and if you’re not heading to IAI Stadium Nihondaira you can keep in touch via our Twitter feed @spulse_eng

Forza S-Pulse!


NEXT GAME

Levain Cup Group Stage, Game 6
Omiya Aldija vs S-PULSE
Wednesday May 24th, 7pm
Nack5 Stadium


NEXT LEAGUE GAME

Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Match Day 13
S-PULSE vs Yokohama F. Marinos
Saturday May 27th, 2pm
IA I Stadium Stadium, Shizuoka