VISSEL KOBE 2-4 SHIMIZU S-PULSE  
Noevir Stadium Kobe

S-PULSE GOALS  Crislan 13, Kitagawa 26, Tatsuta 72, Kaneko 82
YELLOW CARDS Freire 6, Rokutan 84, Tese 90
RED CARDS 
SHOTS 6
CORNER KICKS 3
FREE KICKS 11
PENALTY KICK
ATTENDANCE 24058


LINE UP

GK Rokutan
DF Tatsuta,Seok Ho, Freire, Matsubara
MF Takeuchi, Kawai, Kaneko, Ishige
FW Kitagawa, Crislan


SUBSTITUTIONS

Duke on for Kitagawa 70
Tese on for Crislan 81

REPORT

Efficiency and resilience.

Two words that were not in last year S-Pulse’s vocabulary.

Efficiency: with only 35% of the possession and 6 attempts at goal S-Pulse found the way the score every of their4 shots on target, and all great goals at that.

Resilience: Having seen their 2-goal advantage reduced to nothing by the 69^th minute they did not fold out, gritted their teeth and pounced on the only two chances that fell their way instead of the predictable collapse last year. If there was a sign of a belated maturity it must be this newly found clinical approach in offense and compact defense where everyone brings in his contribution.

In the 13^th minute Ishige having grabbed the ball in midfield immediately sent Kitagawa on the right wing who sent the perfect cross to be volleyed by Crislan’s left foot into the left top corner of the goal.

In the 26^th minute Ishige again pounced on a loose pass, overtook Kobe’s right flank to send the perfect cross behind the defense and find a completely unmarked Kitagawa who just had to tap in.

In the 32th minute S-Pulse were caught on the left flank in area lapse of concentration to see their opponents score an easy goal.

In the 69^th minute scores were brought level with a brilliant free kick directly kicked over a helpless defense into Rokutan’s left top corner.

In the 72^nd minute Kaneko somehow managed to wriggle out a pass to Tatsuta on Kobe left flank. The 19^th year old, only in his second J1 league game beat his direct opponent and scored a brilliant goal into the narrow gap between the goal keeper and his left post.

Finally in the 82^nd minute some good work on the left wing by Duke found Ishige who calmly passed to Kaneko in front of the Kobe defense. The latter was thus left all the time in the world to kick a precise low kick into the far corner of Kobe’s goal leaving no chance to a horrified goalkeeper.

The last two games have seen the birth of a very dangerous attack with two young side backs helping the attack on both wings stretching the opposing defense allowing chances at goal to all members in perfect if few occasions.

As for the defense Team Manager Jan Anders Jonsson had the perfect comment: “Today all players were loyal to each other!”

Next game sees the first of four derby matches against Jubilo Iwata for the 1^st match of a Levain Cup Group Stage 1^st match. We should see a new team formation as some players will obviously have to be rested. A great opportunity to support the whole club!


NEXT LEAGUE GAME

Levain Cup
Group Stage day 1
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Jubilo Iwata
Wednesday March 7th, 7pm
IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shizuoka