S-PULSE GOALS Douglas,20
YELLOW CARDS  
RED CARDS
ATTENDANCE 14307

LINE UP
GK Rokutan
DF Tatsuta, Seok Ho, Freire, Matsubara
MF Shirasaki, Kawai, Kaneko, Duke
FW Douglas, Kitagawa

SUBSTITUTIONS
Hasegawa on for Douglas (78)
Iida on for Kaneko  (90+3)

REPORT
Not a pretty game but we will take it as Shimizu S-Pulse finally beat its nemesis for the first time in 9 games since 2014!

We came to watch Fernando Torres, but instead we saw Douglas, Duke, Hwang and Freire helping out with scratching away a collective win whereas the Spanish international has obviously yet to get fit and used to the sweltering Japanese conditions.

The first half was well balanced with S-Pulse content to contain Tosu’s hard but predictable attacks and counter with quick forays. One of these brought Douglas along Tosu’s left flank and the defender had no other option but to foul him inside the box. Douglas coolly converted his own penalty kick and S-Pulse easily saw the end of the first half.

The second half was a bit of a different game when Tosu’s tactics turned increasingly brutal which could be the main reason why some decisions were not favorable to them. Truth to tell for all the pressure S-Pulse still found a way to miss at least four golden opportunities. Team Manager Jőnsson pointed out that the next practices will concentrate on how to convert such chances. Otherwise he was happy with another clean sheet and the great fighting spirit of a team sticking to plans. All players answered both in defense and offense and are proving a worrying force to any opponent as shown by already reaching last year’ victories tally.

They know they will have to produce the same and a little more for their next away game at Kashima on Sunday, but they certainly can afford to be optimistic!

NEXT GAME
Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Match day 20
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Kashima Antlers
Sunday August 5th, 6:30pm
Kashima Stadium