©︎︎︎S-PULSE
Edion Stadium Hiroshima, Hiroshima
S-PULSE GOALS Kitagawa 30
YELLOW CARDS Seok Ho 36
RED CARDS
ATTENDANCE 14084
LINE UP
GK Rokutan
DF Tatsuta, Wanderson,Seok Ho, Matsubara
MF Iida, Kawai, Takeuchi, Kaneko
FW Nakamura, Kitagawa
SUBSTITUTIONS
Ishige on for Kaneko (67)
Nishibe on for Rokutan (90+1)
REPORT
A gritty draw!
The result is somewhat disappointing but still full of promise.
To their credit this draw was fought out against last year’s second best team on their turf without two linchpins both in defense and attack, namely Elsinyo and Douglas. The former should be back soon but the team will have to wait for the latter’s comeback for some time. But they should achieve expected results thanks to the performances of Wanderson who has become the control tower in a new 3-back strategy and Nakamura who contributed extra bite and flexibility in midfield.
S-Pulse dominated the first half and could have killed the game then especially if Nakamura’s splendid free kick had not hit the framework. He later proved his new importance by combining with Kaneko in a sweet move behind Sanfrecce’s defense that was clinically concluded by Kitagawa who will become even more deadly when Douglas comes back.
The second half was mainly spent defending the castle with the last guard, Rokutan, proving once again his value as one of the very top keepers in the league. Incidentally he had leave the field because of concussion at the last minute but he has a capable lieutenant in the person of veteran Nishibe.
On a day when many so-called “pundits” will be left scratching their heads in disbelief with none of last year’s top six teams able to secure a win on opening and with both newly-promoted clubs earning points away from home, this year promises to be even more exciting and unpredictable than the 2018’s edition!
When S-Pulse will be able to field their top team, although they can count on literally two full squads, they will confound many a “specialist” who chose to ignore them!
And all the fun will enjoyed by our side and especially by their faithful fans!
NEXT GAME
Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Match Day 2
Shimizu S-Pulse vs GAMBA OSAKA
Saturday March 2nd, 2pm
IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shizuoka
