Ybc Levain Cup Group B

Match 2

Shimizu S-Pulse 1-1 Urawa Reds

Sunday April 26th 3:00pm

Urawa Komaba Stadium, Saitama

S-PULSE GOALS Kololli (71)

YELLOW CARDS

RED CARDS

PENALTY KICK

ATTENDANCE 10125

LINE UP

GK Okubo

DF Kikuchi, Kitazume, Ibayashi, Yoshida

MF Miyamoto, Kololli, Inui, Kamiya

FW Carlinhos, Nakayama

SUBSTITUTIONS

Ronaldo on for Kamiya (63)

Kitagawa on for Inui (63)

Kishimoto on for Kololli (84)

Morishige on for nakayama (84)

REPORT

Another draw!? You will say…

But this was actually a great performance against another strong J1 League side, especially by the defense who had to work hard for long periods.

They shoot us out to the tune of 16 shots (8 on target) against our 8 (3 on target), 10 corner kicks to 5 while coming even on free kicks.

The first period was almost completely dominated by Urawa forcing Okubo into a great save right in the 5th minute.

In the sixth minute Urawa’s Sakai headed just over the bar.

Soon later Kitazume produced our first chance with a nice cross that Kololli volleyed barely past the opposite post.

In the 29th minute the defense gave away a ball shot from outside the box that once again stretched Okubo into a great parry.

Finally, in the 38th minute Yoshida and Okubo entangled themselves to allow a long cross to be converted into Urawa’s only goal of the day.

Urawa dominated again at the beginning of the second half and Okubo once again had to stretch himself to push away a long range shot in the 53rd minute.

Soon later another S-Pulse’s blunder almost ended into another goal but Okubo somehow parried the ball away.

In the 62nd minute Okubo produced the save of the day when shot at from point blank.

This proved to be the turning point of the match because in the 71st minute Kitagawa did well to steal the ball slightly inside the opposite half to send it away to Kolloli who shot a splendid goal from long range.

Two minutes later Kitagawa produced a diving head that was barely palmed away by the opposite goal keeper.

The same Kitagawa should have scored the winner in extra time when he found himself alone in front of the goal keeper only to see his parried again past the opposite post.

In the next minute Urawa should have scored too following an exhausted defense’s mistake but the last attacker’s looping shot flew just over the bar.

All in all, it was an encouraging game for the rest of season showing the depth of the team whose players tried hard to impress their head coach. The defense is getting better and better with a few lapses to get rid of, but the offense still has some work on its plate!

Let us hope they will prove their true potential on Wednesday back to the J2 League against Gunma!

NEXT GAME

Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Match 6

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Thespakusatsu Gunma

Wedenesday March 29th 7:00pm

IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shizuoka