Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Match 14

Shimizu S-Pulse 9-1 Iwaki

Sunday May 7th 2:00pm

IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shizuoka

S-PULSE GOALS Inui (12), Nakayama (16, 45 +2, 57), Ibayashi (51), Carlinhos (52), Santana (71, 81, 90 +8)

YELLOW CARDS Ronaldo

RED CARDS

PENALTY KICK Santana (90 +8)

ATTENDANCE 8022

LINE UP

GK Gonda

DF Suzuki, Yoshida, Ibayashi, Kitazume

MF Nakayama, Ronaldo, Inui, Miyamoto, Carlinhos

FW Santana

SUBSTITUTIONS

Takahashi on for Suzuki (54)

Kishimoto on for Yoshida (54)

Nishizawa on for Ronaldo (54)

Kitagawa on for Nakayama (60)

Disaro on for Inui (69)

REPORT

Was it a typhoon, or a tornado, or simply impossibly hard rain in Dantesque conditions that players and a hardy crowd of fans counting over 8,000 stoically endured?

Nonetheless it ended up in a somewhat one-sided contest between a team whose real place is in the top J League and a courageous team in the name of newly promoted Iwaki who were still a non-League club barely two years ago.

Shimizu S-Pulse broke their highest total for a single match and performed no less than two hat tricks.

In the very 2nd minute S-Pulse had Nakayama running past Iwaki’s left flank before sending a cross that was relayed by Santana into the path of Inui who made no mistake with a sharp half volley.

In the 16th minute Iwaki could not clear the ball that Inui clipped through the defense to Nakayama who had no problem beating the Iwaki goal keeper.

Just before half time S-Pulse worked around Iwaki’s left side before Carlinhos crossed over to Kitazume lurking on the other side of the box who volleyed the perfect cross for Nakayama to score his second goal of the day.

In the 51st minute Inui’s corner kick from the right found Ibayashi to head in unopposed.

One minute later another weak Iwaki’s defense let Inui send Kitazume around the right side before he found Carlinhos on the far left inside the box who squeezed the ball between the goal keeper and the left post.

In the 57th minute a quick counter had Inui again contributing the last pass to Nakayama for another simple goal to perform his hat trick.

In the 71st minute S-Pulse again ran around Iwaki’s left flank for Kitazume to send the perfect cross for Santana to half volley on the run.

In the 81st minute the defense once again passed to Kitazume around Iwak8’s left flank for Santana to score completely unopposed.

In the 3rd minute of extra time Iwaki showed a lot of character with a cross from S-Pulse right flank for an opposite forward to head the ball past Gonda in spite of 6 defenders inside the box. Head coach Akiba did not hide his disappointment during the post-match interview.

Santana got his own hat trick 8 minutes deep into extra time when iwaki was lucky to escape with only a penalty kick for handling the ball and a yellow card when the second foul on the same ball would have had an Iwaki defender sent off.

We are back to more serious things at home again on Saturday this time for the second Shizuoka Derby against newly promoted Fujieda MYFC who are surprising everybody by being in the top half of the League.

Expect the biggest crowd of the year!

NEXT GAME

Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Match 15

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Fujieda MYFC

Saturday May 13th 2:00pm

IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shizuoka