J2 League
Game 18
Shimizu S-Pulse 0-2 Renofa Yamaguchi
Sunday June 2nd, 2:00 pm
Ishin E-Venue Stadium (Yamaguchi)
S-PULSE GOALS
YELLOW CARDS Shirasaki (50), Matsuzaki (62)
RED CARDS
PENALTY KICK
ATTENDANCE 7269
LINE UP
GK Gonda
DF Hara, Takahashi, Takagi, Yamahara
MF Yajima, Shirasaki, Inui, Nakamura, Braga
FW Kitagawa
SUBSTITUTIONS
Matsuzaki on for Yajima (46)
Chiba on for Braga (46)
Miyamoto on for Shirasaki (53)
Naruoka on for Nakamura (80)
Kitazume on for Takahashi (80)
REPORT
We knew we had to beware of Yamaguchi at home with one of the best defenses in the J2 League and moreover a club battling to secure a spot in at least the post season play offs for promotion!
The safety cushion with our nearest rivals has now significantly been reduced during those last three games all won by the latter.
Time to recharge our batteries!
On a day we had almost twice more possession and the same number of chances we could never wrestle the game back from a poor first half.
Our woes started in the 4th minute when four players failed to score from inside the Yamaguchi box in succession for a goal that would have changed the game.
In the 7th minute we allowed a Yamaguchi counter attack led by only 3 again no less than 6 Shimizu who still allowed too much room for a long-range shot that barely flew over the bar.
In the 13th minute a ridiculous defense of almost the whole team inside the box still allowed Yamaguchi to score a high school level sucker goal about which the less said the better.
In the 27th minute bad came to worse when loose defense and flat-footed keeping allowed a long-range shot from nowhere to sneak inside the far right-sight post.
Another chance was wasted in the 33rd minute when from a potentially dangerous free kick when we missed three successive chances.
The second half saw a Yamaguchi packed defense only interested in saving the game.
We just kept on wasting more chances in the 67th and the 72nd minutes before Yamaguchi threw away a great chance in the 78th minute following an interception of a counter attack.
Insult came to injury when in the 82rd minute a magnificent free kick by Yamahara hit the woodwork.
We nevertheless courageously continued and almost scored from a long-range attempt 4 minutes into extra time.
We did not lose for lack of trying but because of poor execution and catastrophic defense in the first half hour.
Truth be told we had to deal with many injuries, never a good thing in a long season.
Time to regroup against the home version of the Shizuoka Derby at against Fujieda MYFC on Saturday night!
NEXT GAME
J2 League
Game 19
Shimizu S-Pulse vs Fujieda MYFC
Saturday June 8th, 7:00 pm
IAI Nihondaira Stadium (Shizuoka)
