J1 League

J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE WESTERN GROUP

Game 18

Shimizu S-Pulse 1-2 Gamba Osaka

Date: Sunday, May 24th, 7:00 pm

National Stadium (Tokyo)

S-PULSE GOALS Yumiba (58)

YELLOW CARDS Sumiyoshi (64)

RED CARDS

PENALTY KICK

ATTENDANCE 53439

LINE UP

GK Oki

DF Brunetti, Honda, Sumiyoshi, Yoshida

MF Bueno, Uno, Shimamoto, Matsuzaki, Kozuka

FW Oh

SUBSTITUTIONS

Yumiba on for Uno (19)

Toshiki Takahashi on for Kozuka (68)

Nishihara on for Matsuzaki (68)

Takagi on for Brunetti (76)

Chiba on for Shimamoto (77)

REPORT

A heart wrencher!

For promotional reasons, as indicated by the enormous attendance of over 54,000 this time, we had to play one of our two yearly “home games” at the National Stadium in Tokyo, meaning whatever the number of our fans is a de facto away game, a fixture we have successfully navigated a mere twice in more than 10 years, making it our biggest jinx game(s) of the season.

Predictably we could not avoid defeat, although this time it was crueler than usual.

We were only marginally dominated by a team which resorted to dubious tactics as reflected by three yellow cards. We even managed 5 corner kicks against their sole one, although we managed only two shots on target.

We did well enough to take the lead at a supposedly right time but we squandered it only after 3 minutes for lack of concentration.

And then… we gave up an own goal in the 76th minute to the disarray of our fans.

End result is that we conceded 3 defeats and two draws during our last 5 home games, a total reversal of a fairly good first half of the league.

Honestly speaking it was not the fault of our defense but of our lack of offense and killing instinct in spite of some fine individual performances.

All in all, we are left with a sour taste of lost opportunities.

The playoffs should be a good opportunity to experiment before the long World Cup break which will give plenty of time to our new staff to hone the team to the level its true potential deserves!

At least let us enjoy some more fun on Sunday against Yokohama F Marinos!

NEXT GAME

J1 League

J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE PLAYOFF

13th and 14th place playoff 1st leg

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Yokohama F Marinos

Date: Sunday, May 31st, 2:00 pm

IAI Nihondaira Stadium (Shizuoka)