S-PULSE 0-2 Ventforet Kofu
IAI Stadium Nihondaira

S-PULSE GOALS none
YELLOW CARDS Duke 58
RED CARDS none
ATTENDANCE 13288

LINE UP

GK Kushibiki
DF Edamura, Inukai, Fukumura, Matsubara
MF Hattanda, Mizutani, Ishige, Duke
FW Omae, Utaka


SUBSTITUTES 

Nagasawa on for Mizutani (52)
Uchida on for Ishige (75)


REPORT

With Ventforet Kofu’s home prefecture of Yamanashi bordering Shizuoka, the two regions comprise joint custodians of Japan’s most famous landmark; Mt Fuji. Accordingly, the matchup between S-Pulse and Ventforet has become known as the Mt Fuji Derby. This fixture carried extra weight on Saturday, on account of both teams’ respective positions at the wrong of the league table.

Never having lost a league meeting with Kofu, coupled with the five goal confidence boost in their last home game, S-Pulse headed into the match with statistics on their side and wind in their sails. However, the 11st minute saw a small part of Shimizu history return to haunt them. Striker Bare, who spent a short but productive spell in orange in 2013, rose to nod a cross back towards goal. The ball beat goalkeeper Kushibiki, and in an attempt to clear the danger, an orange boot sliced the ball into his own goal.

While the lion’s share of pressure and efforts came from the home team, the 51^st minute addition of a second Kofu goal gave S-Pulse a mountain to climb. A penalty was won with ten minutes remaining but uncharacteristically Genki Omae’s spot kick was saved. A blow for the hosts, it gave the visiting team an injection of momentum with which to see out the 90 minutes.

The defeat saw S-Pulse drop to the bottom of the J1 standings, but such is the congested nature of the table, only two wins separate 18^th place from 10^th. With that in mind we must remain positive and work together to pull ourselves upwards! Even a short string of favourable results will change the complexion of the league table.

This league’s 1^st stage comes to an end on Saturday with a trip to FC Tokyo. The table then resets ready for the second act of 2015’s multi-faceted season. Come December up to five teams will qualify to join the third stage, the championship playoff tournament. Relegation positions are decided simply by combining the first two parts however, so keeping track of S-Pulse’s quest for survival remains a straightforward matter.

Keep the faith!


NEXT GAME

Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Stage 1, 17th Sec
FC Tokyo v S-PULSE
Saturday June 26th, 7pm
Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo