J2 League

Game 7

Shimizu S-Pulse 0-2 Montedio Yamagata

Saturday March 30th, 2:00 pm

ND Soft Stadium (Tendo)

S-PULSE GOALS

YELLOW CARDS Shirasaki (21)

RED CARDS

PENALTY KICK

ATTENDANCE 8433

LINE UP

GK Gonda,

DF Yamahara, Hasukawa, Sumiyoshi, Yoshida

MF Shirasaki, Miyamoto, Matsuzaki, Nakamura, Braga

FW Gunji

SUBSTITUTIONS

Chiba on for Gunji (46)

Nishihara on for Braga (66)

Kitazume on for Yoshida (75)

Nishizawa on for Shirasaki (75)

Naruoka on for Matsuzaki (82)

REPORT

A disappointing loss away up against a team we have never felt comfortable with.

In front of another small away crowd, we did not so badly with sharing possession and chances.

But this time we fielded a different team especially in midfield to give a rest to some more established players in view of a coming hectic schedule.

Teenager Gunji started the game and will have learned a lot in spite of the adverse result.

Even younger Nishihara once again came as a substitute along with young Chiba, demonstrating a willingness to give young players the chance they need to improve.

Naruoka was also given a chance as a substitute.

It has become our second defeat (both away), but at the same time last year we had only garnered 7 points compared to the 15 we already wrested out of our 7 first games.

Truth be told, there is little difference between J1 and J2 these days with last year J2 champions Machida leading the J1 and established teams like Nagoya and Sapporo living dangerously at the bottom. You certainly can expect surprising results at all levels for the whole season!

It has become simple enough, all games have to be taken equally seriously, even if we must rotate players!

In the 5th minute we were saved by the framework after some indecisive defense allowed an unopposed long-rage shot.

In the 7th minute we were saved this time by an offside preceding an soft goal.

In the 18th minute Gonda ha to extend himself to parry away a dangerous shot once again allowed by lackluster defense.

In the 33rd minute we finally managed to allow a soft goal with more weak defense leaving all the time in the world to the Yamagata’s forwards to play with us before delivering another shot from just outside the box that Gonda could do little to stop.

The first minute of stoppage time before half time witnessed our first chance when we managed to squeeze the ball inside the box for newcomer Gunji to hit hard but the opposite keeper’s extended leg somehow kept the ball at bay and the same Gunji could deliver on the rebound.

The 47th minute summed the whole game when Yoshida and Braga sent Matsuzaki running against an opposite goal keeper desperately running back to his goal having been caught unawares by the quick counter, but Matsuzaki with an almost empty goal to aim at weakly shot at the retreating keeper who somehow managed to push the ball away.

2 minutes late a very dangerous attack inside Yamagata’s box could not find anyone again to convert it in spite of point-blank chances.

In the 65th minute Yamagata should have sored three times following a dangerous free kick but Gonda repelled the first two close-range heading and shot while the third attempt was blocked by a desperate S-Pulse’ defense.

But in the 88th minute Yamagata pulled the game away for good exploiting extremely poor defense when an S-Pulse’s defender prevented Gonda to catch the ball only to head it weakly towards a Yamagata’s forward.

We still managed a good corner kick in extra time but Sumiyoshi’s powerful heading just flew past the far post

Time to regroup starting with the first game of a heavy schedule at home on Wednesday against Tokushima Vortis whose present low position does not mean an easy game at all!

NEXT GAME

J2 League

Game 7

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Tokushima Vortis

Wednesday April 3rd, 7:00 pm

IAI Nihondaira Stadium (Shizuoka)