March 18, 2018

Spring Break

 

 

2 - 1  

Consadole narrowly avoided relegation last season, and despite their success and energy last season, V.Varen entered the season as the top choice among likely relegation candidates. If everything was going "according to expectations" this year, the clash between the Snow Owls from the far northeast and the Mighty Ducks of the far southwest would be viwed as a critical chance for both teams to pick up some points in their bid to escape the drop. But things are decidedly NOT followimg the scipt this year. Last week Nagasaki held the mighty Red Diamonds to an entirely deserved draw, while Sapporo has claimed just one point so far, but has provided stern opposition to both Cerezo Osaka and Sanfrecce Hiroshima. When the two teams kicked off at Sapporo Dome on Sunday afternoon, both had high hopes of securing their first victory.

Though he was sent packing by the Urawa Reds organization last season, after a six-year stint in which the deep-pocketed club managed to win only one piece of silverware (the 2016 Nabisco/Levain Cup). Mihailo Petrovic remains one of the most influential coaches in the J.League. His three-back "3-6-1" concept has been adopted, in some form or other, by almost a dozen J.League teams, often with impressive effect. Indeed, one of the first imitators was Takuya Takagi, who attempted to introduce it at Roasso Kumamoto, and has been playing some form of three-back alignment for several yeas as head coach of V.Varen Nagasaki.

Though the Petrovic system has gained the most exposure based on its use at J1 challengers such as Sanfrecce and Reds, I have always believdc that the underlying concept is best suited to a small -- or at least midtable -- club seeking to punch above its weight. One of the reasons whyit failed to produce any titles for the Reds is that the most important benefits were rarely exploited by Urawa. Except in the ACL, the Reds were rarely in position to play the defense-oriented, counterattacking style that is most effective with the 3-6-1. Sapporo just might be the ideal place for Petrovic to prove the value of his philosophy. Consadole played its first match of the season in a fairly conventional four-back alignment, and they are still lining up in a midfield alignment that differs from the system used by Sanfrecce and Reds over the past decade. Yet there are already signs that the Snow Owls are transforming their style of play. This week they played with a nominal back three, but the wings dropped back to support what varied from four to five backs, when on defense. It takes some time to learn the spacing and timing needed to implement the 3-6-1, so it is no surprise that there will be an adjustment period.

On the other hand, Sapporo has three players who seem perfectly cut out to play the one-striker, two-shadow positions of Petrovic's 3-6-1. Jay Bothroyd is not only a big, powerful post-up player but he also has a fairly deft touch and good passing skills to set up the two "shadow strikers" cutting through the channels behind him. Chanathip Songkran and Koji Miyoshi, meanwhile, are very clever at finding gaps in a defence and slipping through them to create instant danger in the box. Both will need to adapt their play a bit in order to really excel in this role, but their play over the first few matches of this season suggests that they could thrive under Petrovic's tutelage.

One of the main benefits of the 3-6-1 is that the cluster of bodies in midfield helps a defensive-minded team to gain possession frequently, at midfield or in opposing territory. Consadole did this a few times in the first half, but failed to exploit their opportunities, and the contest remained scoreless at the break. However, shortly after the break Chanathip and Bothroyd finally got their counterattacking communication straight. In the 51st minute, a deflection at midfield was snatched up by the nimble-footed Thai and he immediately spotted the towering striker, turning towards the space behind the Nagasaki back line. Chanathip fired the ball into the open greenspace as Bothroyd burst past his defenders, accelerated into the clear and stroked a shot underneath the keeper. Sapporo almost doubled their lead just seconds later, when Jay headed down a cross and Miyoshi popped up in the goal mouth to collect it. But the linesman had his flag up even before Miyoshi could take his shot, and the advantage remained just a single goal..

But V.Varen has some good attacking talent as well, and as the contest wore on, they began to climb back into the contest. Coach Takagi sharpened the attack by introducing Shogo Nakahara and Musashi Suzuki, on the midfield wings, and this started to produce some chances for the Mighty Ducks. With ten minutes to go, a looooong pass from the Nagasaki defense was settled by Juanma at the top left corner of the penalty area. He fired a quick shot that was blocked almost immediately, and the loose ball squibbed off to Hijiri Onaga, a further five yards out from goal. Onaga let loose a speculative drive, which managed to elude keeper Gi Sung-Yun and sneak into the right corner, leveling the contest at 1-1!

On virtually the last play of the game Consadole won a free kick at midfield and predictably, the Snow Owls threw everyone forward for a long ball into the box. Bothroyd played the target man to perfection, muscling off his defenders adn then rising to head the ball down in front of goal. Chanathip timed his run perfectly and as Jay's header fell in front of him he nodded it point-blank across the goal line. 

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
13,568
Location: 
Sapporo Dome

  2

0 1H 0
2 2H 1

1  

Jay Bothroyd (53')
Chanathip (90+3') 

 Scoring

 Hijiri Onaga (82')
Takuma Arano Cautions Keita Nakamura
Ryutaro Iio

Gi Sung-Yun; Ryosuke Shindo, Kim Min-Tae, Akito Fukumori; Yoshiaki Komai, Takuma Arano (Ken Tokura 78'); Kazuki Fukai (Naoki Ishikawa 88'), Daiki Suga Koji Miyoshi (Shingo Hyodo 69'), Chanathip Songkran; Jay Bothroyd

 Takuya Masuda; Shuhei Tokunaga, Choi Kyu-Baek, Ryota Takasugi; Ryutaro Iio, Teppei Usui; Yuzuru Shimada (Shogo Nakahara 59') Hijiri Onaga, Takashi Sawada (Halloran 83'), Keita Nakamura (Musashi Suzuki 67'); Juanma.

 


 

1 -  1 

Shimizu and Sendai are both off to strong starts this season, and while both owe their position in the table to the relatively weak competition they have faxced up to now. either one was in position to extablish themselves as a force to be reckoned with, by winning their head-to-head contest on Sunday. One point that ha confused S-Pulse fans is the disappearance of North Korean striker Chong Tese from the starting lineup. The big Korean ace has been viewed as a key offensive weapon since joining the team in the final weeks of the 2015 season. But this year the Wingheads have a number of promising young players who seem poised to take over the offensive burden from veterans like Chong and Yu Hasegawa.

 One young prospect advertised his potential almost immediately, with the opening goal of the contest In the 9th minute Shota Kaneko collected a pass just above the penalty arc and without the slightest hesitation he let fly witjh a powerful drive that shot into the top right corner before the keeper even knew what was happening. Kaneko first emerged as a member of the U-22 team that took part in J3 play during 2014 and 2015. He got only seven appearances over those two years for his parent club, but his play in the J3 raised some eyebrows. In 2016, when S-Pulse dropped into the J2, the young attacking midfielder finally got a chance to break into the S-Pulse lineup, and last season he retained a regular spot, playing 26 times and scoring four goals. Now 22, the former JFA academy youth seems to be on course for a breakout year. His slashing runs and precision passing were a constant thorn in the left side of Vegalta's defense.

But S-Pulse failed to press home their advantage in the first half, and as the contest wore on, the visitors gradually started to find their footing. Vegalta has an abundance of veteran talent this year, and appear to have taken over from Ventforet Kofu as the last stop for aging stars who still have something to contribute. In fact, it was a former Ventforet player who produced the equaliser in the 70th minute, at the end of a sequence of three corner kicks in a row. After the third was booted clear by the S-Pulse defence for a throw-in, former Sanfrecce midfielder Gakuto Notsuda (another last-stop veteran) charged through the left channel and wound up for a shot that was blocked before it had even left his foot. But as luck would have it, the deflection fell right at the feet of Takuma Abe, who skipped between two defenders and fired home. Neither team was able to break the deadlock and the contest ended with each team taking a point. This marks the second draw of the year for both clubs, who are now level for third place in the J1.

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
13,965
Location: 
Nihondaira Stadium

  1

1 1H 0
0 2H 1

1  

Shota Kaneko (09')

 Scoring

 Takuma Abe (70')
  Cautions

Yoshihiro Nakano

  Yuji Rokutan; Yugo Tatsuta, Hwang Seon-Ho, Friere, Ko Matsubara; Ryo Takeuchi Yosuke Kawai, Shota Kaneko, Mitch Duke (Jumpei Kusukami 82'); Koya Kitagawa (Chong Tese 66'), Crislan.

  Kentaro Seki; Yasuhiro Hiraoka, Kazuki Oiwa, Kim Jung-ya ; Shingo Tomita (Takuma Nishimura 61'), Hiroaki Okuno, Shota Kobayashi (Yoshihiro Nakano 69'), Katsuya Nagato; Gakuto Notsuda, Takuma Abe (Ryo Germain 80') Naoki Ishihara.

 


 

   2 - 2    

Kashiwa Reysol has developed a habit of letting leads slip from their hands, this season, dropping an ACL clash 3-2 after taking a two-goal lead, and last week allowing Cerezo Osaka to salvage a point after taking the lead just four minutes after kickoff. This week they were again quick off the mark, but unable to secure victory. Gamba Osaka has struggled even more, in early action. The Naniwa Nerazzuri started the week in last place, with three straight losses. This reflects the performance of an unusually leaky defense, which has allowed an average of two goals per game over the first four weeks.

It did not take long for Reysol to break down Gamba's tottering defense. Just eight minutes after kickoff a clever exchange at the top of the box sent Ataru Esaka through into the box for a powerful finish. Ten minutes later the speedy Reysol midfielder doubled his tally with a cutback dribble through the gaping right channel. A drive into the low left corner put the Sun Kings two goals to the advantage, with less than 20 minutes played.

But for all its defensive concerns, Gamba's offense is still potent, as they demonstrated in the 21st minute. Bouncing back from Reysol's second tally, Gamba pressed forward in numbers on the left flank and after an extended exchange of passes on the sideline, Endo sent a sharp through pass to Jin Izumisawa, charging in from the left on an overlap. Izumisawa dropped the ball immediately to Hwang Ui-Jo at the penalty spot. The Korean ace fought off the defensive challenge, spun to his left, and drove a shot into the right side netting.

This took the wind out of Kashiwa's sails, and for the remainder of the first half both teams cautiously prodded and probed, with no positive result. The second half was a see-saw affair, with the home crowd gradually urging Gamba back into the contest. Five minutes from full time, at the end of a prolonged spell of Gamba possession, a chip towards the top of the box was settled by Ui-jo, and from just inside the penalty arc he rifled a shot that clipped the grass all the way to the right post, bounding off the woodwork, past the keeper and into the back of the net. Though neither team could find the winning tally, Gamba fans will be able to take some solace from their first point of the season, and a strirring comeback.

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
21,758
Location: 
Suita Stadium

  2

1 1H 2
1 2H 0

2  

Hwang Ui-Jo (21')
Hwang Ui-Jo (86') 

 Scoring

Ataru Esaka (08')
Ataru Esaka (18')

Fabio Cautions  

 Masaaki Higashiguchi; Oh Jae-Suk, Genta Miura, Fabio, Hiroki Fujiharu (Ryo Hatsuse 63'); Yasuyuki Konno, Mizuki Ichimaru (Keito Nakamura 76'), Yasuhito Endo; Hwang Ui-Jo, Shun Nagasawa, Jin Izumisawa (Haruya Ide 63').

 Kosuke Nakamura; Ryuta Koike, Park Jeong-Su, Yuta Nakayama, Yun Suk-Young; Kim Bo-Kyung (Ryohei Yamasaki 81'), Kei Koizumi, Hidekazu Otani (Hajime Hosogai 64'); Junya Ito, Cristiano, Ataru Esaka (Hiroto Nakagawa 83')



  1 - 0  

Match report will be posted later

 

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
16,568
Location: 
Ajinomoto Stadium

  1

0 1H 0
1 2H 0

0  

Diego Oliveira (46') 

 Scoring

 
Makoto Okazaki Cautions Lee Jeong-Hyeop

  Akihiro Hayashi; Makoto Okazaki, Jang Hyun-Soo, Masato Morishige, Ryoya Ogawa; Kotaro Omori, Kento Hashimoto, Yojiro Takahagi (Takuji Yonemoto 90+3'), Keigo Higashi; Cayman Togashi (Ryoichi Maeda 66'), Diego Oliveira (Kensuke Nagai 79).

Yota Akimoto; Miki Yamane, Andre Bahia, Kazunari Ono; Kaoru Takayama, Hiroki Akino, Shunsuke Kikuchi, Tenma Matsuda (Hikaru Arai 66'), Tsukasa Umesaki (Mitsuki Saito 55'), Daiki Sugioka (Mihael Mikic 66'); Lee Jeong-Hyeop.

 


 

  0 - 1   

Though many of the J.League's traditional powers have struggled in their early matches this season, few have frustrated ther fans -- or been subjected to more abuse from those fans -- than Urawa Reds. Last year's ACL champions may have calmed the complaints slightly with wins in the Levain Cup competition, but fans clearly expect more from the J.League's most well-funded team. Considering how long the team has gone without domestic league success, it is easy to see why the Saitama Red Army is frustated. Their faithful support is the main reason why the team has so much money to toss around, but clearly they are not getting enough of a return on the investment.

Their opponent on Sunday, Yokohama F.Marinos, is in danger of following the Reds down the road to well-funded failure. Since Manchester City's owners acquired a minority stake in the Marinos, there has been an influx of cash and advertising support which has rapidly turned the team -- always one of the J.League's bigger clubs -- into the second-best funded unit in Japan. Yet the team's performance has been moving steadily in the opposite direction. Incoming coach Ange Postecoglou is a newcomer to Japanese football, and he deserves some time to adjust to a new football environment. On the other hand, the City Group has been talking a big game since getting involved in Japanese football. Postecoglou's appointment was presented to fans with the same sort of hype that accompanied past moves such as the signing of Ademilson, a couple years ago. The team's fans will want to see some results from all this activity, or they may sour on the minority owners' participation altogether.

No doubt the visiting fans will be more satisfied with Sunday's results than the home supporters (who booed their players off the pitch following the final whistle). Iin terms of content, though, neither side could be particularly happy with the way their teams performed. The dearth of goals was partly the result of good work in net by both 'keepers, but the run of play was poor on both ends. There were far too many bad decisions, gratuitous fouling, disjointed play, missed passes and all-around sloppiness from one end of the pitch to the other. For the first hour, at least, this looked more like a battle between two relegation candidates or even J2 opponents, rather than a marquee-topping clash betweeen two title candidates.

Only in the late stages of the contest did the scoring chances start to accumulate, and it was Yokohama who seemed the most likely to score. But Shusaku Nishikawa came up with some excellent reaction saves to bail out the Reds in dangerous circumstances. With less than ten minutes remaining Hugo Viera slipped behind the defense on the right side, collected a pass from Ryosuke Yamanaka and quickly fired off a shot that finally eluded Nishikawa and put Yokohama in front.

The Reds tried to make a late charge, but time ran out, and a sullen home crowd serenaded them back to the locker room with a chorus of boos.

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
33,168
Location: 
Saitama Stadium

  0

0 1H 0
0 2H 1

1  

 

 Scoring

 Hugo Vieira (81')
Tomoya Ugajin
Kosuke Taketomi
Cautions Ryosuke Yamanaka
Ken Matsubara
Takahiro Ogihara
Milos Degenek

 Shusaku Nishikawa; Daisuke Kikuchi, Mauricio, Tomoaki Makino, Tomoya Ugajin; Takuya Aoki, Tomoki Nagasawa (Naoki Yamada 63'), Yosuke Kashiwagi; Kosuke Taketomi (Zlatan Ljubijankic 79'), Shinzo Koroki (Takuya Ogihara 86'), Yuki Muto.

 Hiroki Iikura; Ken Matsubara, Yuji Nakazawa, Milos Degenek, Ryosuke Yamanaka; Takahiro Ogihara, David Babunski ( Yoshii 77'), Jun Amano; Keita Endo, Hugo Vieira (Sho Ito 90+3'), Yun Il-Lok (Ippei Shinozuka 84').

 


 

   2 -  0

Match report will be posted later

 

Date: 
10 March, 2018
Attendance: 
20,108
Location: 
Kobe (Noevir) Stadium

  2

1 1H 0
1 2H 0

0  

Naoyuki Fujita (34') 
Lucas Podolski (83')

 Scoring

 
Lucas Podolski Cautions

Osmar
Ken Matsubara

Kim Seung-Gyu; Masahiko Inoha, Jung Woo-Young, Hirofumi Watanabe, Teeraton Bunmathon; Masatoshi Mihara, Hirotaka Mita; Asahi Masuyama (Keijiro Ogawa 59'), Lucas Podolski (Wellington 87'), Junya Takana; Mike Havenaar (Kazuma Watanabe 63').

  Kim Jin-Hyeon; Riku Matsuda, Yusuke Maruhashi, Yasuki Kimoto (Tatsuya Yamashita 78'), Matej Jonjic; Hotaru Yamaguchi, Kota Mizunuma, Souza; Yoichiro Kakitani (Yang Dong-Hyen 45'), Kenyu Sugimoto, Toshiyuki Takagi (Atom Tanaka 89').

 


 

  0 - 0   

Sanfrecce Hiroshima entered this contest with a perfect record, but they simply didnt have the energy to break down a hard-working Jubilo defense. The contest ended in a scoreless draw, allowing Kawasaki Frontale to edge in front of Hroshima on goal difference.

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
16,962
Location: 
Hiroshima Big Arch

  0

0 1H 0
0 2H 0

0  

 

 Scoring

 
Yuki Nogami
Sho Inagaki
Cautions Takuma Ominami
Nagisa Sakurauchi

 Takuto Hayashi; Takuya Wada, Yuki Nogami, Hiroki Mizumoto, Sho Sasaki; Hayao Kawabe (Kazuaki Mawatari 80'), Toshihiro Aoyama (Kosei Shibasaki 74'), Sho Inagaki, Yoshifumi Kashiwa; Patric Oliveira, Teerasil Dangda (Kyohei Yoshino 59').

  Krysztov Kaminski; Kentaro Oi, Nagisa Sakurauchi, Guilherme (Kosuke Yamamoto 45'), Takuma Ominami, Shohei Takahashi; Taishi Taguchi, Masaya Matsumoto, Adailton ( Ogawa 89'), Hiroki Yamada (Takuya Matsuura 82'); Kengo Kawamoto.

 


 

  0 - 1  

Kashima Antlers travelled to Tosu on Sunday relieved that they will get some rest after this weekend. The team has travelled extemsively this month, including a long flight to Australia last week, and both fatigue and injuries are piling up. Leo Silva, Atsuto Uchida,Yasushi Endo and Yuto Misao have all been sidelined by injury, leaving young Hiroki Abe as the only right wing available to start. Nevertheless, the Antlers have a host of talented players to pick up the slack. In the 13th minute Yuma Suzuki and Mu Kanazaki broke out on a two-on-two counterattack, and though Suzuki was floored by an ugly (and seemingly deliberate) foul by Cho Dong-Geon, he managed to flick the ball to Kanazaki for a thundering drive from the edge of the box.

This would be the only tally in a hard-fought but relatively one-sided contest. Tosu had one very dangerous chance shortly after Kashima's opener but Victor Ibarbo's shot came back off the left post. Thereafter, the Antlers seemed content to play off the back foot and protect their lead, while Tosu's swarming and physically imposing defense kept Kashima from adding to their lead despite a number of dangerous counterattacks.

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
17,757
Location: 
Tosu (Best Amenity) Stadium

  1

0 1H 1
1 2H 0

1  

 

 Scoring

 Mu Kanazaki (14')
Cho Dong-Geon
Victor Ibarbo
Ryosuke Tagawa
Cautions Ryota Nagaki
Koki Anzai
Mu Kanazaki

 Yuichi Gonda; Yuzo Kobayashi, Kim Min-Hyeok, Jung Seung-Hyun, Yutaka Yoshida; Hideto Takahashi, Riki Harakawa (Yoshiki Takahashi 86'), Akito Fukuta; Cho Dong-Geon (Ryosuke Tagawa 63') Yuji Ono (Kei Ikeda 86'), Victor Ibarbo.

 Kwoun Sun-Tae; Yukitoshi Ito, Naomichi Ueda, Gen Shoji, Shuto Yamamoto; Kento Misao, Ryota Nagaki, Hiroki Abe (Takeshi Kanamori 70'), Shoma Doi (Leo Silva 87'); Yuma Suzuki, Mu Kanazaki (Pedro Junior 81').   

 


 

0 -  1 

The final game of the evening marked coach Yahiro Kazama's first opportunity to lead Nagoya Grampus against his former team, Kawasaki Frontale, in a contest cheekily dubbed the "Cetacean Classico". Considering the fact that Kazama failed to achieve much success at Kawasaki, while his former assistant Toru Oniki helped the Blue Dolphins capture their first title ever, it is hard to say which party is in the best position to seek "revenge." Then again, the Red Orcas have bounced back from the J2 as a young, energetic and suddenly competitive unit, whereas Frontale seem to be a spent force, plodding through the ACL pool round and still seeking their first convincing performance of the 2018 season. If ever there was a chance for Kazama to show up his former team, this was it.

Frontale finally broke the deadlock in the 63rd minjte, on a set play. Kengo Nakamura delivered the ball on a low line drive, and met the run of Yoshito Okubo at the back post, for a running header. Although Grampus players all had their hands up for offside, the linesman's flag stayed down, and the visitors had the lead.

Grampus made a late charge, but were hobbled by the fact that their ace, Jo, is still out of match shape. He was replaced in the 76th minute by the U-20 Grampus youth member Jumpei Naruse. On the final play Grampus bave Frontale a scare, as Gabriel Javier lobbed a corner kick in front of net that was desperately scrambled away from the goal mouth by the Frontale defense. But Frontale held on and vaulted into first place on goal difference, level with Sanfrecce on points. Grampus took their first loss of the season, but will be happy with another solid outing by the young and promising lineup.

 

Date: 
18 March, 2018
Attendance: 
25,898
Location: 
Toyota Stadium

  0

0 1H 0
0 2H 1

1  

 

 Scoring

 Yoshito Okubo (65')
  Cautions  

  Mitch Langerak; Kazuya Miyahara, Yukinari Sugawara, Kazuki Kuranuki, Yosuke Akiyama; Ryota Aoki (Yuki Oshitani 76'), Ariajasuru Hasegawa, Yuki Kobayashi, Kohei Hattanda, Ryuji Izumi (Hisato Sato 67'), Gabriel Javier, Joao Alves "Jo" Silva (Jumpei Naruse 76').

Jung Sung-Ryong ; Elsinho (Hidemasa Morita 88'), Shogo Taniguchi, Shintaro Kurumaya, Jumpei Noborizato; Eduardo Neto, Ryota Oshima; Kengo Nakamura (Kei Chinen 85'), Akihiro Iemoto (Yoshito Okubo 65'), Hiroyuki Abe: Yu Kobayashi.

 


 

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