Urawa 2-1 S-Pulse (Nabisco 1/4 Final, 1st Leg)

Barry writes:

Half time: 1-0 down to a dodgy penalty. Haraguchi had already fallen half over before he hit Paulo's legs. Well played, you cheating scumbag.

It could be worse; Nagoya are losing 4-0 to FC Tokyo, and they still have the second half to play! :-D (Full time: 5-1)

Full time: 2-1 to Urawa. Had the penalty not come from the 18 year old Haraguchi tripping over his own feet, I would say it was probably a fair result.

Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 S-Pulse
Tulio (24) -------------------------------------------------------- Edamura (48)
Edmilson (60)

Att: 21271

As usual, for long periods all I could hear was the S-Pulse fans

Dodgy penalty for the home team saw them one up at half time, but they certainly had the better of it in the first 45. In the second half we got one back through Edamura before a cracking shot from Mr. Handsome Tulio came back off the bar, only for Edmilson to head it home (completely taking out Iwashita in the process - wish we'd had the same ref who penalised a shoulder barge the other week...) .

We went close to an equaliser through Okazaki which needed a last ditch block from Abe, a Jungo free kick which brought a fingertip save from Yamagishi, and an Iwashita header from one of our six corner kicks (more than the home team) which needed an excellent one hand save to deny us.

Well, it's always a struggle playing against dirty opponents, but Edamura's absolute beauty just after the restart means a 1-0 win on the 29th will be enough to see us through. That said, a draw is no good, and even a win higher than 2-1 of a one goal margin won't be enough (3-2 / 4-3 etc), so all told, it's not a great result tonight.

Ah, well, sod it. We'd have had to have gone into the second leg looking for a win anyway, and it could be worse - Forgetting Nagoya's capitulation tonight for a minute, Gamba got done 3-1 at home. This means they need to win three nil away to save their rapidly disintegrating season. Looking at the other 1/4 final first leg results, out of the four teams that lost, we're in by far the best position. See below for more info.

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Arata

MF Paulo
MF Ito
MF Hyodo
MF Edamura

FW Okazaki
FW Hara

Subs used

Johnsen on for Hara (64)
Fujimoto on for Hyodo (64)
Takaki on for Paulo (80)

Links Etc

Click here for a round up of the other results in the 1/4 final first leg.

Champions of Asia 1-4 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Gamba Osaka 1-4 S-Pulse
Cho Jae-Jin 71-----------------------------Okazaki 16
--------------------------------------------------Iwashita 56
--------------------------------------------------Edamura 63
--------------------------------------------------Hara 82

Att. 18549

Report

After the bitter disappointment of last week I couldn't help but wonder if, even at three nil, Gamba were going to let us out of Kansai will all three points. I needn't have worried so much. Despite Cho Jae-Jin giving the Asian Champs some hope, we went on to become the first team since Manchester United to put four past Osaka, and at the same time get our league campaign back on track.

Shimizu Dream House rocked to fantastic display from the boys in orange

The scoring was opened at the end of a frantic first 15 minutes with both teams setting their attacking stall out. Okazaki showed his class to grab his eighth of the season by knocking a Johnsen through header over an advancing Matsuyo. He was under intense pressure from Osaka captain Yamaguchi, but held his nerve to make an excellent finish; a classic poacher's goal.

Not too long later, Gamba had the ball in the net, but only after a clear handball. It was just as well, as Kaito was rolling around in the net having prevented a goal direct from an excellent corner kick. Despite Gamba applying long periods of sustained pressure, we managed to get to the end of the first half with the score still 1-0. The difference was Yamamoto back in goal, who is head and shoulders above the shaky Nishibe. He turned 24 today and has a long, bright future ahead of him.

On to the second half, and it was our corner weapon Iwashita who slammed the ball home on the volley to double our lead and send the travelling masses into raptures. Less than ten minutes later Edamura made it three, from another Johnsen assist. With Gamba throwing everything at us, they were left fatally exposed as Edamura made his way out wide left. He made no mistake in smashing it past Matsuyo.

Eight minutes later it was with glorious inevitability that ex-Pulser Cho Jae-Jin should pull one back for the home team. The big man was only brought on in the 58th minute for Lucas, but didn't waste time in getting his eighth of the year. He connected with a pass from Leandro who took time out from flopping around on the floor to create a decent chance.

The nerves many of us were feeling given last week's capitulation only lasted ten minutes. Substitute Hara displayed his deadly finishing having sped behind the hesitant blue and black defender to fire it past Matsuyo. In doing so, he pushed the game beyond any doubt and gave us ten minutes to enjoy our destruction of the reigning Kings of Asia; the first time we've beaten them away in the league since 2001.

We were outshot 18-8, and without Yamamoto's steady hands in goal Gamba would surely have clawed more goals back. However, as time began to run out, the hosts were reduced to increasingly speculative long range efforts which didn't cause us many problems.

It was a fantastically decisive finishing display, and one which can give us confidence going into next week's clash with defending champions Kashima. The Antlers won yet again today and are looking pretty much unstoppable on their march to a third straight title. Come on then, lads - be the first team to knock them off their perch since week two of the season! As for today, I regretted that I wasn't able to make it over to Osaka for this excellent result, but the Dream House put on a great event tonight for a near full house.

It's Urawa in leg one of the cup 1/4 final on Wednesday before Antlers on Saturday. If you've got a moment to catch your breath during all this excitement, don't forget that tickets for the derby (August 22nd) go on general sale next Sunday, July 19th. This game will sell out, so get yours early!

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Arata

MF Paulo
MF Ito
MF Hyodo
MF Edamura

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen

Subs used:

Hara on for Okazaki (74)
Fujimoto on for Edamura (84)
Honda on for Hyodo (86)

Videos etc

Official pictures can be found here (top row). The report from The Rising Sun, along with those for all other J1 games, can be found here.

Full highlights of a virtuoso performance from our boys in orange, with a special mention for our man in green. Awesome display, Kaito!



Here's also a nice clip of our travelling hundreds who, as always, did us proud. For reasons unknown, we had no band for this game.



And as a bonus feature, here's a video of the Gamba Osaka chairman having to face the music of some seriously unhappy fans:



You don't have to understand Japanese to see he's getting a pretty hard time!

S-Pulse 3-3 Kyoto

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 3-3 Kyoto

Johnsen (24) -------------Yanagisawa (14)
Okazaki (28)------------- Watanabe (58)
Okazaki (44)------------- Lee (93)

Att. 16205

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Kodama
DF Ota

MF Okazaki
MF Honda
MF Edamura
MF Hyodo

FW Johnsen
FW Hara

Subs used:

Paulo on for Hara (67)
Ito on for Hyodo (82)
Hiroi on for Ichikawa (88)

Videos

The last minute from behind the goal. Includes the unfathomable free kick which was moved twenty yards up the pitch by the keeper, and led directly to the equaliser.



Full highlights:

FC Tokyo 2-1 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

FC Tokyo 2-1 S-Pulse
Kajiyama (7) ------------Johnsen (58)
Ishikawa (62)

Att. 28987

As always when we lose, the absolute last thing in the world I want to do it write a report about it. So I'm not going to. This decision was also facilitated by the fact I didn't go to the game, nor did I watch it on the box. Alas to say, we blew our chance to move into the top five and open up some space between us and the many teams on or around 20 points in midtable.

Good to see Johnsen on the score sheet again, but our fourth defeat this season is still a bitter pill to take, especially after our recent good run. It is only our fourth loss this year, mind you. Only four other teams have lost less, and they're in the top four positions, so let's keep things in perspective.

Next up is Kyoto on S-Pulse's official birthday - July 4th. 17 years ago to the day we played our first ever game (away to Gamba Osaka), and if we can avoid defeat next week, that'll be a year unbeaten at home in the league. It's surprising to think we've not fallen to defeat at home since Kobe turned us over last summer, but it's true, and should we overcome Sanga, 16 home league games unbeaten is something worth celebrating.

Our run in full: W D W W W W W W D W D D D W W

Come on then boys, let's make it a round 16, and a full year!

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Kodama
DF Ota

MF Okazaki
MF Edamura
MF Ito
MF Hyodo

FW Johnsen
FW Hara

Subs used:

Paulo on for Edamura (42)
Fujimoto on for Hyodo (73)
Tsujio on for Ichikawa (83)

Videos etc

Highlights to come as soon as I find them online. Click here for some official club photos from the game (top row).

S-Pulse 4-1 Montedio Yamagata

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 4-1 Yamagata

Hara (5) -----------Hirose (46)
Own Goal (9)
Okazaki (51)
Johnsen (60)

Att. 17865

Report

What a glorious day to be an S-Pulse fan!

The sun was out down at Daira

Within ten minutes of the start, Yamagata's hardy travelling contingent must have been wondering why they bothered. 2-0 down to two admittedly slightly fortunate goals, they must have realised by then that it wasn't going to be their day.

Not that there were many, but most the empty seats were in the away area

Our first came from Hara who made no mistake in dispatching the ball into the net after a poor defensive error from the Montedio number three, Leonard. The lead was doubled just four minutes later when a half cleared ball fell to the recalled Ichikawa. He slammed it back in to the area. Was it a cross? Was it a shot? Who knows! All history will recall is that it took not one, but two deflections on it's was goalward, and ended up in the back of the net. Not surprisingly, it went down as an own goal.

For the rest of the first half we looked the more threatening team, but didn't really look like extending our lead. The next goal came within a minute of the restart, when Montedio burst down the left wing, floated a perfect ball to the far post, and due to the lack of defensive positioning, was slammed home by the blue and white attacker.

A banner urging us to sing up. "Silence is Prohibited"

At 2-1 with half the game to go, it could have swung either way. Lucky for us, we have a striker in some of the best form in the country. Fresh off the back of firing Japan to next year's World Cup, Okazaki was back in Shimizu and he didn't let us down. Five minutes after the Montedio goal, he took down a long ball from Iwashita on his chest, and it was with a classic Okachan finish that he smashed it home to make it 3-1 and push the game beyond the visitor's reach.

We kept surging forward and looked increasingly dangerous and growing in confidence as the game went on. Ten minutes later, an unstoppable Hara run down the wing and an inch perfect cross into the danger area was met by Johnsen for another priceless goal from the big man. They're rarely pretty, but they all count, and we love him for it!

Moments after the big Norwegian made it 4-1

Even after our fourth we weren't done, and were unlucky on a couple of occasions not to have grabbed a fifth. However, when we replaced Okazaki with Jungo and Johnsen with gangly youngster Nagasawa (why not Genki, Kenta?) our threat up from was gone at a stroke, and we just ran the clock down. But let's not be greedy; it was our third league win on the spin and was a great confidence building exercise in front of excellent home crowd. We're up to fifth and a whisker away from the ACL positions.

The defeat for the visitors, their heaviest since joining J1, leaves them without a win in six and drops them down to 15th. After their early season heroics, the reality of a long hard season seems to have arrived, and unless they can string a couple of results together, they'll be staring down the barrel of a relegation battle.

As for us, top work everyone, now bring on Tokyo next week! Before I sign off, I was wondering if it's even worth mentioning that Jubilo lost again today? Is it necessary to point out that when they played Yamagata at home they lost 6-2 and there were nearly 6000 less people in attendance? Not really, but I may as well. :)

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Iwashita
DF Kodama
DF Ota

MF Okazaki
MF Edamura
MF Ito
MF Hyodo

FW Johnsen
FW Hara

Subs used:

Fujimoto on for Okazaki (75)
Paulo on for Hyodo (78)
Nagasawa on for Johnsen (82)

Videos

Full highlights. Check out Okazaki's control on our third:



Loco Loco celebrations! First, the players:



Next, us lot:



Links

Official Pictures here. Read The Rising Sun's report on this, and all the other J1 matches this weekend, here. Includes full league table.

FC Tokyo 3-1 S-Pulse (Nabisco Cup)

Barry writes:

FC Tokyo 3-1 S-Pulse
Cabore (6)-- Omae (83)
Ishikawa (61) ---------------
Akamine (73) ---------------

Aoyama sent off (71)

A makeshift team of reserves and players out of position fell 3-1 away to FC Tokyo today. It means we finish in 2nd place in the league cup group B. Omae Genki scored his first goal for the full team, which was good to see.

We progress to the knock out stages and will face Urawa Red Diamonds home and away for a semi final tie against either Nagoya or today's foes, FC Tokyo.

The quarter final ties are to be played as follows:

Leg 1) Urawa v S-Pulse, 7:30pm @ Saitama Stadium, July 15th (Wed)

Leg 2) S-Pulse v Urawa, 7.00pm @ Nihondaira Stadium, July 29th (Wed)

The 2nd leg at home is always a bonus, so lets hope we can put in a good performance in Saitama before bringing it back to 'Daira.

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Kodama

MF Fujimoto
MF Ito
MF Honda
MF Hyodo

FW Edamura
FW Hara

Subs used:

Nagasawa on for Ito (HT)
Omae on for Fujimoto (68)
Ota on for Arata (68)

Links etc

Click here for some official snaps of the game.

I wasn't aware of it until just now (Monday evening), but Hara missed a penalty at some point before Aoyama's red. Here's a video of it for any masochists out there:

Shizuoka is Orange T-Shirt - now on sale!

Barry writes:

Yeah, yeah, I know the derby isn't until August, but why wait till then to get yourself in the mood? I recently knocked up a new t-shirt to accompany the original UK Ultras shirt which can now be seen donned by various people at any given game.

So to add to the above, I'm proud to unveil the new SHIZUOKA IS ORANGE shirt. With an original Shizuoka Derby logo on the front, and the all orange map of Shizuoka Prefecture on the back, you can at once display your pride in all things S-Pulse and demonstrate your stone-willed refusal to accept the legitimacy of J****o's existence.

This is available in regular and women's sizes. Click the image, or click here, to be whisked off to our online shop, where with just a few clicks (and your credit card number) you can purchase this year's hottest item.

Shirts are by Printfection and are produced in, and shipped from, the USA. This means all prices are in dollars. Click here for a handy currency converter. Happy shopping!

S-Pa v Yamagata Tickets Going Fast!

While I'm here, I should mention that tickets are selling well for next Saturday's clash with Yamagata. Only around 4000 are left with nearly two weeks to go, so don't leave it late - grab yours today. With five wins from six, and four victories on the bounce (three on the road) we're showing some good form, so don't miss out on the glory!

Need help getting tickets? Click here.