S-Pulse 5 (FIVE) - 1 Jubilo

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 5-1 Jubilo Iwata
Iwashita 2 ----------------- Maeda 44
Edamura 10
Hyodo 24
Edamura 57
Okazaki 75

Att. 20116

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Ota

MF Edamura
MF Honda
MF Ito
MF Hyodo

FW Johnsen
FW Okazaki

Subs used

Fujimoto on for Hyodo (73)
Nagasawa on for Johnsen (85)

Report

3-0? Pah, that's nothing. 5-1 on the day, that's 5-4 in aggregate. There's only one team in Shizuoka, and today underlined that fact not once, not twice, but five times.

Jubilo prepare for the spanking of their lives

Nihondaira was heaving for another sell out; the biggest game of the season bar none. After the horror of getting beaten 3-0 back in April, we had it all to prove, and we didn't need long to get things going. We burst out the traps and were two up within ten minutes. The first was from Iwashita, and as you can probably guess it was from a corner. Edamura doubled the lead eight minutes later, and suddenly my pre-match prediction of 10-0 wasn't looking entirely improbable.

Maeda very nearly pulled one back for Iwata when he smashed a volley against the bar, but less than ten minutes after that we were celebrating again. Our third came from some uncharacteristically elegant play from Hyodo, as he brought a high ball down and evaded the defender on the turn to score a stunning goal. It sent the packed stadium wild, and Jubilo must have known there was no coming back.

All smiles in the S-Pulse end

Maeda did manage to pull one back in first half stoppage time, and the goal puts him level with Okazaki and Kawasaki's Juninho at the top of the top scorers table, all with 12. With that goal on the board, the visitors came out the stronger in the second half, but it was Edamura again who was there to bring down a loose ball and slam it home to make it four just before the hour. The party in the stands well and truly began when Okazaki beautifully sent it through Kawaguchi's legs to make it 5.

We twice hit the bar, the second time when substitute Nagasawa went achingly close to grabbing a sixth, but let's not be greedy. This was the biggest league Shizuoka Derby victory of all time, with a four goal margin eclipsing anything Jubilo could manage even during their glory years. How long ago they must seem to the blue masses who were scuttling for the exits with five minutes still to go...

Even Kenta joined Loco Loco - he later said once was enough!

We're now unbeaten in eight, winning five of those. As is our tradition to start poorly and warm up with the summer, we're up to third. This is before the Sunday games for Gamba Osaka and Kawasaki Frontale, but regardless of their results, we're looking well placed for an ACL challenge. Antlers are still eight points clear of second place, and still look pretty much uncatchable at the top. That said, Urawa were seven points clear with, what? four games left in 2007, and they managed to blow it. We still have eleven games remaining, so who knows! Our game with Kawasaki next Sunday will be a huge chance to set out our intentions, so I may just have to head up to the Todoroki.

For now, I'm just going to enjoy a classic day down at Daira. We were incredible. :)

Videos etc:

Official pictures can be found here (top row). Full highlights:



Post match Loco Loco - including Kenta!



And finally, an excellent compilation video of one of the best ever nights down Nihondaira:



:)