Saturday, 6 March 2010

Hiroshima 1-1 S-Pulse

BarryBarry writes:

Hiroshima 1-1 S-Pulse
Sato 3 (pk) -----------------------Omae 93

Att. 16216

Line Up

GK Nishibe (Yellow 3)

DF Ichikawa
DF Iwashita (Yellow 91)
DF Bosnar
DF Arata

MF Ono
MF Honda
MF Hyodo

FW Okazaki (Yellow 35)
FW Johnsen
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used

Ota on for Arata (69)
Omae on for Hyodo (81)
Tsujio on for Ichikawa (86)


Report

Football is back, and it feels so, so good. And it was an event-filled Saturday for the three of us who trooped over to the S-Pulse Dream House to watch it on the big screen.
It's usually busier...

Barely three minutes in, a Hiroshima forward goes to ground as Nishibe dives at his feet. Penalty given, striker jumps up celebrating. He steps up to take it aaaaaand.... the signal dies.

When we got back up and running (at 1-0 down), it was a frustrating first half as the home team dictated the game. We were playing 4-3-3 as in closed season, and it's going to take a while for things to gel. Fujimoto up front on the right seemed slack on several occasions when his first touch let him down or he was caught napping. Despite a whole lot of huff and puff it just wasn't happening in the first 45, and it took a talking to at half time to turn our game around.
A dead signal meant mobile phone digital came into it's own
The second half we dominated, and when not held back by the diving, simulation and all round dodgyness of the Bulgarian number 2 Stoyanov, we were able to swing in several decent crosses into the danger zone, though we singularly failed to really test the keeper.

Ono was different class, and he demonstrated the impact he's going to have this season. For his first full game I was very impressed with his touch, awareness and precision. Bosnar was also a presence at the back, and one we're going to benefit from. He was sent up for each of our seven corners along with fellow defender Iwashita. Once we've had a few games to let everyone get used to each other I'm looking forward to what we're capable of.

Speaking of Iwashita, anyone who saw today's game will be amazed how he stayed on the pitch till the end. Entering stoppage time, the hot headed newly-wed pushed a Hiroshima player away with his full palm on the opponent's face. Predictably, the Hiroshima player went down like he'd been shot in the head, but regardless of any making-the-most-of-it, any hand-to-face is a red card right there. The ref reached for his pocket and pulled out... a yellow. Absolutely amazing.

Within seconds of this, and with the clock at 92 minutes, we were up the other end with a final throw of the dice. We were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, Jungo swung it right into the mix and it was met by substitute Omae Genki for his first league goal. It was no less than we deserved, and on balance 1-1 was a fair result.
Love Ono's pose here :)

Videos

Here's the Hiroshima penalty:



And here's our late, late equaliser:



Slightly more extended highlights, including Iwashita's facepalm.


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