Urawa 0-1 S-Pulse (Nabisco Cup)

Barry writes:

Urawa 0-1 S-Pulse
----------------------------- Hara 87

Att. 34040

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Tsujio
DF Iwashita (yellow 48)
DF Hiraoka
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Honda
MF Ono

FW Nagai
FW Johnsen
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used

M. Yamamoto on for Hyodo (65)
Omae on for Honda (78)
Hara on for Nagai (78)

Report

I was expecting to watch this one on the box, but as it wasn't on live anywhere I was reduced, like a savage, to listening on *spit* Reds Radio. Urgh. As if that wasn't bad enough, the commentator wasn't even trying to provide a balanced account of what was unfolding at the Saitama Stadium.

I just checked the stats and was genuinely surprised to see we had 12 shots; only two fewer than the home team. You wouldn't have known it. The commentator took any S-Pulse possession as opportunity to babble on about the fact Reds fans were booing Nagai, that three ex Urawa players started for us today, that we hadn't won in four, or the fact that a draw wouldn't really suit either team.

Timely

So it was a confusing / hilarious / surreal moment when, with the presenter off on another mindless rant about God only knows what, he, completely out of the blue, started shouting and yelping about a goal. I was paralysed with fear as I tried to figure out what had just happened, but to cut a long story short, it was Kazuki Hara who had reaffirmed his semi-legendary status as our very own super sub.

I'm yet to see it, but will add a video is and when one appears online. These three points put us back in the race to qualify for the knock out stages, but anything less than a win against those sky blue scumbags next week will see our hopes for another cup run as good as over. Even a victory may yet prove to be insufficient as you can see:

		Played	Pts	W	D	L	F	A	Gd
1	iwata	4	10	3	1	0	7	3	+4
2	S-PULSE	5	8	2	2	1	4	3	+1
3	Yokohama FM	4	7	2	1	1	5	2	+3
4	Yamagata	4	7	2	1	1	3	1	+2
5	Urawa	5	7	2	1	2	6	6	0
6	Kobe	4	3	1	0	3	4	7	-3
7	Shonan	4	0	0	0	4	2	9	-7

It's really too close to call. All we can do is win. See you at Nihondaira next week where there will be near on THREE TIMES more than was at jubilo's home game yesterday.

Videos

OK, so here they are, the highlights: