Barry writesS-Pulse 1-2 Kashima Antlers (aet)
Omae 77 (pen) ----------- Shibasaki 73 (pen), 93
National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo
Att 45228
Line Up
GK Hayashi
DF Yoshida
DF Hiraoka
DF Jong a Pin (c) (111)
DF Lee (71)
MF Kawai (40)
MF Muramatsu
MF Hattanda
FW Omae
FW Kim (79)
FW Takagi
Subs used
Kobayashi on for Kawai (64)
Ishige on for Hattanda (90+1)
Senuma on for Muramatsu (96)
Report
There can only be one winner and, after extra time, it was them. A very tight game, not much to choose between either team. They took their chance very well and it won them the game. I thought we controlled the game for the most part, but ran out of steam in extra time. The equalising goal didn't really look like coming and Kashima always threatened on the counter.
Gutted, but for our new, young team I feel nothing but pride at this year's cup run. Had some mind blowing moments along the way, and yeah, we lost, but I'm not incorrect in saying we have bigger fish to fry. A third place finish would technically gain us more than this cup would have, so here's to destroying Niigata on Wednesday and moving third. And we're still in the Emperor's Cup, the 4th round draw of which will happen on Thursday, so check back for details of our next opponents then.
As is now kind of traditional for cup finals posts, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.
Who's that dodgy looking character?
Line ups
Beggars belief, but the official choreography was Kashima coloured. Horrific cock up by the organisers
In the thick of it
The historic national stadium is to be rebuilt. It's currently a relic of a bygone era and is pretty awful, truth be told
The historic national stadium is to be rebuilt. It's currently a relic of a bygone era and is pretty awful, truth be told
Maybe next year
VideosHighights.
Us lot just before kick off.
3 comments:
Too bad, really, but I'm not pissed. Of course it's frustrating since we completely dominated the first half and a fair bit of the second. But since I can't see where our penalty kick comes from, I'll say we were lucky just to get this one.
Ishige missed important opportunities, maybe he can't handle all the pressure that is on his shoulders yet. I hope he will stay with us a little more. Jong-a-Pin must learn when to move forward and when to stay in defense, the danger was important on all the counter attacks because of him. The supporters were fantastic, as are your pictures !
I'm sure we'll manage to get a cup in the next few years, because even if we lose all the finals, we're kind of a "cup team". ;)
Now to the ACL !
Don't wait for the Emperor's Cup - grab 3rd for the ACL. Go hard, S-Pa!
Barry, any opinion on the new uniforms ? It's a big change considering that it's the first time the team won't play in all orange, and it's the first time they'll wear a color other than white/grey for the away games. Hard to see how it'll look like in action, but I made the home kit for my video game and it looks like this :
http://paumwal.free.fr/osga/images/pes/2013_shimizu_home_screen.png
I think the black shorts make the team look more serious, but at the same time I feel it's not really our identity...
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