S-Pulse 3-0 Omiya Ardija

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 3-0 Omiya Ardija
Edamura 48
Ono 54
Takahara 78

Att. 16768

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Muramatsu (yellow 45+1)
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Ono
MF Hiraoka
MF Edamura

FW Omae
FW Takahara
FW Takagi (yellow 90+3)

Subs Used

Brosque on for Ono (68)
M. Yamamoto on for Hiraoka (81)
Nabeta on for Takahara (85)

Report

No time, no time! I'll be honest with you. I drank too much before the game and don't remember with too much clarity the events which led to our first win in four. I'll have a quick go though from memory.

Kaito was recalled for Usui who had let in 12 in three games. Not all his fault by any means, but it can't do a keeper's confidence any favours. Takahara was back leading the charge and Edamura made a rare start.

The first half was bereft of too many chances, but it was Eda who opened the scoring right after the break. Ono, from another of Ota's excellent crosses, doubled the lead. Shinji found himself deep in the Omiya box, and with a couple oif deft steps lost his marker. From behind the goal I thought he' d hit is straight it straight at the keeper, but how could I doubt him? It was aimed perfectly through his legs.

At 2-0 Omiya really had us hanging on for a spell and we just couldn't hold onto possession. But for a cracking Kaito stop it would have been 2-1 and the way it was going a come back wouldn't have been unlikely. But we held on and a belter from Takahara put the game beyond reach for the visitors.

So a good result for sure, but still tempered by the last three games. New signing Jong-a-Pin was there and was seen chatting away to Ghotbi before the game. Maybe we'll see him as early as the Cerezo match next week.

Aaaah, time up! I'm off to Aichi for the day. Will do the Ghotbi says bit later or tomorrow or whenever. See ya!


Videos

Personal video uploads starting with Edamura:



Ono:



Takahara:

Omiya 1-4 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Omiya 1-4 S-Pulse
Rafael 93 ------------ Brosque 39
----------------------------Takahara 50, 59
----------------------------Tsujio 69

Att. 6668

Line Up

GK Usui

DF Tsujio (yellow 36)
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Ono
MF Muramatsu
MF Brosque

FW Omae
FW Takahara
FW Takagi

Subs Used

Edamura on for Genki (64)
Ito on for Ono (73)
Kobayashi on for Brosque (82)

Report

The goals have been coming. Anyone who watched our last couple of games will have seen that, even though the results haven't been great, we did create several great chances. Today we got the rub of the green and some of them went in. Conversely, Omiya hit the woodwork I think three times, much like us last week.

For most of the first half Omiya were the better team, but the goal from Brosque took the wind out of their sails. Right before half time, and against the run of play is a big blow to come back from, and after we started the second half much improved, taking only five minutes to build on our lead, there wasn't any coming back for the home team.

Takahara started as centre forward ahead of the dropped Sho Ito who had drawn a blank for the first six games of the season. To be fair to the lad, he's been achingly close in the past few weeks, and today he had us thinking we'd made it 5 but for a stunning reaction save from Kitano. Takahara, who has been played on the left thus far, was in his natural predatory zone today and his first goal, on the half volley from a Tsujio run and cross, was sweetly struck. The second came after a poor back pass (I think?), and a hesitating keeper, gave the pouncing Taka all the time in the world to compose himself and stroke a shot of some class past Kitano.

That really meant game over, but we were in the zone and were determined to make up some ground on our goal difference. Tsujio added to his assists with a shot that crept in past the post. The big man fully deserved it. It was after this that Sho, on for Ono, very nearly got on the scoresheet. He really needs a goal, does Sho.

Good news - Daigo made his S-Pulse debut for the last ten minutes and received a nice warm round of boos from his former fans. It'll take a little while to regain his full match sharpness, but he'll get there, and despite the long lay off was getting stuck right in. Takagi looked spellbinding at times and I hope he gets his first goal in an orange shirt next Saturday again the scum.

That's enough rambling from me. So I'll sign off with thanks to Omiya Steve and co for number one, picking up the phone, and number two, being so hospitable despite the result. You are more than welcome to join us for beers after the return leg later in the year. :)

I went to Omiya in 2008. It was much the same

Not every team does this. Nice touch
Tsujio makes it 4
Full time
In previous weeks he kept drifting to centre forward - and today he showed why

Videos

Highlights:



Personal video of Tsujio's's goal. The J. League's 15000th, no less.

Omiya 3-0 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Omiya 3-0 S-Pulse
Rafael 45
Mato 62
Lee 73
Tsubouchi sent off 84

Att. 12888

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Iwashita
DF Hiraoka
DF Arata

MF Ono
MF Honda
MF Hyodo

FW Okazaki
FW Nagasawa
FW Fujimoto

Subs Used

M. Yamamoto on for Ono (HT)
Johnsen on for Nagasawa (56)
Ota on for Arata (72)

Report

Don't ask me, I'm just a fan, but no Bosnar to counter the huge Rafael? What? Ono being pulled off at half time? Why? Nagasawa taking Johnsen's place at the spearhead of our attack? Errr, seriously?

We lost and fully deserved to. Omiya's third I could see coming a mile off, as we were caught back peddling allowing Lee to latch on to piercing through ball. Their second came from the lanky Croatian Mato, whereas the first was courtesy of Rafael.

We should have had one after a clean-through Okazaki was kicked to the ground. A red card followed for Tsubouchi and it was the least he deserved. Not that one goal would have really made much difference, but it did leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouth.

Nothing's over yet, and there's a long way to go. On the 15th we're back in Saitama for Urawa. I suppose if anything, playing a bunch of mid-table also-rans should probably be easier than a team fighting for J1 survival. And today should serve as a kick up the backside, so expect better things next week.

Fair play to Omiya, though. I'd prefer to see them stay up, and if they can knock out a few more performances like today, they should manage it. Frontale lost 3-1 at home, and C. Osaka failed to pick up three points. Fingers crossed Kashima also stutter at home to Sendai. Nagoya will go seven points clear with a win against Yamagata tomorrow. 12 games to go.

S-Pulse 2-1 Omiya

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 2-1 Omiya
Hyodo 58 ------------------ Tsubouchi 76
M. Yamamoto 86

Att. 15156

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Tsujio
DF Hiraoka
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Honda
MF Ono

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen
FW Omae

Subs Used

M. Yamamoto on for Omae (56)
Fujimoto on for Ono (77)
Hara on for Hyodo (80)

Report

A little later than intended, but here's a summary of Saturday's action. Despite steady falling rain, a crowd 2000 up on the corresponding fixture last year, and over double(!!) what Jubilo got for the same game last week were treated to a surprisingly close and tense affair.

A grey day at Nihondaira

The wet surface didn't help matters much, as the unforced errors were in full flow. Three was a lack of clear cut chances for either team, with our best chance being wasted when Hyodo headed straight at the Omiya keeper when he had time to pick his spot. So it was all square at half time and we needed to be an improved team if we wanted to get anything from the game

We did come out the stronger, and the break though came when Ono's vision and precision passing gave him his first direct assist of the season. Picking the ball up on the edge of the area he spied Hyodo moving into the danger zone. Shinji's inch-perfect ball found the advancing Akihiro and with a control and volley he smashed it past into the net.

If we thought it was going to be plain sailing after that we were wrong. Omiya kept searching for a way through, and it came when one of their seven corner kicks was met by the head of Tsubouchi. It left Nishibe no chance and with only 15 minutes left it wasn't looking good for a return to the top of the table. But then substitute Masaki Yamamoto somehow managed to win the game with a freak strike from nearly the corner of the pitch. It was a cross for sure - his own reaction revealed that - but they all count, and we all need a bit (a lot) of luck sometimes.

So 2-1, we're still unbeaten, and we stayed top after Urawa lost 1-0 at home to Jubilo of all teams. Saturday the face off with Saitama continues as Urawa are the visitors to Ecopa. If we win we'll stay top, if we lose we could drop to third depending on Nagoya's result. Ono and Bosnar will both be playing after avoiding any yellow cards on Saturday, and Iwashita is back from injury meaning our back line will be looking a little more like normal.

Well, see you Saturday, then! And finally, a big shout out to Steve from Go! Go! Omiya Ardija - was nice to put a face to name.

Videos

Highlights:

S-Pulse 1-0 Omiya

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 1-0 Omiya
Johnsen 4

Att: 13169

Report

Feeling slightly burnt out from 22 games so far this season, I took Saturday's low key match with Omiya as an opportunity to leave the East Stand madness behind for 90 minutes and watch in the sedate confines of the West Stand. As one of the lowest gates of the season settled in for an OK game of football, I spread out in the yawning swathes of empty seats within spitting distance of the away fans. Not that there was any naughty behaviour of course, although one disgruntled visitor lashed out at the segregating fence as he stormed home at the final whistle.

His frustration was one keenly felt by the hardy bunch of other orange fans, as with time running down, we contrived to waste time right in front of them in the most blatant of fashions. I'm far from a fan of the take-it-to-the-corner-flag-and-keep-it-there-for-as-long-as-possible technique, but seriously, the way we had all three points snatched from us against both Kyoto and Kawasaki, I know why they do it.

The view from the other end

We'd taken the lead with a rising drive from The Big Norwegian after just four minutes. Okazaki had headed down a long ball into his path and he made no mistake. After a couple of scares as Omiya caught us on the counter, real clear cut chances were pretty few and far between for either team. We managed more than double the number of shots than Omiya and enjoyed greater possession, though. It's always a very fine line between success and failure, and Johnsen's 8th goal of the year was the difference today.

Five minutes in and 1-0 down, this Omiya fan sound something better to do

Some heartening news was Nagai's late appearance. After his early substitution against Tokyo last week I feared he was destined to never make it with us, but he looked OK for the short time he was on, and went close at the end to grabbing a second for us. Okazaki started, but after his week away with the national team in Holland, he was not surprisingly a tired man. He was replaced with Fujimoto not long into the 2nd half.

So with all three points we're unbeaten in ten and maintain our fourth place, joint with Hiroshima on points and goal difference, but having won less. The others in the chasing pack for the ACL spots (Hiroshima, Osaka and Niigata) also all won today.

Full time and three points for the home team - us!

Next up is Yamagata away, a game I am sorely tempted to attend, purely because it's such a mission to get to. Having thought it over long and hard, the price tag of nearly 40000 yen is putting me off, and I also have work I should be doing this Saturday, so I'll be watching on the box. We did them 4-1 in the home game, and they lost by the same margin this weekend, so fingers crossed we have what it takes to beat them away from home and keep our strong run going.

Line up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Iwashita
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Edamura
MF Honda
MF Ito
MF Hyodo

FW Johnsen
FW Okazaki

Subs used

Fujimoto on for Okazaki (54)
Paulo on for Edamura (74)
Nagai on for Hyodo (85)

Videos etc

Click here for official club pictures. Read the report on this, and all the others games over the weekend, from The Rising Sun here. As for videos, here's a personal cam of Johnsen's goal:



And here are full highlights:

Omiya 0-0 S-Pulse

The third 0-0 draw, and fourth draw, in a row between us two... Well, at least it didn't rain. :)

Three months with no competitive games can do the funniest things to you. 17 shots for S-Pulse, but not one found it's way through, and a hefty percentage weren't even close. No cause for panic though. Both teams had chances, but neither could capitalise. Both teams had wobbly moments at the back, but neither were punished.

The sell out crowd was entertained, but both sets of fans probably left feeling unfulfilled. It was just one of those games. Johnsen and Okazaki are going to take time to time to forge an effective striking partnership. Nishibe was back in the starting eleven, and to be fair to him, he dealt more than adequately with Omiya's handful of shots. Omiya did a good job of restricting us when it came to getting down the flanks, and we looked most dangerous on the counter.

The chance which fell to Edamura in the first half, which he duely blasted over, will stick in the memory for a while yet. Saying that, Omiya twice hit the woodwork, so it may quite as easily have gone the other way. All in all, a fair result, but a sub-par performance. Opening weekends are always a bit of a hotbed of randomness, and after a weekend of freak results we can at least be thankful we weren't on the wrong end of a 6-2 battering. Yes, I'm looking at you, Jubilo. :-)

Next Saturday, in front of a quite possibly sold out Nihondaira, will be the time to put it together. The time for reacclimatising to competitive football is over, and the time for getting a higher percentage of those 17 shots at least on target is here!

Line Up:

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Kodama

MF Hyodo
MF Ito
MF Yamamoto
MF Edamura

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen

Sub used:

Hara on for Okazaki 90+1

Highlights:

Omiya v S-Pulse (Preview)

July 27th, 2008. A goal-less draw, but in certain ways, the most memorable game of last year:



Sunday looks like rain again. :-D

Last year (which only finished 0-0 after a veeeery close looking off side in our favour at the death) was a bit of a nightmare all round. As if Fujimoto’s season being brought to a premature end wasn’t bad enough, the end-of-the-world style downpour which delayed kick off 90 minutes both tested our patience pre match, and severely reduced our drinking time in Tokyo post match. The not-especially-good memories of Saitama in 2008 are not the reason for missing it this year, though. That’s just down to having Nagoya away in a fortnight to pay for – a game I was making a priority even before the Johnsen factor spiced things up.

So this Sunday, we’ve got to be looking to kick the season off with three points. The home and away games with Omiya last campaign were wet, and they both ended 0-0. It's worth noting that both of those matches started with Nishizawa and Yajima leading the charge; both now departed. Each game also saw the introduction from the bench of Aurelio. The less said about him and his uselessness the better. I’m expecting Kenta to start with Okazaki and Johnsen up front as per the pre-season victory over the scum, with Hara and Nagai on the bench. An entirely more threatening prospect to the Omiya goal.

Kaito is still first choice between the sticks, and I’d go for Aoyama, Ichikawa, Iwashita and Arata to form the back four. What combination we’ll see in the middle of the park I can’t say. Teru, Edamura and Hyodo are all pretty much certainties, so that just leaves the 4^th man. Yamamoto, Paulo or other? Over to you, Kenta.

The game is officially sold out, and you can be sure our travelling hoards will fill our end at The Nack5 to roar us on to victory! Three points to start the year, please!

Opening Weekend: Omiya v S-Pulse?

While the 2009 fixtures are not officially released until next week, various Japanese message boards and online communities have been going into overdrive with rumours over the dates of key fixtures this year. Well, the one constant that I can see appears to the opening weekend:

Saturday March 7th: Omiya v S-Pulse

If this does prove to be the case, we can be happy with an opener against what is arguably one of the weaker sides in J1, and so three points to kick off 2009, unlike last year, is not too far out of the question.

If the rumour mill proves to have caught me out, then I'll apologies profusely, delete this post, and hereafter always wait for official announcements. :)

Oita 2-2 S-Pa

Two nil up away from home and you let it slip?

Urgh.

Thanks only to every other team this year either not wanting to win the title, or wanting to go down, we're still not in the relegation zone. Amazing, given how the way we've been playing has seen us begging to be there.

Well, next up is Marinos at home which is all set for a sell out. Only one other team has sold the 'Diara out this year, and that was J***o, so fair play to Marinos! They're either bringing a lot down or else we're just filling up our ground ready to claim 15th place as our own!!

Here's a good video from the Omiya match / meteorological event which we BDO'd to last week. :)

Rainy days and football never get me down...

Oooops, bit late this blog post - been a busy week of parties (Happy Birthday to me) and fun. Sunday last was my first BDO (Big Day Out) this year due to monies, and I've yet to see an away win. Mind you, I'm thanking my lucky stars it was an away draw seeing as it nearly went down the pan in the last few minutes!

The rain at the start of the game was initially cooling and pleasant, we UK Ultras get a tad hot every now and again and welcomed the first drops. The torrential downpour that followed was somewhat less desired however! There was an awesome turnout of Shimizu peeps at Omiya Park and the rain did not put them off, the singing was as loud as ever. We do love our team.

It was another frustrating game though, with S-Pa having plenty of chances, and plenty of shots on-target - so on-target in fact that the ball continually landed in the keepers' hands. Frustrating as ever. In fact, there was only one occasion when the keeper actually had to make an effort to save the ball. Its not that we are a bad team, we are good, but when will we start scoring more?

Jungo was injured early on in the game due to a careless tackle which may or may not have seen certain members of the UK Ultras shouting abusive language. Looks like he's out all season, can't say I am overly chuffed about that, here's hoping he recovers quickly and as well as possible.

When Omiya scored their goal, I thought I was going to die, and could sense Shizza next to me, in the same, "oh-my-God-you-must-be-kidding-not-another-last-chance-loss" and the relief that swept through me when it was declared offside is uncomparable. Nishibe was on pretty good form on Sunday too, he has almost been forgiven now for last year's appalling "the sun was in my eyes" event.


Still, we love the 'Pulse and I'm sure when Oka-chan and co get back, there'll be goals a plenty.


Oh yeah, and does anyone else think Ardija are more red than orange?

Highlights (Got to be happy with those travelling hoards on a Sunday evening!) :



The Offside (Check the bag which goes flying spraying it's contents all around :-D ) :