S-Pulse 3-0 Kofu

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 3-0 Kofu
Takagi 36
Ono 45+1
Omae 66

Att. 19832

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto (yellow 78)

DF Tsujio (yellow 71)
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Hiraoka (yellow 28)
MF Ono
MF Brosque

FW Takagi
FW Takahara
FW Omae

Subs Used

Ljungberg (yellow 71) on for Takagi (HT)
Sugiyama on for Ono (71)
Ito on for Hiraoka (85)

Report

How did I spend my weekend? Not at Nihondaira, sadly, but there is certain 80s fun to be had on a Saturday night in Nagoya.

Prior to David Coverdale and his shiny white teeth (it was the girlfriend's idea- honest!), we found an English boozer by the glorious name of Booby's. A Grampus bar through and through, I'm more than happy to give it a plug. Good booze and scran and several big screens for the football. It took a monumental effort of will not to smack the table and shout the place down when Omiya banged in two in two minutes to go in front, but self preservation is a powerful thing. The better team won out in the end, and fair play, they're up there going for the title and are in for a more exciting climax this year than we are.

But we're not without our own goals, and sweeping aside a resurgent Kofu who won 4-0 away last week wasn't the sign of a team lacking motivation. Highlights are attached below, and as I didn't see it, I can't say too much about the performance, but we seemed to do well without Jong a Pin. Brosque was back in midfield with Ono and Hiraoka.

Takahara started again and nearly added to his season haul on a number of occasions, most notably after latching onto an inspired overhead pass from Ono, but it was rightly ruled out for offside. Our third goal was a thing of beauty and watching it for the first time I perhaps rashly proclaimed it as one of the best goals I've ever seen us score, but you know what? I think I might stand by that. Ono stokes it to Ljungberg who rounds two players, exchanges a swift one two with Omae, then passes it back to Ono who lays off the perfect through pass for Genki to strike it home. Liquid football.

Ghotbi Says

Not his exact words, but translated back from the Japanese, so the general gist.

We scored three special goals today. We could play some great football, but there are still areas for improvement. Especially after out third goal, we stopped playing football. We started the game badly, but started playing after around half an hour. I'm satisfied with Takahara's progress, and I'm happy that Hiraoka covered Jong a Pin's absence very well.

Highlights

Highlights of the game. Takahara offside for his goal, but only just. He was behind the keeper, with the defender the final man when Ono played it.

S-Pulse 2-0 Kofu (Nab Cup 1st Rnd, 2nd Leg)

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 2-0 Kofu
Ono 48 (pen)
Takagi 65

S-Pulse win 2-1 on aggregate

Att. 11641

Line Up

GK Usui

DF Hiraoka
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Yamamoto

MF Edamura
MF Muramatsu
MF Ono

FW Omae
FW Nagai
FW Brosque

Subs Used

Takagi on for Bosanr (59)
Takahara on for Ono (67)
Okane on for Nagai (91)

Report

We turned around the 1-0 defeat earlier in June to progress to the next round of the league cup. Takagi bagged his first goal in an S-Pulse shirt, and it was great to see him bounding away behind the goal, arms aloft, with Ono after him.

Job's a good 'un!

Tonight was a very good recovery after Saturday's mauling at the hands of Cerezo, and a professional performance we can take some pride in. Kofu came with the advantage, but we kept to our plan and got the job done.

In the next round we face Niigata. The game is another two legged affair and will be played on September 14th and 28th.

I'm off to my bed - night!

Videos

The goals.

Kofu 1-2 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Kofu 1-2 S-Pulse
Paulinho 42 ------ Ono 29
------------------------ Omae 45 (+1)

Att. 12114

Line Up

GK Usui

DF Tsujio
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Ono
MF Muramatsu (yellow 68)
MF Kobayashi

FW Brosque
FW Takahara
FW Omae

Subs Used

Hiraoka on for Iwashita (HT)
Sugiyama on for Ono (60)
Edamura on for Tsujio (73)

Report

I'm not going to lie - we were fortunate to come away with all three points today. But for two or three heart-stopping, nay STUNNING saves, from Usui, we'd have drawn this. But, you know, it works both ways. If you can't beat a keeper one on one not once but twice, then you don't deserve to equalise.

We got battered for the final 35 minutes having started the second half so well, but could thwart Kofu's attempts for the most part. The couple of times they broke through Usui played a bloody blinder to stop at point blank range certain equalisers.

The first half was better, and Kofu's constant standing off of Bosnar allowed us to push further and further into their half which gave us several good chances. After Ono's stunning strike to open the scoring it was his own sliding tackle on the halfway line (even geniuses make mistakes) which bounced through our back line and let Paulinho in in the 42nd minute. He rounded Usui and stroked it home. Bollocks. But playing right up to the whistle, Genki was on hand, totally unmarked, to volley in a Tsujio cross.

Taking over the Chugin Stadium

Despite the one sided second half, we held on for the the win riding our luck, but that's football, and the boys bag another three points. jubilo lost again meaning we climb above the sky blue scum bags. It's been a while coming, but is the natural order of the J. League, so we can all rest easy tonight knowing things are as they're meant to be.

Wednesday we head to Sendai to play a Vegalta team who just lost in the 94th minute to Kashiwa. Three more points and we could reach the heady heights of 5th. Blimey.

Ghotbi Says

Translated back from Japanese.

"I think it was a really exciting game for the supporters. There was lots of goal mouth action and we scored to great goals. Ono often scores goals like that in practice, so we've been waiting for him to do it in a game!

Kofu fought with all their power, especially in the second half. They've got some good players and are a dangerous team. Usui made some great saves and our centre backs defended well.

I was really happy to see Sugiyama back after a long injury lay off. I want to congratulate the club doctor and medical staff for working with him for such a long time. I know how good he is, and make no mistake, his return is going to help us as a team."

Videos

Full highlights (thanks, William!):

Kofu 1-0 S-Pulse (Nab Cup)

Barry writes:

Kofu 1-0 S-Pulse
Havenaar 66

Att. 10466

Line Up

GK Usui

DF Tsujio
DF Iwashita
DF Bosnar (Yellow 2)
DF Ota

MF Edamura (Yellow 61)
MF Muramatsu
MF Kobayashi (Yellow 22)

FW Omae
FW Ito (Yellow 15)
FW Takagi

Subs Used

Nagai on for Kobayashi (55)

Report

I didn't go or watch it (girlfriend service time) but all the result means is we have to score in the home leg which we would have had to have done anyway.

I went to Yokohama FC v Verdy yesterday because I was free and the other half was at work, so here's a picture or two.

The visitors in fine voice
Two goals in two minutes for 10 men Yokohama
Our Takagi's younger bro came on for a bit and looked like a chip off the old block
The first home win of the season for the former Flügels

I managed to miss the red card as my pre-halftime toilet run backfired spectacularly. I only noticed the home team were down to ten men after they'd scored two in two minutes to go ahead. Must pay more attention in future.

Mitsuzawa is a cracking little stadium, but the tight gangways behind the stands are not built for crowds. Good job only 4000 were there yesterday. ;) You're right on top of the action though, so you can forgive the place's shortcomings. The beer lovelies didn't stop all game, and very lovely they were too. Verdy fans were not happy as you might imagine, but fair play to Yokohama, they held on doggedly for their first home win against the odds.

A special mention must go to the CoCo Ichi on the west side of Yokohama station. A piping hot curry rice served to specification within two minutes. Top work, that restaurant. Five minutes we have to wait in Shizuoka. FIVE MINUTES!!! The bar has been raised.

Videos

Back on topic, here's Kofu's goal from today. Looks like Usui got proper done on the near post.　Check out the travelling masses behind the far goal though. Just sent a shiver down my spine seeing how many made the trip. Respect.

Mike Havenaar Racially Abused by Kashiwa Fans

Barry writes:

Disappointing news emerged from Chiba this Golden Week weekend as Kashiwa Reysol fans dragged the good name of the J. League through the mud.

It's being reported that the Japanese striker of Dutch parentage Mike Havenaar was subjected to various abuse, including kuso hakujin (lit: shit whiteman) during Kofu's match in Kashiwa on Friday. It might not sound much, but can be equated to someone shouting fucking Jap.

Who knows if Bosnar and Brosque were given the same abuse in March? Unlike Havenaar, neither were born and raised in Japan, so may not have picked up on it as the Kofu forward would have.

Either way, way to go Kashiwa fans; dragging Japanese football into the dark ages. The incident is being investigated by the J. League.

2011 Nabisco Cup - New Format

Barry writes:

Not unexpectedly, the Nabisco Cup has been forced into some changes after the six week lay off. The new format can be seen in full here.

S-Pulse will start with a two legged tie with Kofu to be played on June 5th and July 27th. If we win it's another two legged game against Niigata.

Ventforet Kofu 6-0 Giravanz Kitakyushu

Barry writes:

Ventforet Kofu 6-0 Giravanz Kitakyushu
Paulinho 16
Yabu 34, 70
Havenaar 37, 39, 51

Att. 11219

Line Up

Dunno.

Report

With a free day to kill, I decided to make the short trip to prefectural neighbours Kofu. Seeing as they are virtually now assured a promotion spot, I figured not only would it be a nice day out, it would also be a chance to do a spot of recon work on what we can expect next season. Apart from the vomit-inducingly stinky portacabin toilets (which by the end of the game were spilling their contents onto the concourse) it was a thoroughly good day out. Kofu demonstrated, albeit against the worst team in the the country, why they are heading for promotion back to J1, with Havenaar bagging a hat-trick in front of an adoring home crowd.

Kitakyushu never really troubled the home team, and Kofu looked like scoring nearly every time they went forward. At five nil, they seemed to sit back and be content to play out the rest of the game, but even then they managed a 6th goal. Kitakyushu's defense was shoddy at the best of times. It's no shock to see they have a goal difference of minus 37. Being their first year in the J. league they'll surely improve over the next few seasons.

Back to J1 next season - Kofu

Speaking of the crowd, over 11000 were treated to the home team's biggest win of the season. Given that Kitakyushu's fans numbered only double figures, next season Kofu may well be selling a few games out. More home fans, plus a thousand or two from the visitors, next year should see a few bumper crowds for sure. This puts into perspective jubilo's home gate yesterday. You'd think seeing as they just fluked their way to a cup title a few more people might show up, right? No, they got a measly 7400, 4000 less than Kofu, and only a couple of hundred more than what we managed during a bloody TYPHOON.

The big number 14 - Mike Havenaar

Anyway, today was about Kofu. I'm looking forward to visiting again next year, although not too thrilled about the distance between the end stands and the pitch. Another ground to rival the Banpaku and Todoroki for shiteness of view, and I'll be bringing a nose peg for the toilets. But at least it's another local team, so here's to a couple of good games with Kofu in 2011. J1 and J2 are entirely different prospects, as Shonan have found out, but good luck to Ventforet next year. Welcome back to J1!

Over 11000 for Kitakyushu's biggest defeat of the year

Videos

Here's a cute one of the Kofu fans' goal celebration dance.

S-Pulse 3-0 Kofu (Emp Cup Rnd 4)

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 3-0 Ventforet Kofu
Hara 33
Own Goal 49
Nagasawa 55

Tottori Soccer Stadium
Att. 3288

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiraoka
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Fujimoto
MF M. Yamamoto
MF Honda
MF Paulo

FW Hara
FW Nagasawa

Subs Used

Nagai on for Hara (63)
Takaki on for Nagasawa (72)
Tsujio on for Paulo (86)

Report

A much needed win for the boys in orange takes us through to the quarter final of 2009's Emperor's Cup. Both teams had very much their second strings out. As for us, we gave a first start of the season for lanky front man Shun Nagasawa and first-starts-in-a-while for Paulo and Hara. Despite (or, going on recent results, perhaps because of) the rests given to regulars Kaito, Hyodo, Teru, Edamura, Okazaki and Johnsen, we didn't show too many problems in dispatching J2's high flying Ventforet Kofu. Kofu are currently battling it out with Hidetoshi Nakata's old team Shonan Bellmare for the final promotion spot to J1, so probably have their minds elsewhere.

I didn't get to see the game, so can't offer anything other than the bare bones of what happened, but the result will be an invaluable boost after the Kashiwa Comedy Show. Goals for Nagasawa and Hara will remind our regular forwards what it is they've got to do these last three league games if we're to claim an ACL spot. In our three Emp. Cup games, we have a combined score of 7-0, with goals coming from Hara, Paulo, Nagai and Nagasawa.

We progress to the quarter finals for the 12th time in our 18 appearance in the tournament, and the fifth season running. We've made the final twice, in 2001 and 2005, winning the trophy once, in 2001. Before we can start thinking of this year's final we have to meet either Albirex Niigata or Meiji University who will face off tomorrow in Yamagata. Meiji Univesity in the last sixteen of this cup is the Japan equivalent of the non-league giant killer. They knocked out J1 Montedio Yamagata last round, so good luck to them tomorrow.

The quarter final with Niigata or Meiji Uni will be played Saturday December 12th, venue and kick off time to be confirmed.

Videos

Hara's opener:



Our second goal, an own goal from a Kofu defender:



Nagasawa grabs our third, and his first professional goal for S-Pulse: