S-Pulse 0-4 Hiroshima

Barry writes  

S-Pulse 0-4 Hiroshima 
---------------------------------- Ishihara 14
---------------------------------- Sato 69 (pen), 82
---------------------------------- Mizumoto 73

Nihondaira
Att. 13137

Line Up

GK Hayashi

DF Takaki
DF Okane (38, 59)
DF Jong-a-Pin (68)
DF Yoshida

MF Muramatsu
MF Sugiyama
MF Hattanda

FW Ishige
FW Bare
FW Kawai (44)

Subs Used

Takagi on for Ishige (HT)
Senuma on for Hattanda (70)
Lee Min-Soo on for Takaki (87)

Report

Well, bugger me. Another spanking. This time thanks in large to a second yellow for Okane which left us short handed against the champions. Already 1-0 down, the game was decided at that moment.

The fairly unimpressive league title winners took a half chance in the first half to go in with the advantage. It was an lead they deserved by dint of being more deadly in front of goal. Apart from that one goal, both teams were making a lot of passing movement, but not creating a lot at the end of it.

The second half was a different story, with S-Pulse looking likely to restore parity. Bare off the bar! It was coming, but a late tackle from Okane on the hour which the ref deemed worthy of a second yellow, put the kibosh on that. Can't help thinking Jumpei Iida was too eager with his card. Okane's a young lad and not wont to play dirty. Already on a yellow, you'd have hoped the ref would take him aside, tell him to calm it down etc etc. They are granted license to use their judgement after all. Well, no. He just reached for his pocket.

After that it was a familiar story that played out. Our beleaguered heroes trooped off at the end, not to boos, but to a rousing chorus of S-Pulse! S-Pulse! You all know what happened after the league cup game with Iwata, but the majority of our fans know we're in a rut, and the worst thing they can do is get on the team's  back.

The team was warmly welcomed, and cheered off at the end

It's a rough old time of it right now, but everyone knows they can do better, and know they will. As the old saying goes, We Believe. Believing's easy when you're riding high, but when you're down, struggling and wondering where your next win's gonna come from, that's when you need to man up. 13000 at Nihondaira on Saturday did just that. We're only four games into the season. Bring on the next 30!

Highlights

Stay Positive! Things Can Only Get Better!

And now in song form.

Iwata 5-1 S-Pulse (Nab Cup Group Stage)

Barry writes  

Iwata 5-1 S-Pulse
6, 21, 69 ------------- Ishige 86
75, 90

Yamaha Stadium
Att 10690

Line Up

GK Takahara

DF Kawai
DF Hiraoka
DF Inukai
DF Yoshida

MF Muramatsu
MF Lee Min-Soo (5)
MF Hattanda

FW Bare
FW Ishige

Subs used

Senuma on for Kawai (58)
Takagi on for Uchida (66)
Jong a Pin on for Hattanda (80)

Report

Crap stadium. Crap performance. Crap home fans. Crap defending. Crap service station on the way back to Shizuoka. An all round complete crapper of a day.

The Yamaha Stadium

Almost as infuriating as our capitulation was the way the home fans barely seemed bothered. When we beat them by the same scoreline in 2009, there was a party on the terrace with 20 minutes still to go. We kachiloko'd, beer was flying around, we sang their victory song, and generally rubbed their noses in it. Yesterday? Nothing.

So maybe it was only the league cup, but it somehow annoyed me more that they didn't revel in a big derby win. That was left to my Iwata supporting brother (Why does he like Jubilo? In short, he's a twat) who pasted my Facebook full of sky blue nastiness. Something they did do was after each goal move their arms up and down repeatedly in mass banzai-type celebration. It somehow reminded me of the Time Warp, and was equally as camp.

Tickets went on sale today for the home league derby. Saturday, April 13th. 5pm. Payback time. Stay positive, people!!

Highlights

Well, Ishige's freekick was quite good I suppose. Apart from that, pure suicidal defending.

S-Pulse 1-1 Kofu (Nab Cup Group Stage)

Barry writes  

S-Pulse 1-1 Kofu
Hattanda 9 ----------------- Hugo 32

Att 9411

Line Up

GK Kushibiki

DF Kawai
DF Inukai
DF Jong-a-Pin
DF Yoshida

MF Muramatsu
MF Lee Min-Soo (39)
MF Hattanda

FW Takagi
FW Ishige
FW Ito

Subs Used

Bare on for Takagi (HT)
Senuma (71) on for Ito (63)
Uchida on for Lee Min-Soo (78)

Report

2013's league cup campaign began with a 1-1 draw against Kofu. If Saturday's game with Nagoya was anything to go by, Yamaniashi's finest may prove to be this year's surprise package. Never mind the lucky stoppage time which won the game for the reds, Kofu had been the better team for an hour before being (needlessly harshly) to ten men, and even then were the more likely to score.

Saturday was a different game given both team's were largely altered from their league incarnations, but was still a keenly fought, and at times fiery encounter. We opened scoring early via Hattanda but were punished for defensive hesitancy at the half hour mark. A loose ball wasn't dealt with and Kofu were able to restart an attack.

The referee excelled himself in pedantry calling half time after Ito broke through for a one on one with the goal keeper, but didn't trouble Kawata in the away goal enough over the 90 minutes to really complain about the draw.

Next in the league cup is our second group game against Iwata. Saturday March 23rd, the game is at the Yamaha, kick off 1pm. We've not beaten Iwata at the Yamaha since Teruyoshi Ito and Alex scored in a 2-0 league victory in 2000. That said, most derbys have been held at Ecopa since then, but three points tomorrow would be a massive result and boost to our season.

Videos

Click here for the highlights.

Shonan Bellmare 1-1 S-Pulse

Barry writes  

Shonan Bellmare 1-1 S-Pulse
Taketomi 21 ------------------------------------------ Hattanda 63

BMW Stadium Hiratsuka
Att 9453

Line Up

GK Hayashi

DF Jong-a-Pin
DF Hiraoka
DF Yoshida

MF Kawai
MF Muramatsu
MF Sugiyama
MF Ishige
MF Hattanda

FW Bare
FW Senuma

Subs Used

Takagi on for Sugiyama (59)
Ito on for Senuma (88)

Report

After last week's disaster, it was all about the result. Not losing, not getting beat, and clawing back some confidence.

Shonan know their lot this year. After their last spell in J1 (relegated with several games remaining) they're approaching this season defensively, content to soak pressure up and aim to hit teams with counters attacks. We went behind to just such a counter, and with last week's battering perhaps in the back of our minds, we began hoofing long balls up field at Bare and Senuma.

Come the second half, and after a good talking to, I'm betting, we calmed it down a bit. Easier said than done, but you have to forget the scoreline and keep playing your football. If you're doing what you're meant to be, the goals will usually come. Hattanda was the one to knock home our equaliser when it did arrive. The Shonan keeper fluffed a punch and we gratefully accepted the freebie.

The home team were reduced to 10 men for the final ten minutes, which gave us plenty of time to practice shooting, but a winner wasn't to be. Sho Ito went closest with a cracking header stopped by some good anticipation work by the keeper. The bottom corner is normally a safe bet to sneak one in, but Abe in the home goal was equal to it.

Three games in and no win yet, but look on the bright side - we've scored in every game so far! (EDIT: what am I on? We scored precisely zero last week. Thanks to Amir for pointing that out. Not sure how I managed that one...) Wednesday is a national holiday and it sees the opening game of the Nabisco Cup group stage. We welcome Kofu to Nihondaira, and I'm looking forward to it. Three days later it's off to the Yamaha Stadium to play Iwata, also in the cup. They lost again today, putting them joint bottom of the table with Kawasaki. Nice.

Videos

Highlights.

S-Pulse 0-5 Yokohama F. Marinos

Barry writes  

S-Pulse 0-5 Yokohama F. Marinos
---------------------------------- Nakamura 8
---------------------------------- Hyodo 36
---------------------------------- Marquinhos 71, 88, 90

IAI Stadium Nihondaira
Att 16487

Line Up

GK Hayashi 

DF Takaki
DF Hiraoka
DF Jong-a-Pin
DF Uchida

MF Kawai
MF Sugiyama (c)
MF Lee Min-soo (22)

FW Ishige
FW Bare
FW Takagi

Subs Used

Senuma on for Kawai (HT)
Hattanda on for Sugiyama (68)
Ito on for Uchida (76)

Report

September 23rd 2007. 2-0 away at FC Tokyo, going into the final minute of stoppage time. That was the last time I left early.

When I looked up from Angry Birds (apologies, but I'd already checked out at 4-0) to see Marquinhos poke home his hat trick, I was down the stairs and out the back before I knew what I doing. An involuntary reaction at witnessing something just too painful.

For the ultimate horror of the final scoreline, the game didn't begin all that bad. Nakamura's corner deflected home by Bare wasn't an ideal start obviously, but until the second goal (where time seemed to stand still as Hyodo stepped through our back line and placed it past Hayashi) we weren't overwhelmed by any means. Kawai was clearly off full match fitness though and was substituted at half time as a result.

The second half chugged along as we managed one effort on goal and never looked in it. While we never looked like getting back into it, only in the last 20 minutes did we really fall to pieces. The goals say it all.

From what got relayed to me, save for a number of understandably angry voices, at the whistle the ground was largely just a morgue of morose silence. Amazing really, but it does suggest most people accept that shit happens, and that this was game 2 of 34.

It took me long enough to update the blog and I don't want to dwell. Away to Lee Min-soo's old team Shonan on Saturday, then home to Kofu in the Nabisco Cup group stage Wednesday afternoon (it's a national holiday). Saturday is the time to put in a decent performance, keep a clean sheet, and for Bare to net his first goal (in the right end). 3-0 to the boys in orange!

Signed: An Incurable Optimist

Pictures

Outsourcing! No more

Cheerleaders for the away team??? Only in Japan

 Ready? Set? Lose 5-0!

Videos

You are joking, right?

Representin!

Barry writes  

Just three days to go before the home kick off against Yokohama F. Marinos, and tickets are selling fast. Got yours yet?

Our recent opening weekends have been away from home, and it has in the past been partly down to the Sumpu Half Marathon being held the first Sunday of March each year. Well, so it was on this Sunday just gone, and was the reason I wasn't up in Saitama the previous afternoon.

 A well earned pint

After football, I love a good run, and Sunday was a good one. My third half marathon and a new PB. Wearing the orange meant a lot of love from the hundreds of people lining the route. I managed to pass fans of Urawa, Kawasaki, Omiya, FC Tokyo, and there was even a Machida Zelvia shirt out there. An honourable mention must go the yellow of Watford, but bizarrely, no Iwata shirts were seen. 

Beer rarely tastes better than when earned, but a close second is in the warm spring sunshine up Nihondaira. This Saturday you can toast S-Pulse with some Shimizu branded Sapporo beer. On sale throughout Shizuoka prefecture, and in demand as far away as J. Soccer Towers in Kobe, where this batch is headed.

Cheers!