Iwata 2-1 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

iwata 2-1 S-Pulse
Gilsinho 23 -- Ota 41
Yamamoto 43

Att. 31266

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiroi (yellow 73)
DF Bosnar
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Ito
MF Yamamoto

FW Fujimoto
FW Johnsen
FW Okazaki

Subs Used

Edamura on for Hyodo (56)
Ono on for Yamamoto (70)
Hara on for Okazaki (75)

Report

Well if you can't score in 45 minutes against one of the worst teams in the league, you deserve to lose. Ono was nowhere to be seen in the starting 11 for reasons I can't tell you.

Probably the most interesting to happen tonight came before kick off when S-Pulse fans unveiled the same banner as last year aimed at Jubilo. It read "Jubilo" but was opened up to read "Kick your ass". The police (EDIT- or hang on, maybe they were the stewards?), on seeing it, tried with all their might to pull it down. They failed completely.

Pre-match excitement

After the banner had been on display for several minutes, all the while with the three or four policemen (stewards?) trying in vein to pull it down (the above picture was as good as they managed), loud discussions continued with the fans responsible and the staff involved. Many people around me were asking what it meant, and I translated it. A very light jibe aimed at the opposition. Not offensive, not obscene, not about to incite any violence (95% of the crowd had no idea what it even meant), so why the over reaction? Who knows.