S-Pulse 1-2 FC Tokyo Omae 78---------------------Hirayama 32 ----------------------------------Oguro 65
Att. 7117
Line Up
GK Nishibe
DF Ichikawa DF Hiroi DF Iwashita DF Ota
MF Hyodo (yellow 64) MF Honda(yellow 88) MF Ono
FW Edamura FW Johnsen FW Fujimoto
Subs Used
Nagai on for Johnsen (56) Okazaki on for Ono (66) Omae on for Edamura (77)
Report
It's enough to make you cry. Another awful result against piss poor opposition, and our league season is as good as over. It wouldn't be quite so bad if all the teams around hadn't dropped points too. Had we not capitulated against Kyoto and won today we'd now be 2nd. Just goes to show that that something we're missing (and have been for the last few years) is all the difference between another 6th or so placed finish and actually accomplishing something.
It pissed down all game
At least now we can enjoy the rest of the year without worrying about making an ACL position. Away in Sendai should be a lot of fun. Sightseeing, booze up, maybe even a snowball fight. All without the stress of the result mattering. :wrysmile:
Videos
One small cause of mirth was Tokyo's third goal being missed by the officials. The ball clearly crossed the line after Nishibe produced another classic from his seemingly bottomless bag of howlers.
Not that it changed anything in the long run, but having stood in the pissing rain for 85 minutes, it was nice to get a break.
What with a typhoon due to pass over Shizuoka tomorrow lunchtime, our game with Tokyo (kick off 1pm) is officially subject to change. A news release this evening has warned of the potential of an alteration to the kick off time, or of it being postponed altogether.
Check the latest news on the club homepage before heading off.
M. Yamamoto on for Edamura (68) Hara on for Ono (80) Nagasawa on for Johnsen (89)
Report
Well, if you're going to travel over 6000 miles for a 0-0, it had better be a good one. Luckily for me, it was, and while we rode our luck one, two, three - I lose count how many times, Nishibe played a blinder, we didn't concede, and we go through on away goals.
Full time
Tokyo will feel they should have won this - and on shots and chances, they should. They hit the bar and post I forget how many times (that said, we also rattled the woodwork once or twice) but just couldn't find a way through. As time went on, their desperation started to tell as the mistimed balls and over-hit passes increased in number.
Kenta thinks things over with Kazuaki
For our part, we were without both Okazaki and Fujimoto, whose 19 goals between them have seen them both called up to the national team, so with the untried top three of Hyodo, Johnsen and Edamura, I guess things were always going to be a bit on the slow side. We did carve out a few good chances, and Teru had a good game. He'll play to see his 500th appearance yet.
Take a bow - now win the semi!!
We'll meet Hiroshima in the semi finals. Leg one is September 29th in Hiroshima (Wed, 7pm). Leg two is October 10th in Shimizu (Sun, 3pm).
FC Tokyo 1-1 S-Pulse Morishige 79 ----------------- Okazaki 68
Att. 12510
Line Up
GK Nishibe
DF Tsujio (yellow 54) DF Iwashita DF Hiraoka DF Ota
MF Hyodo MF Honda MF Ito
FW Okazaki FW Johnsen FW Fujimoto
Subs Used
Edamura on for Okazaki (75) Bosnar on for Tsujio (81) M. Yamamoto on for Hyodo (86)
Report
A 1-1 draw away in Tokyo means we can get through in the 2nd leg with either a 0-0 draw or a win. 1-1 would mean extra time, any higher scoring draw would put us out, and a defeat would also spell the end of this year's Nabisco Cup adventure. Clear? Good. I'm off to watch my other footballing love, Brighton and Hove Albion, play Leyton Orient in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Seriously, the glamour never stops.
Barry writes: FC Tokyo 2-2 S-Pulse Nagatomo 85 ---------------- Hiraoka 26 Matsushita 87 --------------- Fujimoto 68
Att. 28114
Line Up
GK Nishibe
DF Tsujio DF Hiroi DF Bosnar DF Arata
MF Hyodo MF Honda MF Ono
FW Okazaki FW Johnsen FW Fujimoto
Subs Used
M. Yamamoto on for Ono (57) Ota on for Fujimoto (84) Nagia on for Johnsen (91)
Report
Right, no beating about the proverbial bush, the truth of the matter is that was a
We got lucky with other results going our way this weekend, (both Kawasaki and Nagoya suffered heavy defeats meaning we were the only team in the top three to pick up any points) but the fact is we should be five, not three, points clear going into the World Cup break. 2-0 up with five minutes to go - we'd done the hard part, we just didn't have the balls to finish the job.
The travelling thousands
To say Saturday was two points lost is, of course, stating the bleeding obvious. I just hope everyone at the club is feeling the sense of waste as keenly as the thousands of orange heroes who journeyed up to the capital. If we end up missing out on a position due to a two point deficit, this game will come back to haunt us. I'm not pointing any fingers - it was a tough old match, and we'd done well to contain the home team up to that point. Nishibe for his part had a great game and wasn't at fault for either of the goals. The returning Bosnar was immense, as was Ono. Why he won't be on the plane to South Africa is a complete mystery to me.
The precise reasons for allowing a team back into a game at 2-0 down with five minutes to go allude a mere mortal like me, but what I do know is as shitty as this was, as gutting as it was to leave with a point when we should have shut the game down and left with all three, we need to learn from it and move on. Shit happens, and we've done exactly the same thing to other teams fairly recently ourselves. Yeah, it's two points lost, blah blah fucking blah, but if you let it, things like this can get on top of you and erode confidence. Hey, I didn't take a module of sport psychology back in 2001 without learning a thing or two. We can get things back on an even keel starting with Yokomari at home next week in the cup.
As for Saturday's good points, well both goals came from set pieces and both were very well taken. Hiraoka's header came from Ono's perfectly weighted ball into the box, and Jungo, who has always been a mean striker of a free kick, swung it over the wall and into the net right in front of us. Up until the 85th minute we'd kept the home team in check for the most part, but just couldn't see it through. I don't why Ono was substituted quite so early and while I don't believe the capitulation was purely down to this (we increased out lead and kept Tokyo at bay for nearly half an hour in his absence), taking our linchpin off before even the hour mark had me scratching my head.
"Fish and Chips" I should have known better really...
Well, anyway, bollocks. We drew, and that's that. On the bright side, it was my first time in three visits not to leave the grey bowl of the Ajisuta in defeat, and like I mentioned, our nearest rivals both lost. This meant we actually extended our lead at the summit to such that even if Kashima and Frontale win their games in hand it won't be enough to claim top spot from us.
Okazaki receives a sending off to South Africa
The first game after the World Cup is the biggest of the season: July 17th versus Jubilo Iwata in the Shizuoka Derby. This game will sell out, and if it's even half as much fun as last year's corresponding fixture, you won't wanna miss it!
Thinking of heading to Nihondaira on Sunday? If so you better have yourself a ticket. As of this evening, the game has completely sold out.
Another sell out at 'Daira
It's the third sell out this year, will be the fourth plus 20000 gate at Nihondaira and the fifth in total. Our average crowd for the year is already well over a thousand up on last season and with the title race hotting up, the remaining two home games will also no doubt see near full houses.
And all this despite 'Daira being a pain in the backside to get to / park at / get away from / having no protection from the elements etc. So come on Shizuoka City - obtain a compulsory purchase order on a swath of land near Higashi Shizuoka station, build us a 40000 seater stadium and watch the crowds pour in. You know it makes sense!
Now, for no reason at all, here's a video of our fans having a ball after we'd just put our fourth past little jubilo. The chant is called komagome, and when you're 4-1 up against your local rivals with half an hour still to go, it's the best damn thing in the world. :)
FC Tokyo 1-0 S-Pulse Hirayama 16 FC Tokyo win 3-2 on aggregate
Att. 22181
Report
Right, suggestions for fun ways to spend Culture Day please? It suddenly became freed up.
Errr, sorry, what? ;-)
It was a bit of disaster all round for our boys. Nagai limped off before the first half was even up and Aoyama went off injured on 56 minutes. Despite that, and the lack of Iwashita and Okazaki which had an obvious impact, for spells we looked OK. However, the fact we had nearly double the corners but only half the shots of the home team tells the story.
Perhaps a quarter of our turn out
Coming out to rapturous welcome
There was a lot of forward movement and nice passing play which carved routes through the Tokyo midfield, but the end product just wasn't there. The one or two clear cut shots we had ended up in the stands or in the safe hands of Gonda.
No Hara on ｔhe bench (he's still out for another week or so) meant we were reduced to throwing Nagasawa on for the last 20 minutes. No disrespect to him, but when he's your final roll of the dice to get goals, you pretty much know it's a lost cause.
Full time and the cup dream is over for another year
So in isolation, and given the absence of Okazaki, Iwashita, Hara, and Nagai and Aoyama's enforced substitutions, not a horrendous performance. But of course, this was a cup semi-final second leg which we had to win. We didn't, and wouldn't have if we'd played till midnight, so that's that for 2009's Nabisco Cup run.
My best wishes to the fans of Kawasaki and Tokyo - cup final day is a wonderful experience, so have a great one. Me? I'll be washing my hair...
Line Up
GK K. Yamamoto
DF Ichikawa DF Aoyama DF Arata DF Ota
MF Edamura MF Honda MF Ito MF Hyodo
FW Johnsen FW Nagai
Subs Used
Fujimoto on for Nagai (42) Hiraoka on for Aoyama (56) Nagasawa on for Ito (70)
Videos etc
Reports from The Rising Sun can be read here. Official pictures can be found here (top row).
S-Pulse 2-2 FC Tokyo Johnsen 34 ----------------Yonemoto 33 Edamura 69 ---------------Cabore 42
Iwashita sent off 45
Att: 10026
Report
I'll start by saying how proud I am of the boys to come back from what seemed an impossible situation. We salvaged a draw with ten men, and while two away goals against is hardly ideal, it means any victory would be enough on Sunday. A decent crowd turned out, including a very good away following. It was roller-coaster of a game, and both sets of fans would have left with mixed emotions.
Personally I was ruing the lack of a home win, but playing the second half a man down we were chasing shadows for minutes at a time as Tokyo stroked the ball around. They went close a number of times, and a third goal would have surely finished this tie off, so I was ecstatic that we could claw ourselves level through Edamura on 69.
We'd gone behind to a long range daisy cutter from Yonemoto. Kaito had his line of sight blocked by some legs which on most days would have got in the ball's way, but not today. It was struck with venom, perfectly directed to the bottom corner, and left Kaito no chance. Straight away Johnsen equalised with a lucky rebound on his header from a corner, but less than ten minutes later, a windy run by Cabore saw our defenders helpless to get a challenge in, and he put it away to give Tokyo the lead.
Johnsen equalises
So it was at half time, but come the second half, come renewed hope. It didn't last long. Within a minute of the restart, Iwashita was sent off. A straight red came after... I'm really not sure what. Have a look at the highlights below (which incredibly don't show a replay of the red card offence) and it's hard to see what happened. I'm going to reserve comment until I've had a good view of it.
2-1 down, a man sent off, and 45 minutes still to play? Yeah, for a moment or two the ranks behind the goal were dumbstruck and possibly wondering how many we were going to lose by. But that kind of thinking has no place at Nihondaira, and after we'd had a minute to dust ourselves down, there was a real sense of purpose and belief as we shouted and sang that bit louder.
Yeah, we lived dangerously on more than one occasion, but we had no choice but to go for broke. The breakthrough came when Edamura latched onto a loose ball after a nice move down the right. His shot, which was surely heading for Gonda's hands, (who had a very solid game) was deflected over him and into the net. We went wild, but still spent the last 20 minutes fearing every counter attack.
We even managed to pull a couple of saves out of Gonda, but time ran down and we felt very happy with the draw. Yep, two away goals conceded ain't great, but given everything, we'll take it. Roll on Sunday and may the best team win!
I can't sign off without a big shout out to Dokool, creator of the FC Tokyo blog Aishiteru Tokyo. It was great to put a face to name, and I'm glad to hear you had a good day and enjoyed Nihondaira (and our cheerleaders!). Let me know if you're going to head down Shizuoka way for the league game in October.
Befriending the enemy!
Line Up
GK K. Yamamoto
DF Ichikawa DF Iwashita DF Arata DF Ota
MF Edamura MF Honda MF Ito MF Hyodo
FW Johnsen FW Fujimoto
Subs Used
Hiraoka on for Hyodo (47) Omae on for Edamura (79) M. Yamamoto on for Fujimoto (84)
Videos etc
I can't embed these, but here are full highlights. Here are some embedded highlights, although the order is a but messed up with Johnsen's goal not coming till the end for some reason.
Official match pictures from the S-Pulse homepage can be found here.
Barry writes: FC Tokyo 2-1S-Pulse Kajiyama (7) ------------Johnsen (58) Ishikawa (62)
Att. 28987
As always when we lose, the absolute last thing in the world I want to do it write a report about it. So I'm not going to. This decision was also facilitated by the fact I didn't go to the game, nor did I watch it on the box. Alas to say, we blew our chance to move into the top five and open up some space between us and the many teams on or around 20 points in midtable.
Good to see Johnsen on the score sheet again, but our fourth defeat this season is still a bitter pill to take, especially after our recent good run. It is only our fourth loss this year, mind you. Only four other teams have lost less, and they're in the top four positions, so let's keep things in perspective.
Next up is Kyoto on S-Pulse's official birthday - July 4th. 17 years ago to the day we played our first ever game (away to Gamba Osaka), and if we can avoid defeat next week, that'll be a year unbeaten at home in the league. It's surprising to think we've not fallen to defeat at home since Kobe turned us over last summer, but it's true, and should we overcome Sanga, 16 home league games unbeaten is something worth celebrating.
Our run in full: W D W W W W W W D W D D D W W
Come on then boys, let's make it a round 16, and a full year!
Line Up
GK K. Yamamoto
DF Ichikawa DF Aoyama DF Kodama DF Ota
MF Okazaki MF Edamura MF Ito MF Hyodo
FW Johnsen FW Hara
Subs used:
Paulo on for Edamura (42) Fujimoto on for Hyodo (73) Tsujio on for Ichikawa (83)
Videos etc Highlights to come as soon as I find them online. Click here for some official club photos from the game (top row).
FC Tokyo 3-1 S-Pulse Cabore (6)-- Omae (83) Ishikawa (61)--------------- Akamine (73)---------------
Aoyama sent off(71)
A makeshift team of reserves and players out of position fell 3-1 away to FC Tokyo today. It means we finish in 2nd place in the league cup group B. Omae Genki scored his first goal for the full team, which was good to see.
We progress to the knock out stages and will face Urawa Red Diamonds home and away for a semi final tie against either Nagoya or today's foes, FC Tokyo.
The quarter final ties are to be played as follows:
Leg 1) Urawa v S-Pulse, 7:30pm @ Saitama Stadium, July 15th (Wed)
Leg 2) S-Pulse v Urawa, 7.00pm @ Nihondaira Stadium, July 29th (Wed)
The 2nd leg at home is always a bonus, so lets hope we can put in a good performance in Saitama before bringing it back to 'Daira.
Line Up
GK Nishibe
DF Ichikawa DF Aoyama DF Iwashita DF Kodama
MF Fujimoto MF Ito MF Honda MF Hyodo
FW Edamura FW Hara
Subs used:
Nagasawa on for Ito (HT) Omae on for Fujimoto (68) Ota on for Arata (68)
I wasn't aware of it until just now (Monday evening), but Hara missed a penalty at some point before Aoyama's red. Here's a video of it for any masochists out there:
The game was our eighth of the season, up to which we'd lost four, drawn two and won only once. This year so far we've won fully TWICE as much, drawn three and lost only two. It's not been a great start to 2009, but compared to last year, we've won nearly twice the number of points, despite being way below top form. You have to look on the bright side!
Wednesday sees us face a wholly unconvincing Urawa side whose current 1st place has come off the back of four narrow 1-0 victories. These have come against such J1 power houses as JEF (away), Kyoto and Oita (both home). We have nothing to fear, and with over 30000 tickets sold and warm clear weather forecast, Ecopa will be a world away from the rain and wind of lastSaturday.
This match is fitting, as it also happens to come just over five years after my S-Pulse debut. April 14th 2004 I made my lonely way up to Nihondaira to witness a cracking 4-3 affair between us and Urawa. A paltry 8354 were there to watch; light years away from more recent match ups between us, which generally sell out.
Well, here's to many more years of the UK Ultras fanzine. It's grown and taken on a life of it's own in the last 12 months, and as I once promised a friend, I'd stay in Japan and keep this blog going until I see S-Pulse lift the J. League title. We may be here a while! Thanks for reading!
S-Pulse and FC Tokyo face off tomorrow for the fifth time this year in the 1/4 final of the Emperor's Cup. It's this season's last chance of silverware, and the final ticket into next year's Asian Champion's League.
Previous meetings this year have gone off like this:
League:
S-Pulse 1-0 FC Tokyo FC Tokyo 1-5 S-Pulse League Cup Group Stage
S-Pulse 3-1 FC Tokyo FC Tokyo 1-1 S-Pulse
Three wins, one draw, ten scored and only three conceded. Given that three of those games took place in our poor first half of the season, with only the 5-1 mauling coming in our resurgent second half, we have reason to be confident. Losing the League Cup final has instilled an even deeper ache among the orange masses for our first title since winning the Super Cup in 2002.
The winner will go on to face either Kashiwa Reysol or Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the semi at Ecopa, in what would be as good as a home game for us at least! That being the case, you can be sure more than 6000 will turn up! That was the crowd for the semi between Sanfrecce and Gamba last year at the same venue. Not too surprising given how far it is from both cities!
Tomorrow's game kicks off at 1pm. There's no live broadcast available, but for live text, the official S-Pulse homepage does the job, as does J's Goal. Both sites are in Japanese, but you may be able to navigate around by pictures and trial and errors to find what you're looking for.
So come on S-Pulse - rewards the hundreds of fans who are heading up to Sendai for this one! Let's have a semi back in Shizuoka!
We Believe!!!
In transfer news, today Marcos Aurelio was released while Marcos Paulo has had his contract renewed. Good news, both. :)
The Emperor's Cup in all it's wonderful randomness today had the venues of the quarter finals confirmed. Unlike the English FA Cup, games from the 5th round in are played at neutral venues. Well, not all of them, just some. S-Pulse were one of the unlucky ones last round and got to play a team who were placed at their home ground. Some of the other games were at neutral venues, but not all. I not even going to begin to pretend I understand why this is, but there you have it.
Well, for the 1/4 finals it's all fair and square with all four games staged at venues nuetral to all teams. Or so I was expecting! As it turns out one of the games is a home game. The team in question are Sagan Tosu, and the full quarter final draw looks a little something like this: Yokohama F. Marinos v Sagan Tosu:Best Amenity Stadium (home of Sagan Tosu) S-Pa v FC Tokyo:Yurtec Stadium, Sendai (home of Vegalta Sendai) Kashiwa Reysol v Sanfrecce Hiroshima:Momotaro Stadium (home of Fagiano Okayama) Nagoya v Osaka or Jubilo Iwata:Kobe Universiade (occasional home of Vissel Kobe)
Well, S-Pulse and FC Tokyo's clash has had Sendai's impressive-looking, football-only Yurtec Stadium chosen to host it. A bit of a trek for all concerned, I'm sure you'll agree. That's the "magic" of the cup though, and for all we know a semi final could be at Ecopa, where we'd have played last year had we beat Gamba in the 1/4 final, so no complaints!
If anyone does know the rationale behind Sagan Tosu getting to play at home while all others play away (travelling hundreds of miles and spending thousand of yen in the process), then do please share it! It took nearly a week after the completion of the 5th round to announce these venues, so there are clearly anything but random, decided by the mythical "fixture computer".
Anyway, politics aside, here's out chance to make another cup final! Our league season is over, so let's have it! Win this one and we're 90 minutes from another BDO to Tokyo! Game on!
After Kashima scored with five minutes of extra time to go I was bracing myself for the lottery of a penalty shoot out, but there was rookie of the year (in my humble opinion!) Kazuki Hara to put it in in the very last minute of extra time! He at once saved us the hell of a shoot out, knocked out defending champions Kashima Antlers, and put S-Pulse into the quarter finals of the Emperor's Cup! After the anguish of the Nabisco, it's great to know there's another competition still to play for!
Highlights from yesterday's game and a half:
Well, the 2008 record against last year's double winners is none too shoddy at all! P5 W3 D1 L1, which breaks down like this:
So now next up is FC Tokyo who today knocked out Albirex Niigata. The match is to be played December 20th. We're now only two games away from another BDO to the Kokuritsu, and from equaling the record for cup final appearances during the pro era. Still, we know that's a long way off just yet! Our record against FC Tokyo this year is pretty solid: 1-0 at home, 5-1 away, (not to mention 3-1 home and 1-1 away in the league cup) so we have nothing to fear!!
Well done to S-Pulse today, seriously. Bouncing back from recent events to put the holders of the competition out is no mean feat! After the hellish week of the Nabisco cup final loss followed by the Derby Debacle, well it shows a real strength of character to come from behind and despatch the best team in the country. S-Pulse - the pride of Shizuoka prefecture - you make us proud!
Emperor's Cup 1/4 final full draw:
Yokohama F. Marinos v Sagan Tosu Gamba Osaka or Jubilo Iwata v Nagoya Grampus S-Pulse v FC Tokyo Kashiwa Reysol v Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Me and Fuz were both at the 2-0 away defeat last season, and so yesterday's result is an especially sweet one. Despite us both being in Tokyo at 3pm on Saturday, we were en route to Saitama to catch Radiohead, and so missed our best away result of the season. Much like S-Pulse, Radiohead played a blinder. They rocked out a stonking set to a full house, though the majority of which bizarrely stood in static silence for each song. I've never been given evil stares at a gig for singing along before! It was like being at the cinema. Very, very odd crowd.
Anyway, back to the football! Yesterday's goal-fest makes a season aggregate in all competitions of 10-2 against FC Tokyo, and barring an end of season collapse of Urawa-sized proportions, should secure our J1 status for next year. All five goals came from different players starting with another long range blast from Yamamoto. This was followed by another corner strike by Iwashita, and then Hara made it three just before the break.
Tokyo came out swinging in the second half, and despite a total of 11 shots found the target only once. That was on the hour, but was never anything more than a consolation. Okazaki on 78 made it four, before Toda rounded off the rout with a goal in the last minute against his former club. I bet he enjoyed that one!
It was a real shame we had plans elsewhere, as I'm sure the travelling thousands revelled in the 5-1 mauling of their hosts. I can only imagine the crowd in the Ajista knew how to enjoy itself more than the one at the Radiohead show! So here are the goals - enjoy! Check out Hara's control on the third goal - this lad is a real talent!!
Well, it took them four attempts, but champions Antlers finally overcame S-Pulse. After beating them twice at Nihondaira (once in the cup, once in the league), and holding them to a goalless draw at their place, Kashima were not about to let themselves lose any more ground on Nagoya and Omiya at the top of the table.
I wasn't either at the game or watching on the box (so sue me) but the stats tell the story:
Stats alone are never that much of a gauge, but by the looks of it, Kashima were desereved winners, and we only won when it come kicking them all over the pitch and not having anyone sent off.
Ah well. Onwards and upwards! Next up is Tokyo away this Saturday. Being so close, you'd probably think we'd be going up to the Ajisuta, but you'd be wrong. We already have a previous engagement with a certain band called Radiohead who we're going to see that night. Tokyo are on form, and getting three points from them won't be easy.
OK, I'm off to do something other than type at a keyboard. have a good week! For anyone who's interested, here's the highlights:
It was FC Tokyo versus Shimizu S-Pulse, so what better place to play it than in Nagano? I understand the theory behind teams going on tour for "home" games, (creating new fans in a football-starved corner of the country) but the poor supporters who travel for hours only to stand in the rain in a stadium with no roof... well, they deserve a free season ticket or something. Put in perspective, Tokyo fans got off lightly - Jubilo played their home tie against Verdy in Kagoshima, not far short of five hundred miles from Iwata.
I didn't make the journey, busy as I was halfway up a mountain feeding raw meat to lions (Fuji Safari Park - fun for all the family, and with authentic Turkish kebabs for sale on site, a great day out not to be missed!). My mobile kept me up to date with all the action from the Matsumoto, but it was Tokyo who led for almost the entire game. It took an 88th minute free kick from Jungo to put us through to round two for the first time since 2005:
It didn't look the most threatening of shots, but the movement in the area seemed to fox the Tokyo keeper, and moments later it was all over. It was a timely goal, as had things ended 1-0, Jubilo's victory meant we'd have gone into our final game needing a win. While we're now pretty much guaranteed to win our group, a win for both Jubilo (unlikely) and Tokyo (very likely) on Sunday could see us finish 2nd, although it would mean our superior goal difference having to get reversed. This isn't totally beyond the realms of possibility since whipping boys Verdy have so far let in thirteen without reply. FC Tokyo will have their shooting boots on! Either way, we're through to round two, and a first place finish would mean we meet Antlers home and away in the last eight. Not ideal, but pride won't allow me to accept a beating from Jubilo, even if it meant an easier tie in the quarters. For all the different permutations in the four groups, Dokool over at Aishiteru Tokyo has all the details you could ever need.
Next up is Jubilo at their place. Since Ecopa was built, it's now been six years since we've played them at the Yamaha, and eight years since we beat them there. I was considering giving it a miss as we're already through, but who was I kidding? The chance to give them a doing on their home patch is too good an opportunity to pass up. Tickets are bought for our third derby this year and 2008's BDO2 is coming! I have a feeling a lot of S-Pa will be heading out west on Sunday, even if for nothing more than the nostalgia value of playing Jubilo at the Yamaha, and with only one derby loss from ten, we've got to be confident. Hopefully Genki Omae will get more of a run out, too. He's made brief appearances in our last two Nabisco games, but let's have him out there from the start - go on Kenta, you know it makes sense!
It was a while coming! After such an indifferent start to the season, while the fact that boos rang around Nihondaira after defeat by Nagoya came as little surprise, the voracity and anger of the jeering did. The fans' point was made, and it clearly impacted on the team. Undefeated in three, things are looking more promising going into the biggest game of the season so far: the Shizuoka Derby. The 5-0 demolition of Verdy was "only" in the League Cup with both teams fielding weakened teams, but the impact on the confidence of the team was obvious. Away at Marinos and home to FC Tokyo, S-Pa came out swinging and looked a whole lot more threatening going forward than they have so far.
The game on Saturday was split down the middle - nine corners in the first half, and none in the second half for S-Pa. The near-opposite was true for Tokyo, who had S-Pulse on the racks for long periods after the break. Any goodwill I had towards accepting 'fair' results has already been tested to the limit this year, so I was more than happy to see us cling onto our 1-0 lead to the end of stoppage time. S-Pa could have taken an early lead with a move which scythed through the Tokyo team and ended in Fujimoto bringing fine save out of the keeper. At the same end in the second half, a wayward penalty area clearance very nearly found the net to level the score. This was after our ninth corner of the game had born fruit in the form of an Aoyama headed goal. The defender rose above all others to head it into the ground. The speed of the bounce foxed the keeper as it bounced up and through his hands. Deep into first half stoppage time: 1-0 S-Pa. It was an open game with several chances for each team, but only one stuck the ball in the net, and that's what it's all about!
A few thoughts on the day: 1pm kick offs don't do anyone any favours. Great traveling support from Tokyo again, although they don't make nearly as much noise as they could, given their numbers. Our season start was pretty awful, but for a missed stoppage time pen we'd be two more points better off, and three of our four defeats were against early high flyers Reds, Gamba and Nagoya, which were always going to be tough.
We're gearing up nicely to take Jubilo to pieces on Saturday in front of a packed 'Daira - a third straight derby win please! Before that, it's Reysol away on Tuesday which is never an easy place to go to. The UK Ultras founder members won't be in attendance, although several of the extended Ultras family will be BDOing it to Kashiwa to fly the flag for Shimizu. Three points would be awesome, thanks very much!
Barry writes:
It pissed down all game
