S-Pulse 1-1 Nagoya (Nagoya win 5-3 on Pens)

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 1-1 Nagoya (Nagoya win 5-3 on Pens)
Okazaki 16 -------------- Tamada 56 (pen)

Att: 19578

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiraoka
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Honda
MF Edamura
MF Fujimoto

FW Okazaki
FW Nagasawa

Subs used

Johnsen on for Nagasawa (HT)
Tsujio on for Fujimoto (84)
Hara on for Hyodo (112)

Report

I'm back in England right now and didn't manage to raise myself at 4am to watch this one unfold, but my eyebrow did just shoot up when I noticed Nagasawa started ahead of Johnsen. I don't know the full story here, but why, in a game of this magnitude, we'd play a young rookie ahead of any of our better and more experienced strikers is absolutely beyond me. He got subbed at half time for Frode.

It took extra time and penalties to decide this one, with Ichikawa's shoot out miss proving the difference. He beat the keeper, but not the crossbar. The meaningless lottery of the penalty shootout was played out with noone else missing, which meant Nagoya won 5-3 on spot kicks. Another cup semi final loss isn't exactly a joy to behold, but that's football, and all things considered we've had a better season than many.

Gamba Osaka will be Nagoya's opponents in the final on Friday, and it's hard to look beyond the Osaka outfit adding to their impressive six-trophy trophy haul in recent years. If Osaka do defend the title they won on Jan 1st 2009, Hiroshima will receive the fourth ACL spot for next year. For that reason alone I'm kind if hoping Gamba win this one!

Highlights

Here are some extended highlights of the game. There's no replays on any of the goals or for the penalty decision (which looks like the Nagoya player just falls over into Arata), so if I can find a better set of highlights I'll add them.

Eddy Bosnar Signs for S-Pulse

Barry writes:

It was officially announced today that S-Pulse had secured the services of relegated JEF United's Eddy Bosnar for the 2010 season. The 6 foot 4 inch centre back will help fill the void created by Aoyama's continued absence through injury. The big man's arrival will help shore up the one main area we were lacking in this year.

The man himself said, and I quote, S-Pulse are a big and strong team. I like him already. :)

Merry Christmas!

S-Pulse 3-2 Niigata (aet) Emperor's Cup 1/4 Final

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 3-2 Niigata
Okazaki 11 ----------------Matsushita 15
Johnsen 86 ----------------Yano 88
Kodama 104

Att. 9705

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiraoka
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Fujimoto
MF Honda
MF Edamura
MF Hyodo

FW Johnsen
FW Okazaki

Subs Used

Nagasawa on for Hyodo (72)
Ito on for Fujimoto (88)
Nagia on for Honda (95)

S-Pulse marched on to the semi final of the cup in a pulsating match at a sun-bathed Nihondaira this afternoon. An excellent away support came down from Niigata for what would be the final game of 2009 for one of these two teams. S-Pulse rediscovered the art of goal scoring with both front men getting on the score sheet, but it was Arata Kodama who popped up deep in extra time first half stoppage time to volley home the goal which sent us into the cup semi final.

Nihondaira Stadium, Shizuoka City, Japan
A balmy 23 degree Saturday afternoon (On December 12th!!!)

Everton Santos saw red (but had to be carried off)

The semi final will be played at Ecopa Stadium on December 29th at 1pm. Opponents will be Nagoya, who beat Gifu in their quarter final.

Videos

Highlights taken from the official Albirex channel:



Now for some personal cam captures of our goals, starting with Okazaki's opener:



Johnsen makes it two one:



Arata volleys home the winner:



All three videos courtesy of YouTube user ssnnddttyy.

Okazaki Named in Best 11

Barry writes:

More good news to top off an excellent year for Shinji Okazaki; he was this evening named as one of the two best strikers in the country at the annual J. League awards.

Okachan shortly after banging in a hat-trick for Japan

The recognition comes at the end of his first full season as a starting member, and after netting 14 league goals. Including four league cup goals, he's at 18, with the remainder of the Emperor's Cup still to play. He's worked his way into the national team this year and is all set to head to South Africa next summer.

In the J. League best eleven for 2009, Okazaki is partnered up front by Jubilo forward, and league top scorer with 20 goals, Maeda. It's fitting to see Shizuoka leading the charge for the best 11 this year, but it's high time the orange machine claimed another title or two to ensure people don't forget where the heart of football lies in Japan!

For full details on the 2009 J. League awards, click here (in Japanese). For the official S-Pulse report, click here. In Japanese, but with plenty of pictures.

We also reprised last year's achievement of winning the award for the best pitch in the league. The people in charge always keep Nihondaira's surface in near perfect condition, so it's great to see their efforts rewarded for a second season running. The award this year was actually split three ways, with Urawa and Omiya's Saitama Stadium and Albirex Niigata's Big Swan also being rewarded.

S-Pulse 0-0 Nagoya Grampus

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 0-0 Nagoya Grampus

Att. 17218

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiraoka
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Hyodo
MF Honda
MF M. Yamamoto
MF Fujimoto

FW Okazaki
FW Nagasawa

Subs Used

Edamura on for M. Yamamoto (25)
Johnsen on for Nagasawa (69)
Tsujoi on for Hyodo (84)

Videos

Yokohama Flügels M. 2-0 S-Pulse

Barry writes:

Yokohama Flügels M. 2-0 S-Pulse
Ogura 75
Kurihara 92

Att: 30985

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Iwashita
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Honda
MF M. Yamamoto
MF Fujimoto
MF Hyodo

FW Okazaki
FW Nagasawa

Subs Used

Johnsen on for Nagasawa (63)
Edamura on for Fujimoto (73)
Hara on for M. Yamamoto (80)

Report

Oh, my days. Nagasawa starting up front ahead of Nagai, Johnsen, Omae, Hara? WHAT??? Nishibe holding his place in goal over Kaito? WHAT??? And, lo. He gets beaten by two speculative long range efforts to put the icing on the cake. The cake had up till then been comprised of some really nice passing play and positive forward movement from ourselves, but why we had Nagasawa partnering Okazaki I will never know. He was subbed off just after the hour for Johnsen, by which point most the game was already played and Yokohama were getting their claws in.

So glad we're still in the cup, but for the love of all things holy Kenta, please stop making knee-jerk selection changes. Johnsen being injured for a week should not then mean his place is therefore lost to 21 year old rookie. Sorry, I can't type any more. Too angry / bemused / disappointed.

Roll on December 12th - Emperor's Cup v Niigata. :)

S-Pulse 0-2 G. Osaka

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 0-2 G. Osaka
--------------------------------- Lucas 14
--------------------------------- Jae-Jin 70

Att. 20011

Line Up

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Hiraoka
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF M. Yamamoto
MF Ito
MF Edamura
MF Paulo

FW Hara
FW Okazaki

Subs Used

Fujimoto on for M. Yamamoto (61)
Nagai on for Hara (70)
Nagasawa on for Paulo (78)

Report

We lost and we fully deserved to. How long ago our top-of-the-table exploits seem now! Down to sixth, but incredibly we've still lost only the joint least in the league. 3rd is now impossible, 4th is going to be a mission, but we're in the quarter final of the cup which is more than can be said for most other teams, so at least we have that.

???

Kenta was forced into replacing Johnsen who picked up a knock in training, but the dropping of Kaito in goal for Nishibe had me scratching my head before kick off. One dodgy game against Reysol and the keeper is dropped. This is after an excellent season which resulted in a national team call up recently. A keeper's confidence is paramount, so why knock Kaito's even further? He's clearly the best keeper we have. Nishibe didn't have a terrible game, but he was all over the place on the second goal. To get beaten to a cross by an attacker is poor.

Well, the season nears an end, and the best we can hope for is fourth. Again. I think without any silverware between now and the end of next year Kenta Hasegawa will be looking for another team. I dearly hope he proves us wrong, because I like him, I really do. But football is about winning things, and we've been coming up short time and again the last four years.

Another full house

There were a couple of crazy results this weekend which make our recent rubbish form not quite so hard to take. Kawasaki losing to bottom of the table Oita (ex-Pulser Fernandinho netting the only goal) and FC Tokyo losing to already-relegated JEF both go to show that we're not totally unique in our ability to pull shockers like the ones against Oita and Reysol.

With a bit of unfortunate timing, it was this weekend, after four defeats in a row, that the season ticket renewal forms were sent out. Not that it really makes any difference of course. Thousands upon thousands will be signing up for another year, and you know why? Because this is for life. Through the good times and the bad, WE ARE SHIMIZU S-PULSE, and we're bloody proud of that fact. :)

Videos etc

Awesome home support as usual.



Gamba's goals.