Emperor's Cup 2nd Round vs Montedio Yamagata

Branquinho looked up for it last night with a point to prove as he's currently on loan from us. His corner was nodded in by Montedio's Maeda as our 2^nd choice keeper Matsui came of his line and achieved nothing but helping to give away a soft goal. After a dreadfully flat first half where if you didn't know beforehand you would be hard pressed to figure out which team was in J1 or J2 Culpi threw on Sugimoto and Edamura for Kempes who was awful today and the lively but ineffectual Heberty. I was expecting these two to start today as it would've given them a chance to prove themselves. As it is despite Sugimoto's goal sadly I don't expect he will get a decent run in the team while Kempes is about. It's a shameful waste of talent especially seens as in the league we have nothing much to play for, start with them Culpi! Captain Kota Fujimoto's belter sees us in the hat for the next round, a goal from an unexpected source and likely to be the best he'll ever score, fabulous winning goal but overall a poor performance. 

 

Cerezo Osaka 3 - 2 Sagan Tosu

Another action packed game finishing 3-2, thanks to a truly woeful penalty by Tosu's Toyoda. Both the penalty decisions were dubious. Ours was given for an accidental handball which Kakitani remained cool enough to score. Tosu's was for an accidental collision which earned Jin-Hyeon a booking. So a pretty fortunate three points keeps us out of the relegation zone for now and it was nice to see the Sagan Tosu fans after they gave us such a great reception in Saga on the opening day of the season. Sagan Tosu are enjoying a solid first season in J1 managed by former Cerezo and South Korea midfielder Yoon Jong-Hwan. Kodama came in at left-back for the suspended Maruhashi but did little to suggest he could keep that spot. On Wednesday we face Montedio Yamagata in the Emperor's Cup which will see the return of Branquinho who they have on loan from us at the moment.

Crazy Kansai Derby! Vissel Kobe 2-3 Cerezo Osaka

Dodgy defending from both sides contributed to another exciting Kansai derby at the beautiful Home's Stadium in Kobe with 12,868 in attendance. We were two down after 17 minutes thanks to goals from Ogawa and Soma for Vissel. Fabio Simplicio pulled one back after some clumsy gaolkeeping in the first half as both sides spurned some good chances. The turning point for us came in the 2^nd half and oddly enough it was thanks to our left-back Maruhashi receiving his marching orders in the 60^th minute after a dangerous looking but probably unintentional lunge. Culpi took off the profligate Kempes for Sugimoto who promptly headed against the bar from a set piece. Simplicio scored his second from a well delivered Kakitani cross in the 73^rd minute. Culpi then threw on S-Pulse loanee Edamura who scored a cracking goal to give us the 3 points and leapfrog over Vissel up to 12^th and looking pretty safe. Enjoy the highlights!