Albirex Niigata 1 - 0 Cerezo Osaka

This was a game we were expecting to at least come away from with a point but after Edno spurned our best chance created by Kakitani we were left with nothing as another bit of dodgy goalkeeping from Jin-Hyeon presented the ball to a grateful Kentaro Ohi who wrapped up the 3 points for Albirex. This video shows highlights of the all the recent J.League games with a focus on the returning heroes from the East Asian Cup in South Korea where Zaccheroni was successful with an experimental squad. Kakitani scored 3 goals in the two games he started including a brace that sealed victory for Japan. Yamaguchi was named player of the tournament while Ogihara also made his debut for the national team. From a Cerezo point of view this has raised the profile of the young players making it tougher to hold on to them when foreign clubs start their approaches. But another way of looking at it is that now they are under pressure to be consistent performers which will only help us in the league this season. After that who knows? The Cerezo highlights start at 03:24 on the video and are followed by a chat with Kakitani.

Cerezo Osaka 4 - 1 Sagan Tosu

An entertainingly open game and there could have been more goals but for the woodwork and of course the goalkeepers. Spreading the goals around a bit this game with the player of the East Asian Cup tournament Yamaguchi scoring the first after Kakitani's persistence. Sakemoto scored a bit of a fluke goal before Sagan Tosu scored their only goal of the game. Yokoyama got our third and had a fine game in a midfield lacking Simplicio anchored by him and Ogihara allowing Yamaguchi to play further forward. Defender Yamashita scored the fourth which was also a just reward for his recent performances deputising for Moniwa.

9 match unbeaten run ends in injury time away to Hiroshima

Champions and current 2^nd place team Hiroshima kept going in a fairly even match with chances for both teams but a slight error in judgement from Jin-Hyeon in the 95^th miniute delighted the home crowd. Prior to the game this was billed as a battle between Cerezo's Kakitani and Sanfrecce's Sato both of whom are in double figures for goals this season and both missed chances to add to their tallies. We remain in 6^th and face Sagan Tosu who are just above the relegation spots in 15^th at home on Wednesday. In other news Zaccheroni has named Yamaguchi, Ogihara and Kakitani in his East Asian Cup squad so let's hope they can win their first caps for the national team. The cup means a short break in the J1 schedule during which we will be facing the travelling Manchester United pre-season friendly circus.