Kawasaki Frontale 2 - 2 Cerezo Osaka

Highlights of the match in J1 on May 11th with goals for Cerezo from Edamura and Simplicio. Ex-Cerezo favourite Okubo got a brace for Frontale and while his father was ill and sadly passed away the next day.

 

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. 

 

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!

More transfers!

Well we sold Kiyotake to Nuremberg for a pittance considering his status but we got a fair price for Bo Kyung from cash rich Cardiff City and their rebranding Malaysian owners. Branqhuino who has been average at best has gone on loan to Montedio Yamagata in J2. Also this week we signed Brazilian midfeilder Heberty on loan from Thespa Kusatsu in J2. He joins fellow newbies Yokoyama, Edamura and Simplicio. Here are a few of Heberty's goals in J2, don't get too excited, remember anyone can look good on a Youtube highlights compilation but here's hoping he can be good enough to help us avoid relegation.