Team News
Jubilo Iwata – FW Kanazono is close to return, but not this week? GK Kawaguchi also back in training. MFs Matuoka and Baek are long term injuries.
Shimizu S-Pulse – Only FW Takagi is reporting injured and may be fit for the bench after a hamstring injury.

Head to Head – Very even in 22 meetings since 2003, with 9 wins for S-Pulse, 8 for Jubilo and 5 draws.

Match Preview – A strange one here, Ecopa Stadium chosen as the home venue – probably because Jubilo expect a big S-Pulse away following and can make more money at a bigger stadium, but Ecopa is more the home of S-Pulse in many people’s eyes! So, home advantage lost here, for Jubilo and, with S-Pulse seeing off Vegalta Sendai last week, and vaulting up to within a point of Jubilo, the “away” team will be all fired up for the win to help them move above their neighbours for the first time in months, and have them ready for a final six game tilt for the top 3. Excellent incentive for S-Pulse to win, of course, but also JUbilo will not want that to happen and will pull out all the stops to make sure it doesn’t. Nevertheless, with Kim finally among the goals last weekend, and Jubilo missing their influential Korean, Baek, the blue half of Shizuoka may well be disappointed at the end of the day!
With S-Pulse slowly weeding out some dead wood, as well as moving Shinji Ono on – with the blessing of the club – the team have plenty of leeway in looking for a new foreign signing to replace the departed Brosque, and plenty of youngsters chomping at the bit to join the revolution. A top 3 finish will buoy the team towards big things in 2013 – and an ACL place, of course – and a win here will push them closer to overhauling Vegalta Sendai for that spot. EXPECT a WIN for SHIMIZU S-PULSE!