First, the results:

Vegalta Sendai 0-1 Shimizu S-Pulse
KashIwa Reysol 2-5 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Yokohama F.Marinos 2-1 Consadole Sapporo
Jubilo Iwata 2-2 Urawa Reds
Nagoya Grampus 2-3 Kawasaki Frontale
Cerezo Osaka 1-2 Vissel Kobe
Omiya Ardija 1-0 Gamba Osaka
Albirex Niigata 0-2 FC Tokyo
Kashima Antlers 0-0 Sagan Tosu

JSoccer.com featured game – Vegalta Sendai 0-1 Shimizu S-Pulse

It was 1st against 2nd in Sendai – a real six-pointer for S-Pulse, hoping to end Vegalta’s unbeaten campaign, and end it they did. As I predicted right here, and am proud of it! S-Pulse coach Afshin Ghotbi is getting together the right blend of youth, enthusiasm, grit and experience and making it into a team that can win the Championship. I know, because he told me so himself!
Today the Shizuoka team started with the Tiny Twins up front – Takagi and Omae, persisted with Hayashi in goal – who must now feel that spot is his own, even with a national team keeper on the bench – and were boosted by the return of Alex Brosque after suspension.
After a bright start the game was delayed for 45 minutes when a lightning storm lit up the sky and hailstones rained down upon the heads of the players!
Upon the restart, just after the half hour mark, a Sekiguchi volley gave keeper Hayashi problems but he got in the way of Wilson’s follow-up. Moments later a Takagi deep cross was delicately volleyed by Omae, but was an easy stop for the Sendai keeper, also Hayashi! In the 39th minute, the same combination broke the deadlock as Takagi’s inswinging cross was met perfectly by Omae who headed the ball down and past the keeper to make it 1-0 at the break.
Despite end to end action and half chances for both teams, the score remained the same into the 68th minute when Jong-a-Pin was shown his second yellow card for bringing down Wilson on the edge of the area….. S-Pulse had their work cut out for the final 20 minutes if they were to hold on to the points! Bit hold on they did, with Hayashi making saves from Muto and Wilson in the final minutes to end Sendai’s unbeaten run, and cut their lead at the top of J1 to within one win. Look out for S-Pulse to be taking over the reins an week now!

KashIwa Reysol 2-5 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Sanfrecce kept apace with S-Pulse, hoping for a shot at the top, by thrashing Reysol, away! Goals came from Hisashi Sato – hitting the nine goal mark for the season already, with a goal in each half – putting Hiroshima 2-0 in the lead before Reysol seemed to have got back into he game through Junya Tanaka – with a goal the likes of Didier Drogba or Robin van Persie would have been proud of a minute after coming on as a substitiute – and Jorge Wagner. And then, with five minutes to go, Takahagi got on the end of a Mikic cross to take Sanfrecce into the lead again and the game was put away with two goals in additional time by Ishihara.

Yokohama F.Marinos 2-1 Consadole Sapporo
Oguro spurned three decent chances before Saito cleaned up his third mistake and Nakamura blasted home the loose ball. Furuta equalised for the away team before Taniguchi headed home the winner in the 78th minute to make it three wins-in-row Marinos.

Jubilo Iwata 2-2 Urawa Reds
Jubilo got their goals on a brace of headers from Baek. Makino scored a reflexive equaliser before a fine drag back, turn, and perfectly placed shot from Haraguchi gave Reds the lead. Baek’s second gave Jubilo the point.

Nagoya Grampus 2-3 Kawasaki Frontale
Tasaka opened the scoring for Frontale, Kennedy blasted a left foot rocket from 25 yards to equalize and Kengo Nakamura supplied Ohshima for the header to make it 2-1. All this up to the 14th minute! Ohshima scored his second on the stroke of half time, slipping the ball through the keeper’s legs at the near post after another fine ball from Nakamura. Half time 1-3.
In the 70th minute Fujimoto’s deflected shot pulled the deficit back to one goal but the away team held on for the valuable win.

Cerezo Osaka 1-2 Vissel Kobe
Vissel made it two wins in a row under interim coach Adachi through a Yoshida PK and a fine left footed grass cutter from Nozawa, while Cerezo scored through a Kim PK. Vissel keeper Tokushige denied Fujimoto from point blank range in the closing minutes as Vissel held on for their 5th win of the season.

Omiya Ardija 1-0 Gamba Osaka
Kurata struck the bar from close range and Abe stung the keeper’s fingers with a long range blast in the first half, before Endo missed a point blank, but admittedly bouncing and difficult header in the 2nd half. Gamba could have sewn up the points before a Carlinhos shot ricocheted fortunately, for Omiya anyway, over the centre backs, and Cho and Higashi fought over the scraps before the Korean slotted in the winning goal through the legs of the onrushing Kimura in the Gamba goal. Sasaki created space brilliantly with an overhead flick and turn on the right wing and his cross just evaded Sato when it seemed a goal was on the cards. It was not Gamba’s day!

Albirex Niigata 0-2 FC Tokyo
After a goalless first half Kajiyama volleyed home the opening goal from a pinpoint cross from the right wing just after the restart and Yazawa sealed the points after a defensive mistake left him wide open in the 71st minute.

Kashima Antlers 0-0 Sagan Tosu
A goalless first half, with little action to speak of gave way to a more open 2nd half with Koroki spurning a breakaway chance in the 50th minute for Antlers, before Toyoda created space intelligently on the turn in the 61st minute, but is shot went narrowly wide. The same player was denied by the keeper in the 68th minute too, before Antlers’ sub Okamoto saw a header cleared off the line by the Tosu defence with the final play of the game.