The weekend saw Round 2 of The 92nd Emperor’s Cup (see other story) and there were some shocks in store for some J1 clubs, not least for Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who were beaten by FC Imabari! In fact both of the top two teams had a fight on their hands, but Vegalta Sendai managed to beat neighbours Sony Sendai by a solitary goal, earning a 3rd round home game against Roasso Kumamoto on October 10th – when all Round 3 games will be played.

Other “big” names to fall to lower opposition were FC Tokyo (lost at home 1-0 to Yokogawa Musashino), Vissel Kobe (went down 2-1 to Sagawa Shiga) and, less of a surprise, Consadole went out on PKs to Nagano Parceiro. On Sunday Sagan Tosu were added to that list, beaten by Kamatamare Sanuki!

Saturday Sept.8th, 13.00 kick offs:

Cerezo Osaka 4-0 Nara Club at Kincho/Nagai 2nd
Gamba Osaka 3-0 Kansai Univ. at Bampaku
Kashima Antlers 7-1 Tsukuba Univ. at Kashima
Kashiwa Reysol 3-0 Kashiwa Reysol U18 at Kashiwa
Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 Tokuyama Univ. at Todoroki
Vissel Kobe 1-2 Sagawa Shiga FC at Himeji
Ventforet Kofu 0-0 Fukushima United FC (Fukushima won 4-3 on PKs AET) at Chugin/Kose
Roasso Kumamoto 4-3 FC Gifu (AET) at Kumamoto
Consadole Sapporo 1-1 AC Nagano Parceiro (Nagano won 5-3 on PKs AET) at Atsubetsu
Vegalta Sendai 1-0 Sony Sendai FC at Yurtec/Sendai
Shimizu S-Pulse 5-0 Arterivo Wakayama at Nihondaira
Shonan Bellmare 1-0 Ehime FC at Hiratsuka
Tochigi SC 0-1 Yokohama FC (AET) at Tochigi Green
Tokushima Vortis 5-1 Fagiano Okayama Next at Naruto
Tokyo Verdy 3-0 HOYO Oita at Nishigaoka
Urawa Reds 2-1 Volca Kagoshima at Komaba
Montedio Yamagata 3-0 Tonan Maebashi at Yamagata
Yokohama F.Marinos 4-2 Y.S.C.C. at Mitsuzawa

15.00 kick offs:
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-2 FC Imabari at Fukuyama
Matsumoto Yamaga FC 1-3 Kyoto Sanga FC at Matsumoto
Nagoya Grampus 2-0 FC Kariyaat Fukui

Sunday September 9th, all 13.00 kick offs:

JEF Utd Ichihara Chiba 1-0 V-Varen Nagasaki at Chiba
FC Tokyo 0-1 Yokogawa Musashino FC at Ajinomoto
Avispa Fukuoka 4-2 Fukuoka Univ. at Hakatanomori
Jubilo Iwata 7-0 FC Suzuka Rampole at Yamaha
Machida Zelvia 1-1 Giravanz Kitakyushu (Zelvia won 5-4 on PKs AET) at Komazawa
Albirex Niigata 2-1 Saurcos Fukui (AET) at Niigata Athletic
Oita Trinita 2-2 Mito Hollyhock (Mito won 5-3 on PKs AET) at Oita
Fagiano Okayama 2-0 Kataller Toyama at Okayama
Omiya Ardija 2-0 Blaublitz Akita at Kumagaya Athletic
Sagan Tosu 0-1 Kamatamare Sanuki at Tosu
Gainare Tottori 2-1 Thespa Kusatsu at Tottori

If you’d got your cash on one of those giant-killing acts at the likes of partycasino.com you’d be rolling in the money now – I hear someone had 20p on Kamatamare over Sagan Tosu The magic of football!

(Image from WikiMedia)

Nabisco Cup Semi Final, 1st Leg, September 5, 2012, Ajinomoto Stadium

Proud of Our Orange Soldiers…

I am proud of our integrity, sportsmanship and honesty. Not once, but many times this season we have experienced unjust decisions and unsporting behavior. We have always kept close to our heart the true spirit of competition, and never sacrificed our integrity for the thrill of a victory. Winning games at any cost is against the spirit of the beautiful game, and it sends the wrong message on behalf of our sport to the entire globe. Children are watching with open eyes, copying every action and reaction of their heroes. We have a responsibility to set the right example, and I hope we remind ourselves of this fact every time we step across the line.

We started the game well with an attacking attitude seeking victory and away goals. Takagi suffered a hamstring injury in the early minutes of the game, and we were forced to use our first substitute after 14 minutes. We came close several times, before a well executed free-kick earned us the first goal of the match. The goal was tagged as an own goal, but Lee Ki Je’s service to a soaring Kim Hyun Sung, who headed the ball back to the middle of goal, was met by our own Hiraoka and Tokuunaga of F.C. Tokyo. We almost doubled the lead soon after on efforts from Nabeta and Kim Hyun Sung, as they both came close.

F.C. Tokyo broke through in the 35th minute as Ishikawa sprinted behind our defense. I had no doubt he was offside, as I had a perfect view from the technical area. Ishikawa ran free behind our defense and cleverly served the ball to the top of the penalty box and found the onrushing Kajiyama, free and open. His first touch blast beat Yamamoto just under the cross bar. Half time came with the scores level, and we felt we were the better side and could get the valuable away victory. F.C. Tokyo out played us in the opening minutes of the second half, but several reaction saves from Yamamoto inspired us to raise our concentration. We started to control the game, and the Kim Hyun Sung and Genki Omae had the best chances to give us the lead. At the other end, Yuichi Maruyama took a dive in the 79th minute – by kicking his own leg – deceiving the referee Mr. Yoshida into pointing to the spot, as well as yellow carding Kawai and eliminating him from the 2nd leg game. The experienced Lucas made no mistake from the spot and gave F.C. Tokyo the lead. Our players were too frustrated and cheated to stage a comeback in the final 10 minutes.

The away goal will be valuable, and down 1-2 we have everything to play for. The 2nd leg will be held on Saturday, October 13th at Outsourcing Stadium. A clean sheet victory will be enough to qualify us to the final. I hope you will join me for our quest for the Nabisco Cup.