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In the Mix, Previews

J1 Preview – Jubilo Iwata vs Shimizu S-Pulse at Ecopa Stadium – Oct.6, Matchday 28

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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!

Previews

J1 Preview – Sept.15th -19:00 Vissel Kobe vs Jubilo Iwata at Kobe Universiade

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Vissel Kobe – DF Inoha is suspended. DF Hayashi is out for the season, MF Haneda is doubtful, but not in contention for selection anyway!?

Jubilo Iwata – MF Fujita is suspended. FW Kanazono still reported injured. GK Kawaguchi and MF Matsuoka out for the season. DFs Sakurauchi and Cho out. MFs Yamamoto, Baek and Rodrigo Souto all out injured.

8 wins for Jubilo, 7 for Vissel and 3 draws since 2003, Vissel winning both of the last two games 3-1, home and away!

Vissel Kobe lost narrowly, and probably deserved a draw, last time out at Kashima Antlers, and the team were probably disappointed with that. Then they lost in the Emperor’s Cup to lower league opposition, so plenty of players will have plenty to prove to their fans… another loss will be very upsetting for the Vissel faithful. The team are “only” nine points away from a 3rd place spot right now. ON the other hand they are also nine points away from a relegation spot – very middling. They will be looking to put on a final spurt in the last ten games with a view to finishing in the top 6. A tough call, but not impossible, they can then build on that in 2013 and become a championship-challenging team – or that is what the plan is! The likes of Ogawa and Morioka must mature together with the experience of Okubo and Kitamoto, blending together to make a real team. These are games that they must win if they are to gain the confidence to move up the table.

Jubilo Iwata remain in touch with the leaders, having held Sanfrecce Hiroshima to a draw last time out, and beating Kashiwa Reysol and Cerezo Osaka before that. Jubilo may be the top scorers in J1 this season, but they have conceded a lot, too – in fact one more goal than Vissel Kobe up to this game. Let’s go for a HIGH-SCORING DRAW!!

Previews

J1 Preview Aug.18th – 19:00 Jubilo Iwata vs Cerezo Osaka at Yamaha

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Jubilo Iwata – GK Kawaguchi is out for the season. FW Kanazono is out for at least another two months. MF Matsuoka is out for the season. MF Yamamoto out for a month, DF Cho out for at least another two weeks. FW Han out for a month or so.

Cerezo Osaka – MFs Yamaguchi and Ogihara and FW Sugimoto have returned from Olympic duty.

7 wins for Jubilo, 6 for Cerezo and 2 draws since 2003 – all in J1, of course. Jubilo have never been relegated.

Jubilo are suffering from a long injury list and are starting to tire and drop points when they really would like to be winning games. Influential Korean MF/FW Baek will be back from the Olympics and I feel he is a key man in the machine at Jubilo and may help turn things around for them but they must tighten up their defence – outside the bottom three they have the worst defensive record in J1. Having said that they have scored almost two goals per game on average so expect goals one way or another! They have won just one of the last five, and that was against bottom club Sapporo, and, if they are to stay in touch with the top 3 this is a must win for them.

Cerezo Osaka have been hit from all sides this season and must be wondering what they have to do to keep a fixed team. With Yamaguchi and Ogihara at London 2012 and Kim and Kiyotake shipped out, they have been playing with an entirely new midfield for the last few games and it’s only due to some timely goals from Kakitani that they are not deeper in trouble. The player, who signed with Cerezo before he was ten years old, but then spent the best part of three seasons at Tokushima Vortis developing his game, returned just in time to help the team get over the losses of Kagawa and Inui, and then saw Ienaga, Kim and Kiyotake also leave the team. He is the man to watch, a rising star, but how long will Cerezo be able to hold onto him? Jubilo injuries and players returning to Cerezo will swing it towards a WIN for CEREZO OSAKA!