| J.League Division 1 Week 4 | ||
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First Half 0 – 0 Second Half Final |
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| April 4th 2009, 7PM Kickoff at (Iwata City, Shizuoka) Attendance 8,716 | ||
| GK 1 Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi DF 5 Yuichi Komano DF 6 Daisuke Nasu DF 3 Takayuki Chano DF 20 Shuto Yamamoto MF 23 Kosuke Yamamoto MF 16 Rodrigo MF 7 Yoshiaki Ota MF 14 Shinji Murai FW 18 Ryoichi Maeda FW 8 Gilsinho |
Starting Members |
GK 20 Shuichi Gonda DF 5 Yuto Nagatomo DF 3 Hideki Sahara DF 6 Yasayuki Konno DF 25 Yuhei Tokunaga MF 7 Satoru Asari MF 22 Naotake Hanyu MF 10 Yohei Kajiyama MF 19 Yohei Otake FW 9 Cabore FW 24 Shingo Akamine |
| 70′ 13 Hiroki Bandai (for Gilsinho) | Substitutes | 65′ 18 Naohiro Ishikawa (for Yohei Otake)
71′ 40 Tatsuya Suzuki (for Cabore) |
| Goals | 82′ Shingo Akamine | |
| 15′ Gilsinho37′ Daisuke Nasu
38′ Takayuki Chano |
Cautions | 42′ Yohei Otake
73′ Tatsuya Suzuki 77′ Naotake Hanyu 89′ Yuto Nagatomo |
| Ejections | ||
Report
By all accounts, this was an ugly game. I only watched on TV (and I missed some play here and there as I had to finesse my cracked copy of EyeTV into not being a bitch), but given how hard the rain was pouring I’m not altogether surprised.
Again, a tale of two halves. Jubilo challenged a lot in the first half (and looked very threatening most of the time) while Tokyo found its form and took control in the second half, finally deciding it with a beautiful one-touch goal by Akamine off a pass by Tatsuya Suzuki… the kind of goal that everyone’s been waiting for him to make.
So what was the difference this week? Other than the fact that Jubilo apparently can’t hit the side of a barn even if a bullseye was painted on the side, Gonda showed some incredible reflexes, blocking several shots at nearly point-blank range with an outstretched hand, as if he were catching a fly with chopsticks. The boy’s finally settled down and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
It was not the greatest game of all, but it was a win and 3 points (I seem to be saying this a lot, don’t I). Tokyo will not win their next game against Kashima unless they level up a lot in the next 6 days, but two league wins in a row will hopefully continue to boost their confidence.
