Pick-up Match

The second round of the 94th Emperor’s Cup will take place around the nation on Saturday 12 July and Sunday 13 July (except for the match between Consadole Sapporo and the winner between Hokkaido representative vs Tonan Maebashi Satellite held on 6 August).
Kashiwa Reysol, which grabbed various championships in three consecutive years: the J-League in 2011, the 92th Emperor’s Cup in 2012 and the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup in 2013, will meet Fagiano Okayama Next representing Okayama Prefecture on Saturday 12 at 16:00 at Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium.

As the J1 league has been in the break for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Kashiwa Reysol are currently at the 5th place tentatively due to the J1’s two Week-12 matches being rescheduled to Tuesday 15 due to the AFC Champions League makeup. During the break, one of the Kashiwa’s top scorers Tanaka Junya transferring to Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal) became a hot topic. Since the team’s offensive dynamo MF Leandro Domingues, who snatched the J1 MVP in 2011, also left for Nagoya Grampus (J1) in June, more significant roles are now left on the shoulders of other two scorers, this season’s new acquisition, Leandro (Montera) and FW Kudo Masato. GK Sugeno Takanori expresses an expectation toward his team, saying “I want fans to check out our new offense.”
DF Watanabe Hirofumi’s comment “Our defence is solid” is a common thought among the team, but no players would know until the season is resumed who will be in the starting lineup and what system they will use.
Fagiano Okayama Next consist of players in their twenties mostly, who aim to move up to their club’s top team (Fagiano Okayama).

After launched in Okayama Prefecture League in 2009, the team have grown steadily stronger. Fagiano have currently sat at the 10th in the JFL table and look to jump-start to upper ranks in the second half of the season, which starts on 21 of July.

In the first round of the Cup, they defeated FC Imabari (Ehime Prefecture) and advanced to the second round. As not only representing Okayama Prefecture but Ehime Prefecture where FC Imabari represented, they are full of enthusiasm to put up a good battle against the J1 team Kashiwa Reysol.

In the second round, there are also five matches between college teams and J1 clubs, including Meiji University (Tokyo), which defeated J1 teams one after another when a current national team player and F.C. Internazionale Milano defender, Nagatomo Yuto was on the team, face Ventforet Kofu on Saturday 12 at 15:00 at Chugin Stadium.

Comments

Nelsinho, Head Coach（Kashiwa Reysol）
The J1 got into the World Cup break and will restart a week from now. The second round of the Emperor’s Cup will be the first match in a while. It would be tough in terms of match sharpness, but we want to show our standard football by preparing well. The opponent is a JFL team. But it doesn’t matter if they are professional or amateur. We are going to do what we can do and move to the next round.

MF KANO Kenta（Kashiwa Reysol）
It’s true that the Emperor’s Cup has unique difficulty as the match kicks off at 4pm still hot during the day and the opponent is from the JFL. But I’m ready for the match and showing what I have if I get a chance to play. Set-pieces could be the key to win or lose in the knockout round, so I will make sure to do all the things necessary and try to be the one who scores a goal.

MAKIUCHI Tatsuya, Head Coach（Fagiano Okayama Next）
This is a great opportunity to have an official match against Kashiwa Reysol as they are strong in the J1 and flawless throughout their offense and defence. We’ve got nothing to lose so want to dominate the game as much as possible. The key would be how much we can aggressively challenge on offense and defence. We will make a great effort taking advantage of our youth.

DF NISHIHARA Takashi（Fagiano Okayama Next）
Kashiwa Reysol know how to get championship titles and how to win a game. Against such an opponent on the national stage, this is an opportunity where we can show our future and direction, what our football looks like. We want to show our exciting “offense based on our shared game plan” against a J1 team, taking advantage of our freshness, running and quick transitions between offense and defence.

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