Pick up Match

Kashiwa Reysol（J1）4-0（1st 2-0、2nd 2-0）Fagiano Okayama Next（Okayama）

On the opening day of the 94th Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championship second round, J1 club Kashiwa Reysol cruised past Okayama Prefecture representative Fagiano Okayama Next 4-0 at Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium on 12th July.

Due to the aftermath of the super typhoon Neoguri, which left high heat since the previous day, the contest had to kick off under severe circumstances with a 31.1-degree temperature and 58-percent of a humidity, although it kicked off at 4 p.m.
For Okayama Next, who have J2 side Fagiano Okayama as their top-flight category team, it was an important match toward their JFL second-half season. So in this match against Reysol, who earned a title in the 92nd edition of the tournament, they went all-out chasing the ball from the front.

Fagiano put pressure on Kashiwa's defensive line around forward Kobayashi Hidemasa, and once they got the ball, their midfielder Iida Ryo and midfielder Kato Kento quickly came to support to try to convert it to their offensive plays. There were some occasions that they rattled the Kashiwa defenders.
''We are going to play patiently and find a way to take advantage of our chances by building our momentum,'' Okayama Next captain and defender Nishiharara Takashi said before match. And to be true to his words, Okayama Next created a great scoring opportunity when forward Fujioka Kosuke fired a middle shot on 17th minute, which was saved nicely by Reysol goalkeeper Sugeno Takanori.

But from around 20 minutes past into the game, Kashiwa, the 2011 J. League champions, gradually seized the momentum.
Kashiwa kept their offensive assault around their left side back Hashimoto Wataru. On 30th minute, defender Masushima Tatsuya headed a cross from midfielder Mano Kenta back to inside, and then Hashimoto netted into the goal to get Reysol on the board first.
The goal boosted Kashiwa and they kept creating scoring opportunities. Just before halftime, forward Leandro gave the team another goal.

Okayama Next had to play an even more severe time in the second half. On 53th minute, Okayama's Shinchu Tsuyoshi was ejected after he fouled Reysol forward Kudo Masato, who had a good chance of scoring.
After that, Kashiwa began overwhelming their opponents, and added goals rom midfielder Otani Hidekazu on 79th minute and forward Oshima Koki, who substituted Kudo on 80th, in the stoppage time (93rd minute). It was the first game to play on the top-flight team for Oshima, who's on Kashiwa Under-18 squad and is registered as a category-2 player.
Against Kashiwa, who were playing offensive-oriented, Okayama's Kobayashi looked for a scoring chance from a counter attack yet couldn't make it. Kashiwa clinched a third-round spot after all.
Reysol will take on the winners of JEF United Chiba-AC Nagano Parceiro (played on the 13th) in the third round on 20th August.

Match Report

Comments

Nelsinho, Head Coach（Kashiwa Reysol）
During our training camp, Tanaka Junya transferred and began training on Plan B, and we had some high expectations on how it would affect in the match. Fagiano Okayama Next were in the position to come agains us as if they got nothing to lose. You have to go up against your opponents with the same intensity or more from early (in the Emperor's Cup), otherwise you will get overawed. But the way we entered the match wasn't bad. Yet, in the first half, although we scored a goal, we should have played our own game even more. So I asked our guys for that during halftime, and it paid off that we had more time to attack their territory by moving the ball. As a result, we got to play with more intensity and played on a faster pace. I thought that maybe we have a little too many side passes, but still our guys were aware of their lateral moves, and even after they would lose the ball, we were showing quick reactions, with our defenders included, and had better defence. I am relieved that we won it anyway.

MAKIUCHI Tatsuya, Head Coach（Fagiano Okayama Next）
It was a very good opportunity to gain experience for us. As we got to observe Reysol's individual players and their organizational things through this match, we reassured that we still had tons of things to work on.

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