Pick up match

Omiya Ardija (J1) 2-1 (1st 0-1 2nd 2-0) Ehime FC (J2)） 

Omiya Ardija rallied past Ehime FC 2-1 in round of 16 action of the 94th Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships on 10th September. Omiya advanced to the quarterfinal round of the annual tourney.
Omiya, who are currently in the range of the demotion to the J2 as they are in 17th place, entered their first game since they had SHIBUYA Hiroki at the helm. They made drastic changes in their starting lineup from their previous members, yet they got off to a slow start and allowed Ehime to strike first. Ehime, who had defeated Kawasaki Frontale in the third round and tried to make the final eight for the first time since the 87th edition of the tournament (2007), attacked relaying passed with good tempo with higher concentration from early on, and got on the scoreboard five minute into the match.
Defender HAN Hee Hoon won an aerial battle in the penalty box after defender KIM Min Je launched a cross ball, and then forward KAWAHARA Kazuhisa fired it with his right foot into the net. Omiya finally got some rhythm offensively from the mid-first half, as midfielder HASHIMOTO Koji threatened the Ehime goal for a few times. Yet the shots were either saved by Ehime goalkeeper KODAMA Tsuyoshi or deflected by the cross bars. Ehime led 1-0 at halftime.

Ardija coach Shibuya instructed his players to switch their transitions from defence to offence quicker during halftime, and they started their rallies as they tried to have their offensive tempo faster from the beginning of the second half. On 61th minute, forward TOMIYAMA Takamitsu received a pass from midfielder WADA Takuya and swiftly ran into the box. Tomiyama was fouled by the opposing goalkeeper to earn a penalty kick. Tomiyama made it to tie the contest.
Omiya kept their fierce attacks afterwards, maintaining their momentum. Five minutes after their equalizer, Tomiyama received a cross from the right side and converted it in the near area to Hashimoto. Hashimoto put it into the net with his left foot to give the Ardija a lead.
Ehime forward Ricardo LOBO fired a stunning long shot from around the halfway line in their own territory on 71st minute, but Omiya goalkeeper SHIMIZU Keiki saved it. Five minutes later, Kawahara, who reacted to a through ball, launched a shot from behind the Omiya defenders, yet it was judged an off-side. On 87th, Lobo again attempted to score, but his shot went outside of the goalmouth.
More details:

Elsewhere, Sagan Tosu of J1 fell 0-1 to J2's Montedio Yamagata in extra minutes, and Ventforet Kofu was eliminated by Giravanz Kitakyushu of J2 as they lost 3-4 in the penalty shootout after they ended extra minutes with a 0-0 score. Booth Sagan and Ventforet were ousted in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, Gamba Osaka, the champions of the 89th Emperor's Cup, beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-1, Nagoya Grampus sank Thespa Kusatsu Gunma (J2) 1-0, Cerezo Osaka crushed Jubilo Iwata (J2) 2-0, and JEF United Chiba edged their J2 rival V-Varen Nagasaki 2-1. The winners proceeded to the final eight.

The quarterfinals will be played on 11th, 12th and 15th of October. The matchups will be determined by draws.

Comments

SHIBUYA Hiroki, Head Coac（Omiya Ardija）
Ehime knew what they were supposed to do as a team and they were united well. (Since I became the coach) we've work on improving our defence, but because we've had little time for offensive practices, and we were able to put up the scored because of our players efforts and their instincts. We played with slower tempo, yet the way we robbed the ball was good from the first half, and it paid off we kept doing it throughout. The penalty kick changed the momentum drastically, and it was fantastic that Tomiyama got the PK capitalizing on his trait. I don't feel like I won the game. I'm pleased that we advanced to the final eight and each one of our players, including ones who did not play, did his own role.

ISHIMARU Kiyotaka, Head Coach(EHIME FC）
Omiya made the managerial change and we tried to play our own game, not having much prejudice, and we did enter it fine and scored the first goal. But our players played too defensively and lacked aggressiveness on our defence. It's disappointing that we did not have the mentality to go for another one after we scored the first goal. We allowed them to take advantage of one mistake, and felt a J1 team was so canny. We want to use this experience for our developments. We have league matches coming up, so we want to talk with the players and do the best we could possibly do.

FW TOMIYAMA Takamitsu（Omiya Ardija）
It feels great to have scored and it was great for us to take it with my own goal. Our coach told me to use my as a forward, and I wanted to live up to his expectations by scoring. I did not have offensive practice, but because we had good distances between ourselves, we were able to get them off-balance. Yet we allowed them to score first and it was something we have to reflect on. Unless we will improve on that, it's going to be harder battles ahead of us. We are pleased to have advanced to the final eight. We are in a position to aim at the championship, and we want to take it.

MF HASHIMOTO Koji (Omiya Ardija)
As the team restarting, I was too motivated to go too far into front and conceded the opener taken by surprise. But we were on track of attacking so it was good to reverse the game in second half. Head coach is aiming to do all-attack and all-defense. Taking advantage of the victory today, I want to play the league game and win the game one by one for hopefully stepping up the rank.

FW KAWAHAR Kazuhisa (Ehimie FC)
It went as exactly as our game plan in the beginning of the game but I think we stepped back too much and lowering the back line. We ended up in conceding consecutive goals after one goal scored against and it was too easy for them to send cross for second goal. What we lack is tactical cleverness. About the other side’s goal scored by PK, we have to review the defense that led to PK. We still have lot to learn to be savvy about the game. The motivation for playing game against J1 club and to be able to play on the pitch far exceeded my fatigue from playing consecutive games. It is important to learn something from this loss and how we step up from here. That is what we need to do for the future.

Other results

Sanfrecce Hiroshima (J1)  1-3 (1st 0-2, 2nd 1-1)  Gamba Osaka (J1)
Cerezo Osaka (J1)  2-0(1st 1-0, 2nd 1-0)  Jubilo Iwata (J2)
Montedio Yamagata (J2)  1-0 (1st 0-0, 2nd 0-0, Extra 1st 0-0, Extra 2nd 1-0)  Sagan Tosu (J1)
Giravanz Kitakyushu (J2)  0-0(1st 0-0, 2nd 0-0, Extra 1st 0-0, Extra 2nd 0-0, PK 4-3)  Ventforet Kofu (J1)
V･Varen Nagasaki (J2)  1-2(1st1-0, 2nd0-1, Extra 1st0-0, Extra 2nd0-1)  JEF United Chiba (J2)
Omiya Ardija (J1)  2-1(1st0-1, 2nd2-0)  Ehime FC (J2)
Thespakusatsu Gunma (J2)  0-1(1st0-0, 2nd0-1)  Nagoya Grampus (J1)

Other Results(Japanese version only)

Special Cooperation

Official Sponsor