Match Report

Shimizu S-Pulse (J1)   2-4 (2-2, 0-2)   Fujieda MYFC (Shizuoka)

The second round of the 95th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship was held on Wednesday 9 September. Shimizu S-Pulse (J1) played against Fujieda MYFC (Shizuoka) in IAI Stadium Nihondaira.

Shimizu showed off their abilities first in the match between the two teams from Shizuoka. The players passed the ball to the space on the wings or behind the opponent’s defenders, initiating swift attacks. In the 11th minute, they struck the opener from the right side, from where they started numerous attacks. KAWAI Yosuke headed it home, reacting to a cross from KITAGAWA Koya.

Just four minutes after that, they scored another goal, again from the right side. Although MURATA Kazuya’s cross was not received by his teammates, SAWADA Takashi calmly reacted to a loose ball, passing it to ISHIGE Hideki. Then he took a shot from just outside the penalty area, knocking the ball into the left-hand corner.

Fujieda, who were two goals behind, got back on their feet. They never gave up running, and scored through their limited goal-scoring opportunities in the 24th minute. While one player ran on the outer side of the pitch, distracting the opponent’s defender, EDAMOTO Yuichiro sent a cross into the box, where OISHI Tsugutoshi reacted to slot the ball into the left-hand corner.

Just four minutes later, Oishi initiated a swift counter-attack and ran toward the space behind the Shimizu defenders. Then he calmly checked the position of the opponent’s goalkeeper, and scored the equalizer. Fujieda levelled the game in the first half.

Fujieda’s attack did not stop in the second half against Shimizu, whose compact defence did not work well. After 69 minutes, Fujieda started a rapid attack on the right side, where Edamoto reacted to HISATOMI Ken’s cross with his right foot and turned the game around.

In the 72nd minute, Shimizu, who were behind in a home game, sent both OMAE Genki and TAKEUCHI Ryo onto the pitch. Although Omae took a shot, Shimizu could not change the match.

Shimizu started to make many mistakes due to their impatience, while Fujieda stayed aggressive in attack, and substituted players. After 85th minute, Fujieda scored the deciding goal – their fourth – after passing the ball patiently into the box.

Fujieda, who stayed ambitious for goals and kept running for the ball, won the game with a two-goal gap. They will meet Montedio Yamagata (J1) in the third round.

Match detail (Japanese version only)

Coach and Players' Comments

TASAKA Kazuaki, Coach (Shimizu S-Pulse)
We came into this game thinking about how to handle consecutive matches in the Emperor's Cup and the league. If I stay positive, I think we learned a lot. Now I know who can fight to play and who cannot. It’s the first time I’ve experienced such a significant change in performance during one game.

Until the score was 2-0, the team stuck to the concept, aiming deep into the opponent’s half and keeping the pace up during attack. They all stopped as soon as the score hit 2-0. Then they stayed like that, and were pressed by the opponent.

KAWAI Yosuke (Shimizu S-Pulse)
After being beaten by the underdogs, I fully realise our current level. Although I was hoping to play a match that would build us up for the coming league games, we lost. So we have to refresh our minds and focus on improving ourselves even more. The atmosphere was good and we played well up until we struck our second goal.

Having said that, the opponent got better after scoring their first goal, and we could not stop them at all. We were controlled by the opponent’s momentum, I think. We couldn’t even create attacking opportunities after the game was levelled. I don’t think we had enough power and spirit.

OISHI Atsuto, Coach (Fujieda MYFC)
It was excellent that we levelled the game in the first half after being two goals behind. The players moved a lot in the second half as well, running more than the opponent to score goals. I’d like to point out that the defenders, including MOCHIZUKI Ryuji , contributed a lot to this victory, even though they didn’t stand out so much, falling into the shadow of the four goals.

As we were pressed by the opponent before conceding the second goal, I told the players: “let’s pass the ball around, getting through two or three opponents. If we can’t win by doing so, I won’t blame you.” The players trusted their playing style once more, which lead us to victory.

The 95th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship

Sat. 29 August 2015 - Fri. 1 January 2016

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