Review: Kawasaki Frontale 0-0 Cerezo Osaka (J1 MD5)
- TEAM
After a five-day interval from the Meiji Yasuda J1 League Section 4 against Sagan Tosu, which marked the first victory of the season in the league match. Cerezo Osaka challenged the away game against Kawasaki Frontale aiming for consecutive wins. The starters were the same 11 players as the match against Tosu. It was a kick-off in the pouring rain.
Immediately after the start, Kawasaki broke through Cerezo"s right side and shot, but GK Kim Jin Hyeon showed a good save. After that, Kawasaki took possession and the development continued to go on the defensive for Cerezo. However, “I have shared with the players about that (Kawasaki) would have make pressures from the very front line and aggressively try to carry the ball forward in the first 20 minutes” (Manager Kogiku), and so they firmly repelled Kawasaki’s kick, centering on Matej Jonic without panicking. During this time, Cerezo struggled to keep the ball, but in the 18th minute, anchor Tokuma Suzuki took a lower position between the CBs and broke the situation, handling the ball. Then, they got a scoring chance from the cross of Ryosuke Yamanaka who received Jonic’s exquisite feed. Yamanaka delivered a pinpoint cross to Mutsuki Kato on the far side, but Kato"s header went over the crossbar and unfortunately did not lead the scoring.
In the 21st minute, Hiroaki Okuno stole the ball at a high position and created a chance. Hirotaka Tameda dribbled and sent a pass inside, and Shinji Kagawa aimed for a shot at the end. From the middle to the end of the first half, Cerezo"s possession rate was higher, and Kagawa"s skillful positioning helped him get involved in the plays and break through the side. In the 38th minute, Yamanaka received a pass from Kagawa and fed another sharp cross, and this time Seiya Maikuma reacted to it inside, but the shot slightly went out of the target. Cerezo kicked back the Kawasaki’s pace of the beginning and finished the first half with the initiative.
In the beginning of the second half, the time that they were pushed in by Kawasaki continued, but Cerezo also looked for opportunities and counterattacked. In the 54th minute, Okuno made a starting point from Yamanaka’s pass, and Maikuma made a shot. And the following 59th minute, they also had a big chance. They made a starting point on the left side, and Riku Matsuda on the right side finally crossed inside. Maikuma tried to shoot the loose ball that DF cleared, but it was prevented by GK. In the 69th minute, Manager Kogiku made his first substitution. Instead of Kato and Kagawa, Leo Ceara and Satoki Uejo were sent in. In the 73rd minute, a single kick from Kim Jin Hyeon created a scoring chance. Kawasaki"s DF mishandled a long ball, and Maikuma faced the GK one-on-one, but since the GK closed the gap, he was not able to shake the back net. Including the first half, while they were unable to score from chances, and in the final stages, they received a fierce attack from Kawasaki. Especially in the 76th minute, after Kawasaki brought in Yu Kobayashi and Daisei Miyashiro, they continued to be attacked into their own half. In the 86th and 90th minutes, both of them headed in the nearly decisive form, but Cerezo blocked them centering on Kim Jin Hyeon. Conceding goals in the last 15 minutes, which had continued for four games from the opening, also stopped, and they achieved the first clean sheet of the season in the league match.
In the end, the game ended with the score remaining 0-0. Kawasaki kept possession for a long time throughout the game, but since Cerezo also created some scoring chances, they wanted to win by scoring a goal somewhere. Even so, it was valuable to obtain one winning point in an away stadium for the first time this season. Correcting the inferiority in the early stages and regaining the initiative, enduring the fierce attacks in the final stages and keeping a clean sheet. They acquired many good elements that will lead to the future. Due to the week for the national team’s activity, the next section of the league match is in two weeks. The next match is the J.League YBC Levain Cup. The stage is the Osaka Derby. As a team, trying to fix the issues, they would like to conclude the matches of March, when they have made steady progress, with a victory.
PREV
LIST
