1-0 win with Seiya Maikuma's winning goal and the second clean sheet of the season. First consecutive wins of the season to move up to 7th place.

This season, aiming for a first consecutive win in the league match of the season. Cerezo Osaka welcomed Kashiwa Reysol at home for Meiji Yasuda J1 League Section 9. The starting line-up was changed for one player from the previous match against FC Tokyo. Hirotaka Tameda, who injured his left shoulder during the game two games ago, returned to the starter for the first time in two games.


At the beginning, Cerezo slightly ran behind in defense against Kashiwa who attacked with passes at good speed. There was also a scene where the ball was easily carried forward because they struggled to set the target for stealing. However, Cerezo got the first chance. In the 8th minute, after a quick restart, Tameda threw an accurate long shot, and it hit the post. After that, when they approached the goal from a set piece, they succeeded in scoring the opener in the 23rd minute. Shinji Kagawa intercepted where Kashiwa's building-up pass exchange was misaligned. Immediately, Leo Ceara launched the short counterattack and connected a pass to Seiya Maikuma, and Maikuma calmly scored one-on-one with GK. On the day before the match, he said, "Tomorrow, I want to focus on results. As an individual, this is my chance to show my worth." Cerezo took control of the match, with the bullet of the man who “put pressure” on himself and did as he said. However, after that, Kashiwa created many scoring chances. Even so, in the 27th minute, Matheus Savio's shot hit the crossbar, and nothing happened. And at the pinch of the 29th minute after losing the ball in their own half, in order to cover the mistake of the team mate, everyone threw their body and blocked the opponent's shot. The first half ended without letting the score tie.


In this match, since the opponents made the attacking starting point on the side of Harakawa, who was the anchor, “Through the communication among three of us (Kagawa and Okuno), we did, like [4-4-2] system with Okkun (Okuno) taking a little bit down position” (Harakawa). They modified the middle range position in defense during the game. In the second half, "We were talking about continuing the defense with a good distance as the same as what we did at the end of the first half” (Maikuma), and so they received Kashiwa in the form of [4-4-2]. Kashiwa took possession for a long time, but with their stable defense, they aimed for another goal. Then in the 64th minute, Kagawa became a starting point and carried the ball, and finally Okuno had a big chance to react to Ryosuke Yamanaka’s cross at the near side. In the 70th minute, Okuno played the starting point and sent a pass to the right side. Leo Ceara on the near side and Tameda on the far side jumped into Maikuma’s cross, and so they made a scene where the goal was just a few steps away. In the 83rd minute, Satoki Uejo, who came in as a substitute, broke through the left side and crossed. Okuno met it in the center and shook the goal net, but Uejo was offside and the goal was not counted.


In the end, Cerezo was not able to score the second goal, but in the second half, Kashiwa's shots were limited to two, and the game was played without danger, achieving the second clean sheet of the season. “The defensive position did not fit at the beginning of the first half, but it was good that we fixed it from the midway seeing the balance.” Kim Jin Hyeon, who was wrapping the captain's mark and supported the team from the back, also showed a satisfied expression. Harakawa said, "Today we also had a long time to endure. We want to increase the number of games that we can win under our initiative with more possession, but when we cannot do that, it is also important to be able to win like this. After a three-day interval from the recent Levain Cup, and a 14:00 kick-off in the heat that had been getting more intense, the team played strongly. With their first consecutive win of the season, they moved up to 7th place. At the timing when the top back is finally visible, in the next section they will receive Sanfrecce Hiroshima at home. It is the opponent who they suffered four straight losses in a row in the official match of the last season, but "It cannot be helped if we would be a slave to it. This year is this year. We want to hit what we have been building up," Kagawa said. At the post-match press conference, Manager Akio Kogiku also said strongly, "We want to train day by day with the confidence that the team of this year has grown up, and we will prepare well for the whole week and head into the next section with a focus on content and results." .