Review: Iwate Grulla Morioka 0-1 Cerezo Osaka (J.League YBC Levain Cup 1st Round MD2)

Vitor Bueno's artistic shot decided the game and led the team to the third round of the Levain Cup.

After a league match against Kawasaki Frontale last weekend, Cerezo Osaka faced Iwate Grulla Morioka in the J.League YBC Levain Cup 1st Round Matchday 2.

The starting lineup was changed from the Kawasaki match, with the exception of central defender Koji Toriumi. Shinji Kagawa returned to the starting lineup for the first time in about a month since the J1 match against Sagan Tosu. Other fresh faces included Ryo Watanabe, Hiroto Yamada, Justin Hubner, Hayato Okuda, Reiya Sakata, and Yang Han Been, all making their first starts this season. Hiroshi Kiyotake and Yuichi Hirano were also included in the squad for the first time this season.





Iwate defended in a 5-4-1, but Cerezo got the ball early and tried to create chances with diagonal passes and passes behind the back of the opposing defenders. The first chance came in the 7th minute. Kagawa sent a pass into space on the right, Jordy Croux collected it, dropped it and Sakata crossed for Watanabe, who volleyed just wide. Moments later, former Cerezo player Ken Tokura unleashed a powerful shot that went just wide. Cerezo tried to increase their possession and get closer to the goal, but were unable to create good chances as they were under pressure from their opponents' defense. The game went on as they were unable to control the pace of the game, as seen in the 24th and 25th minutes when their opponents attacked from the flanks. Cerezo pushed back from the middle to the latter part of the first half, with Croux receiving a pass from Okuda and shooting narrowly wide, and Sota Kitano and Kagawa going for goal from the center of the pitch, but the first half ended 0-0.





Soon after the start of the second half, Cerezo let Iwate have a decisive chance. A cross from the left flank was met by Tokura from close range. It was really a decisive shot, but goalkeeper Yang Han Been made a super save with his right hand and prevent the goal from scoring. Cerezo too had a chance to score in the 57th minute. A feed from Toriumi was met by Watanabe on the front line, and Kagawa collected the ball and passed it to Yamada who dribbled past a defender and fired a shot, but it went wide. In the 66th minute, Akio Kogiku, seeing this as the crucial moment to win the game, made four changes at once. Leo Ceara, Lucas Fernandes, Vitor Bueno, and Kakeru Funaki were all introduced to get the game going. The team lived up to the manager's expectations and scored a goal to give them the lead shortly thereafter. Fernandes received a feed from Hubner, managed to keep the ball, and sent a pass inside to Bueno, who took one touch and finished with a well-controlled shot into the right side of the net.





From this moment on, Cerezo allowed Iwate to make a series of chances, but a decisive header in the 77th minute went wide, and goalkeeper Yang Han Been made another great save to prevent a goal in the 90th minute. Cerezo were able to hold on to Bueno's one-goal cushion and managed to advance to the third round. After the match, manager Kogiku praised the good work of his opponents and said, "The important thing today was to win anyway. That's all that matters, and the players who started the game fulfilled their roles, and the players who came out in the middle of the game successfully scored a goal and finished the game. I think all 20 players fulfilled their roles in the game." The team won their first game in the Levain Cup, continuing the positive trend from the league, and will now take on Nagoya Grampus in the next league match.