Review: Kyoto Sanga F.C. 1-1 Cerezo Osaka (J1 MD17)

The first goal was scored by a brilliant combination of players, but the score was levelled in the second half to draw the game, and the team missed out on the three points they needed to catch up with the top teams.

Five days after a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Cerezo Osaka traveled to Kyoto to take on Kyoto Sanga F.C. in the 17th round of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. The starting lineup was changed from the previous week. Capixaba returned to the starting lineup after a seven-match absence since the 10th match, replacing Jordy Croux.



As manager Akio Kogiku had read, Kyoto pushed the ball forward from the start. Yuta Toyokawa was tasked with scoring for Kyoto. He volleyed in a cross from the left side in the 1st minute and again in the 6th minute with a bicycle kick from a set piece. Both goals went unanswered, but the former Cerezo striker showed his true colors early in the game, and the visitors were able to hold on for the win. Cerezo gradually regained their composure and, while assessing their opponents' press, used their ability to link up and shoot from the back to keep Kyoto off the scoresheet. Manager Kogiku's "game plan was to break up their compact formation vertically and horizontally," and goalkeeper Kim Jin Hyeon's kicking was excellent, delivering accurate feeds to the left and right wings. In the 14th minute, Leo Ceara almost gave his team the lead via a single pass, while Kakeru Funaki made two good blocks to deny Kyoto from a Kyoto set-piece on the 20th minute. Cerezo took the lead in the 33rd minute. Capixaba dribbled through three men and was fouled, and from the quick restart he broke through the middle of the pitch. Ryuya Nishio played the ball vertically, Lucas Fernandes held it up, drew an opponent and flicked a pass to Hiroaki Okuno. The space created by leaving his marker stranded allowed Okuno to move into the area and finish. Vitor Bueno's pass was met by Ceara, who found the back of the net. It was a magnificent goal, the result of the combined efforts of several players. Towards the end of the first half, a break down the left allowed Toyokawa to shoot, but Kim Jin Hyeon made a good save. Cerezo went into the break with a one-goal lead.





The match was going "ideally" (Kim Jin Hyeon), but there was a pitfall at the start of the second half. In the 55th minute, a lack of defensive awareness on the left side of the pitch allowed Kyoto to advance, and their right back allowed a through ball to slip through behind him. Taichi Hara's shot was saved by Kim Jin Hyeon, but Kyoto scored from the rebound. Nishio regretted the lack of defensive coordination in this situation, saying, "The forward players went forward, but the back players did not, leaving space between the back and forward players. From that point on, both teams made full use of substitutions in their attempts to score a second goal. Cerezo introduced Hiroshi Kiyotake and Hirotaka Tameda in the 75th minute. The team tried to break the deadlock by passing the ball to Kiyotake. In the 86th minute, Kyoto found the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed due to a foul on the goalkeeper, and the score remained unchanged. In the 89th minute, Satoki Uejo and Hiroto Yamada came on to replace the front four, and in the 90+6th minute, Uejo took a pass from Kiyotake and attempted a volley that went over the crossbar. In the final minutes of the game, with the opponent's lineup stretched thin, the team "attacked with short passes, using the players in the front and back" (manager Kogiku), but the second goal was not scored.





In their first match in June, the team failed to get the three points they needed to catch up with the top teams. "I think it was a disappointing result for us to end up with a draw despite scoring first," said Okuno. Ceara, who took his goal tally for the season to 13, added: "It's not just me who is disappointed. Everyone in the team is frustrated," he said, not hiding his disappointment. Still, he turned his attention to the first game of the J.League YBC Levain Cup playoff round, which is only three days away, saying, "We have the Levain Cup coming up soon, so we will prepare without looking down. The team will face FC Machida Zelvia in two important games in a row, both for the cup title and to raise their level of competitiveness for the league.