Review: Cerezo Osaka 3-5 Kyoto Sanga F.C. (J1 MD27)

Against Kyoto's pressure, Cerezo lost goals from the first half and suffered a tough 3-5 defeat at home.

Five days after their last match against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Cerezo Osaka returned home to face Kyoto Sanga F.C. in the 27th round of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. There were two changes to the starting lineup from the previous match. Vitor Bueno replaced Masaya Shibayama up top and Ryuya Nishio was replaced by Hayato Okuda at right back.



From the start of the match, both teams were quick and aggressive in their pursuit of goals. While receiving Kyoto's attacks, Cerezo also showed their boldness in pressing for the goal. In the 6th minute, after receiving a pass from Kyohei Noborizato, Hirotaka Tameda moved up the pitch and crossed, and in the 9th minute, starting with Leo Ceara, he linked up with Tameda and Bueno, before finishing with a shot. In the early minutes of the match, both sides showed their quality, but in the 12th minute Cerezo lost the ball in their own half and conceded a goal. Kyoto's high press was something to be wary of, so it was a regrettable goal. From this point on, the game tilted in Kyoto's favour, with Taichi Hara slipping in behind with a diagonal move in the 17th minute and scoring with a fine looping shot for the second goal, and then conceding another in the 28th minute after the water break. Cerezo were unable to cope with Kyoto's attack, who had improved both individually and collectively with the signing of a foreign player, and conceded three goals. Cerezo hit back hard from there, with Okuda firing a shot just wide in the 33rd minute, and Ceara had a chance from a short corner in the 35th minute, but his header was saved by goalkeeper Gu Sung Yun. They continued to push forward, earning seven consecutive corner kicks, and pulled one back in the 45th minute. The ball was linked up at a good tempo in front of the opposition goal, and finally Bueno, receiving a pass from Hiroaki Okuno, made a skillful feint to get past a defender and scored with a superb shot on course.





The second half started with Cerezo on the offensive again, but the next goal went to Kyoto, who won the ball, carried it quickly and finally headed in a cross from the right in the 56th minute. In the 61st minute, manager Akio Kogiku replaced Noborizato and Okuno with Nishio and Shibayama. Kakeru Funaki moved to left-back and Nishio and Koji Toriumi teamed up in the centre-back position. However, before they had time to rebuild, Kyoto scored their fifth goal in the 64th minute, again from counter-attack. Kyoto's new Brazilian signing Rafael Elias completed his hat-trick. Cerezo continued to fall for Kyoto's tactics, but Yuichi Hirano, who came on as a substitute in the 73rd minute, turned the tide. He added a good tempo of passing, and in the 76th minute Ceara received Hirano's pass and shot, hitting the crossbar. In the 79th minute, with Hirano as a starting point, the ball was quickly passed to Shibayama and Okuda, and finally to Sota Kitano, who calmly put his left-footed shot into the net. In the 80th minute, Ryogo Yamazaki was brought on for the final change, and in second-half added time, Ceara was fouled and awarded a penalty kick. Ceara himself scored to close the gap to two goals, but the fightback was over. It was their second defeat in a row and they had not won in six league games.





After the match, manager Kogiku said: ‘’I really felt that we need to improve both our individual defensive range and our defence as a group. We must also reflect on the way we conceded goals because of the poor way we conceded them." How seriously will the whole team take the disappointing five-goal defeat at home, and will they be able to build on it from the next game onwards? The club's resilience will be tested.