Review: Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo 1-1 Cerezo Osaka (J1 MD35)

Despite conceding early on after being pressured, a change of system allowed Cerezo to regain the initiative, and Yamasaki's first goal since joining the club leveled the scores.

Cerezo Osaka travelled to Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo in search of their first win in two matches in the 35th round of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. The starting line-up was the same as in the previous match against Iwata. Ryosuke Shindo, Shunta Tanaka and Lucas Fernandes all started against their former club.



Soon after the start of the game, the team suffered a blow when Reiya Sakata was substituted due to injury. Hayato Okuda came on immediately in the 6th minute, but while Sakata was off the pitch, Cerezo were playing with 10 men, and Sapporo continued to push them back, allowing Sapporo to take the lead in the 9th minute. As in the previous game against Iwata, Cerezo allowed their opponents to take the initiative from the start, and the pace of the game remained in Sapporo's hands. Although the initial formation was the same 3-4-2-1, Cerezo were unable to keep their opponents at bay as Sapporo's volantes dropped back and passed the ball around during the build-up. When Sapporo pushed the ball forward, the defenders inevitably dropped back, opening up the space between them and the attackers and making the whole team look stretched, allowing their opponents to pick up second balls. Sapporo had another crucial chance in the 22nd minute, but this time the shot went wide. Immediately after this play, manager Akio Kogiku decided to change the system. The team reverted to a 4-2-3-1 with Ryuya Nishio at left-back and Hirotaka Tameda one row forward, and a familiar pressing pattern with Leo Ceara and Sota Kitano in the top two positions in defence, and the effect of the change was immediate. In the 29th minute, Cerezo had their first chance. Kitano, playing behind the striker, stole the ball, dribbled forward, played a one-two with Ceara before breaking through and unleashing a shot. The shot narrowly missed the target, but the atmosphere was now different from the early minutes. Cerezo had another crucial chance in the 36th minute. Tameda won the ball high up the pitch and passed to Ceara, who got in behind a defender and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but the angle was slightly off and his shot went just wide of the post. Cerezo's defence regained some stability following the change of the system, but they still allowed their opponents to make some chances, but Nishio and Okuda were able to block some dangerous situations. The first half ended without an extra goal for Sapporo.







At the start of the second half, manager Kogiku replaced Hinata Kida with Capixaba, a move that also changed the arrangement of the players. Tanaka moved up to a volante position, Nishio moved back to centre-back from left-back and Tameda moved to left-back. The decisive moment came early in the second half. Tameda combined with Capixaba to break through on the left flank. Ceara headed in a cross, but it went just over the crossbar. In the 54th minute, Kitano received a pass from Tanaka and dribbled vertically into the penalty area, and in the 57th minute, Okuda fired a mid-range shot. While Cerezo went on the offensive from the start of the second half, Sapporo almost broke through the middle of the pitch in the 60th minute, but Hiroaki Okuno came back to deny them a shot. In the 65th minute, Cerezo made a second substitution. Ryogo Yamasaki replaced Kitano up front and Masaya Shibayama came on as a substitute for Okuno. Sapporo began to slow down, allowing Cerezo more time on the ball, and in the 76th minute, after Yamasaki's drop, Capixaba dribbled through and was fouled to win a free kick. Fernandes tried his luck from just outside box, but his shot went wide. Nevertheless, Cerezo continued to attack and in the 85th minute they finally broke the deadlock. After Tanaka won the ball, Capixaba dribbled in. He was fouled by an opponent but persisted and Tanaka picked up the ball and passed it forward to Shibayama. The 82nd minute change of players saw Shibayama move to the right flank, and he made good use of Okuda's overlap to get off the mark, before cutting inside and unleashing a powerful left-footed shot that was parried by goalkeeper Takanori Sugeno for Yamasaki to tap in. It was Yamasaki's first goal since joining the club, but "it was an equalizer, so it was like 'next, next’," said Yamasaki, and he continued to play for the win rather than dwell on the aftermath. In a long eight minutes of second-half added time, Sapporo's Daiki Suga unleashed a powerful mid-range shot in the last minutes, and Cerezo's Satoki Uejo also fired in a shot. But both went wide and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.







Cerezo had problems with the way they started the game, as in the previous game, but they did not panic after conceding a goal and bounced back from the end of the first half to the second half. "We changed the system, made substitutions and tried different things. The players fulfilled their tasks well,’ reflected manager Kogiku, and the whole team, including the substitutes on the bench, came together to secure the point. Yamasaki, who scored the equalizer, said: ‘I will prepare to get results in the time given to me, and with two home games coming up, I want to show the supporters that we can win, and that we can play dynamically under Mr. Kogiku." The next game is back at home against Avispa Fukuoka. The whole team will be looking to come out fighting for a first win in three matches.