Review: Kashiwa Reysol 2-1 Cerezo Osaka (J1 MD3)

Despite taking the lead with Sota Kitano's third goal of the season, the team was unable to hold on defensively in the second half and suffered a disappointing comeback loss.

Three days after their 1-2 loss to Shonan Bellmare in the previous match, Cerezo Osaka traveled to Kashiwa Reysol for the third round of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. There were four changes in the starting lineup from the Shonan match. Ryuya Nishio, Hinata Kida, Masaya Shibayama, and Motohiko Nakajima started for the first time this season, with Shibayama starting on the right wing and Nakajima up top.



As manager Arthur Papas said before the match, “In the previous game, we played backward a lot. For this week's match, we want to understand where the free, open spaces are, and we want to increase the number of options going forward," Cerezo entered the game with an aggressive attitude from the start, both offensively and defensively. Against Kashiwa, who played the ball from the back, including the goalkeeper, Cerezo limited them by pressing up front and moved forward, using the option of connecting the ball with their feet or simply playing long balls into the spaces flanking the back three, depending on the situation. While Cerezo showed improvement from the previous match, Kashiwa had the first chance to score. Wataru Harada cut inside and fired a low shot in the 12th minute, but goalkeeper Kim Jin Hyeon reacted quickly to make the save. Shortly after, in the 13th minute, Cerezo successfully took the lead. Shibayama received a vertical pass from Kida, cut in from the right side, and passed to Reiya Sakata on the opposite flank. Sakata's cross was cleared by a defender, but Kida and Nishio made a dash for it and reacted to the second ball. Nishio's play resulted in the ball being passed to Sota Kitano, who swung his right foot out and found the back of the net. As he himself said, “I hit it on the spur of the moment,” it was a brilliant strike that came as a natural reaction of his body. Cerezo continued to aggressively take the ball from the front, sliding up and down, left and right, and leaving no holes in the defense. In the 27th minute, Kitano received a vertical pass from Shunta Tanaka and shot. From the resulting corner kick, Nishio met Shibayama's kick with a header that flew just in front of the goalkeeper. Although Kashiwa had a chance to break down the flanks towards the end of the first half, they lacked precision in their play and Cerezo were able to capitalize. In first-half added time, Nakajima broke down the right flank and finished, but his shot went wide. Cerezo were unable to add to their tally, but they kept their focus on both offense and defense, and continued to play compactly throughout the first 45 minutes.





Early in the second half, Cerezo had a big chance. Sakata took advantage of an opponent's trapping mistake and played a one-two with Kitano into the penalty area. He shot off an opponent's marker and hit the hand of a defender and went out of the goal. VAR intervened and an on-field review (OFR) was carried out, but the referee ruled “no penalty kick”. It was a decision that Cerezo did not seem to agree with, but their failure to capitalize on this good opportunity would have consequences for them later. Cerezo had another chance in the 56th minute. Ryosuke Shindo played a long pass to Shibayama on the right flank, and Kitano collected the pass from Shibayama and fired a shot but it was stopped by the goalkeeper. After a frustrating game in which it seemed as if a second goal would be scored but it was not, Kashiwa equalized in the 66th minute. After right back Hayato Okuda carried the ball and was intercepted, Kashiwa quickly switched sides and broke down Cerezo's left flank, leading to a goal from Yuki Kakita inside the box. From that point on, the tension in the home stadium increased dramatically, and Kashiwa came out firing. In the 72nd minute, Papas made three substitutions in an attempt to regain control of the game, but the changes did not work, and Cerezo were unable to stem the tide. In the 74th minute, Okuda again dribbled and lost the ball, which led to a shot that put Kashiwa back in front.





Cerezo could not find a way to fight back against Kashiwa, who continued to come at them with energy and vigor. In the 81st minute, Vitor Bueno replaced Tanaka and the team tried to equalize with a more aggressive lineup, but they could not create a decisive chance, and the game ended. Cerezo came into the game with a strong aim in attack and defense, but were unable to stop Kashiwa's wide-open side attacks, and lost the game in the end. It was a frustrating away game. But there is no time to look down. The next away game is in three days. First, the team needs to get into good shape, and then the whole team will work together to get the three points.