S-Pulse earn reward for adventure
October 8, 2008: The day after the FC Tokyo-Shimizu S-Pulse match, several media colleagues who did not attend all wanted to know the same thing: "What happened to FC Tokyo?"
It was difficult to answer, as my lasting impression was of the vibrancy of the play and the quality of the goals of S-Pulse in their 5-1 victory.
Tokyo had not defended well in the first half, that's true, and the result could have been different had Konno -- of all people -- not headed directly at keeper Yamamoto shortly after Emerson had dragged Tokyo back into the game at 3-1 with 30 minutes remaining.
But overall it was the adventure and the confidence racing through the S-Pulse players that won the day -- and won it handsomely thanks to five different goal scorers.
When the Tokyo players backed off Yamamoto on the right wing, he found the far corner with a stinging low drive from 30 metres. 0-1.
When the Tokyo defence made a hash of Hyodo's inswinging corner, right back Iwashita was up there in the mixer to accept the gift. 0-2.
When Kajiyama was ambushed while dithering in possession deep in his own half, Edamura played in Hara and the forward performed a Zidane-esque pirouette to bamboozle Moniwa and clip the ball over Shiota. A fantastic goal by Hara. 0-3. Half time.
Apart from the execution of the goal, what really impressed me was Hara's primeval shriek of celebration, picked up by the pitch-side microphone and clearly audible on the excellent J.League After Game Show. He enjoyed that one, didn't he? And it makes you wonder what he's going to do if he scores an injury-time winner in the Nabisco Cup final?
Hara also played a huge part in Okazaki's goal, running directly at the Tokyo defence and passing for "Oka-chan" (nice banner, S-Pulse fans) to hold off Nagatomo and fire past Shiota. 1-4. With 12 minutes to go, game over.
Then Okazaki set up Toda for the fifth, keeping possession in a tight area and playing the ball back for the ex-Tokyo favourite to rifle into the bottom corner. Toda had received a warm reception from the home fans -- and in reply he gave them a high five, or 1-5 to be precise.
What happened to FC Tokyo?
In truth, they didn't do too much wrong at all. It was just one of those games when everything went right for the visitors.
ends
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Comments
The goal was dedicated to Hara's loving mother, who passed away just 6 days ago, that is why he was so excited and screaming to the sky with his pointing finger.
She was only 52, and he kept visiting the hospital in Chiba and back to Shimizu every week, but he never missed the training even at the day of her funeral. (Of cause, his manager Kenta Hasegawa recommended him to absent the training after she passed away, but he never agreed with that idea.) His mother was wishing to watch the final game of Nabisco cup which will be held in November. When he got his goal at the game against Tokyo verdy in September 23rd, he carried bunch of newspapers next morning, which he was featured, and presented them to his mother. What a proud son!
Posted by: PAL | 10/09/2008 at 08:23 PM
Nice blog - I just came across is by chance this morning. As a rabid S-Pulse fan and general J. League supporter I'll be checking back often!
Posted by: Barry | 10/16/2008 at 09:33 AM