Sunday 11 May 2008

S-Pulse 1-0 Champions of Japan

What's the best cure for a stinking hang over? Well, with the usual option of 'huge fry-up and mug of sugary tea' unavailable, sending the Japanese champions packing pointless back to Kashima comes in a clear number one.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - 1 o'clock kick offs are horrendous for all concerned. I very much doubt me and Fuz were alone in nursing sore heads from Saturday night, but along with 16000 others Nihondaira rocked and rolled to the to the sound of our first victory over Antlers since 2003. It wasn't undeserved either. Both teams had plenty of chances, and Nishibe had to be at his best on a couple of occasions to deny the champions, but we controlled the game for long spells, and out-shot the best team the country (as of last December, anyway). Our goal came courtesy of Takuya Honda after the ball broke free in the area and he slammed it home in front of Kashima's travelling army. Honda's really starting to find his feet, and is becoming a crucial starting member. Great time to get his first goal, too!

It was a long hour until the final whistle, with each jump, each clap and each chant like a hammer to an already pounding head. Kashima kept pressing but there was no way through past our final line of defence, and when the end finally came and we grabbed another three points, the party behind the goal could start once again:


Loco loco loco loco!

A little bit worrying again was our lack of real firepower. With Kenta continuing to search for a winning forward two, Fernandinho started up front today and had a couple of chances, but none that really troubled the keeper. Our goal when it came was from a midfielder, but hey ho - who's going to be too choosey when you're talking a win over the reigning double winners? With the win we clawed our way a little back up the table, hauled ourselves above Jubilo and with so many teams squashed together, a win away at Verdy next week could see us into the top ten. We had a lot of tough games to start the season with, and last week's little disaster aside, the last five weeks haven't been too bad!

Well, the head is still in pain, but after this afternoon's fun and games at 'Daira, I feel a hell of lot better! Next home game is Jubilo in the cup - bring it! I'll sign off with a nice little vid of Palchan from today:


Awesome. :)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi! I found your blog at the S-pulse community of the mixi.

I'm a Japanese woman living in Shizuoka. And I'm also a big fan of S-pulse like you. I got season tickets of this year and of course,I went to see the game with Kashima.
I was feeling really good while I was singing "王者の旗”.

Well,I love your blog. I've been studying English for a long time. My English isn't good enough,but I'd like to post my comment to your blog,sometimes.

Fuz said...

Yay! Thats great! Shizza and I loved winning on Sunday, here's to many more wins this season!

Barry said...

Ms. Fiveblossom - welcome to the site and thank you for your message! Your English is great, but I know we often use slang and jokes on this blog, so it must sometimes be difficult to understand! Please feel free to make comments on this blog. Me and Fuz both enjoy writing about S-Pulse, and it's great when people make comments. :)

This season has been up and down so far, but I hope we can get into the ACL for next year! We Believe!