Today, Saturday March, 18th was a great day to watch sports and more precisely my local soccer club, Shimizu -SPulse, the only non corporate-owned soccer/football club in the top Japanese J-League!
A practical, especially if you plan on a drink or two, to reach their official ground is to use the Shizutetsu shuttle bus.
The shuttle going exclusively to the Nihondaira Stadium on home games is to be boarded along Matsuzakaya Deaprtment Store across from Shizuoka Station north exit. The bus stop number is 17!
Great staff on hand always ready to answer your questions with a smile!
I was told on that that no less than 25 buses (30 seats each) had been booked!
Remember that bus stop!
Long queue constantly growing!
Our shuttle bus!
40 minutes ride!
Arrival at our destination!
Getting off the bus and walking to the entrance gates!
Local fans having stickers applied on their faces!
17,000 visitors for 20,000 seats available! Quite a good crowd, isn’t it?
Very efficient information desk!
The back stand, from the back! Lol
The main stand where my seat is waiting for me!
My lunch! One you can find only in Shimizu, Shizuoka City Stadium: fried sakuraebi/cherry shrimps and steamed shirasu/sardine whiting rice bowl! Delicious!
Looking for my seat!
Home supporters stand!
The back stand with the VIP room!
The visitor supporter stand!
My stand, the main one!
I actually found seating by two very nice Kashima Antkers who told me that the Shimizu S-Pulse was just the right size as their own ground devised to welcome 80,000 fans always looked half empty!
Japan is such a safe country!
Where would fans leave their belongings unattended on their seats?
Not only that, but everyone will clean their seats after the game!
Since I had some time in my hands, I decided to have a look around and was pleased to find out that beer was available!
Incidentally the gender separated washrooms are better than average!
Plenty of food on sale: takoyaki/octopus dumplings!
Yakiniku/Korean BBQ bento!
Ramen, of course!
sausages et al!
Candy!
And popcorn! (I’ll have the ladies! LOL)
Back to more serious matters: S-Pulse players warming up!
Kashima Antlers players warming up!
Screaming Shimizu S-Pulse fans!
Screeching Kashima Antlers fans!
My quiet stand!
Teams presentation!
Kick off!
1′ slow start. Uncertain passes. No risks taken. Tense.
5′ No clear-cut chances. Both teams still gauging each other.
7′ First shot at goal by S-Pulse. Flying high over the bar.
12′ Pressing from S-Pulse but last passes missing their targets. Too vague an approach.
13′ Kashima Antlers pressing back. Fruitless.
14′ S-Pulse playing to small. Too many simple faults and misses.
16′ First kick at gaol by Kashima Antlers. Volley flying just over the bar.
18′ Blunder by Kashima Antlers Keeper resulting in first corner kick.
21′ First real chance to S-Pulse ending in a weak shot easily caught by keeper.
23′ Kick by S-Pulse sailing over the bar. Too imprecise passing from bith sides.
27′ Risky defense from S-Pulse.
31′ S-Pulse playing too small, missing real possibilities.
33′ Dangerous free kick given away to Kashima Antlers who waste the chance.
37′ Kashima becoming really dangerous, but shot beautifully parried by S-Pulse keeper.
41′ Kashima dominating.
41′ dangerous counter attack by S-Pulse.
41′ Kashma Antlers immediately replies with a dangerous free kick.
42′ GOAL! The free kick poorly aimed is claered off and Kashima’s defense makes a mess of it offering a sucker goal to S-Pulse against the run of play to the delight of Shota Kaneko!
43′ Corner kick for S–Pulse.
44′ S-Pulse Chong Tese yellow carded for elbowing. Would have been a red card in Europe…
45′ Corner kick for Kashima Antlers.
Last seconds of the first half: Antlers’ Yuma Suzuki slicing easy chance past goal.
Half-time: S-Pulse 1, Kashima Antlers 0
A somewhat lucky lead for S-Pulse but well taken. kashima Antlers will have to change their strategy and try to use their advantage in height.
Half time majorettes show!
48′ Risky passing by Kashima Antlers.
51′ Corner kick for S-Pulse. Volley sailing over the bar.
55′ S-Pulse barely clears a very dangerous center kick. Poor execution by Kashima Antlers of resulting corner kick.
61′ Kashima Antlers curl the ball past S-Pulse far post
Kashima Antlers booing the opposition.
62′ S-Pulse clears off dangerous cross kick in a hurry. Corner kick. Antlers dominating.
63′ S-Pulse clears dangerous kick.
General tempo rising.
66′ Weak shot at goal by S-Pulse easily parried.
Kashima Antlers Yuma Suzuki yellow-carded.
68′ S-Pulse hits the left post!
Kashima Antlers Mu Kanazaki yellow carded for silly dissent.
Kashima Antlers fans booing. Not nice…
69′ S-Pulse kick cleared into corner kick.
70′ GOAL! Shimizu S-Pulse 2, Kashima Antlers 0
Ryohei Shirasaki ends up with a close shot after Kashima Antlers careless defense.
73′ GOAL! Shimizu SPulse 2, Kashma Antlers 1
Naomichi Ueda scores unmarked from a corner kick.
77′ Kashima Antlers dominating. S-Pulse tiring.
79′ Corner for Kashima.
79′ GOAL! Shimizu S-Pulse 2, Kashima Antlers 2
After a long pressure Yuma Suzuki scores from short range after repeated pressure.
That is when I find out that my neighbors are the very parents of S-Pulse’s assassin!
84′ Kashima misses clear chance with poor shot.
85′ GOAL! Shimizu S-Pulse 2, Kashima Antlers 3
Great diving heading inside far post by Mu Kanazaki who exploits poor defense by exhausted S-Pulse.
89′ Free kick poorly executed by S-Pulse.
90′ Kick over the bar by Kashima.
Overtime Kashima soaks up desperate pressure from S-Pulse.
Full time: Win for Kashima Antlers!
Game analysis:
Kashima Antlers deserve heir win through unending pressure, making great use of their wings in the second half.
Shimizu S-Pulse had a great chance to create a shock win, but lost in the end for lack of stamina and too a conservative approach to the game. At tomes they seemed to play in a handkerchief, preferring the safe back pass to the adventurous forward kick. The coaching missed a trick or two by not using their three substitutes at once after the second goal when the team was already obviously tiring. It might sound harsh, but at this level one does not lose a 2-nil advantage with only 20 minutes left in the game! Introducing a forward substitute in the last minutes when the game was lost is not a very good sign…
Kashima Antlers deserve their win and will play the first roles in the League this year.
I sincerely hope that S-Pulse will have learned from their mistakes and will bounce back!
A minus point: Kashima Antlers supporters very un-Japanese constant booing…
But all in all a great afternoon!
Looking forward to more of the same!
SHIMIZU S-PULSE
GK 13 Seiji ROKUTAN
DF 5 Shoa KAMATA
DF 3 Tomoya INUKAI
DF 45 Makoto KAKUTA
DF 25 Ko MATSUBARA
MF 7 Mitsunarai MUSAKA
MF 14 Gakuto NOTSUDA
MF 22 Takuma EDAMURA
MF 10 Ryohei SHIRASAKI
MF 30 Shota KANEKO
FW 9 CHONG TOSE
Subs:
GK 43 Yuki UEKUSA
DF 26 Hiroshi FUTAMI
DF 27 Takahiro IIDA
MF 44 Leoandro FREIRE de Aranje
MF 11 Kazuya MURATA
FW 19 Mitchell DUKE
FW 18 Yu HASEGAWA
Head Coach Shinji KOBAYASHI
KASHIMA ANTLERS
GK 1 KWOUN SUNTAE
DF 24 Yukitoshi ITO
DF 5 Naomichi UEDA
DF 3 Gen SHOJI
DF 16 Shuto YAMAMOTO
MF 6 Ryota NAGAKI
MF 40 Mitsuo OGASAWARA
MF 8 Shoma DOI
MF 25 Yasushi ENDO
FW 9 Yuma SUZUKI
FW 7 PEDRO JUNIOR
Subs:
GK 21 Hitoshi SOGAHATA
DF 22 Daigo NISHI
DF 28 Koki MACHIDA
MF 4 LEO SILVA
MF 11 LEANDRO
MF 13 Atsutaka NAKAMURA
FW 33 Mu KANAZAKI
Head Coach: Masatada ISHI
Referee: Masuya UEDA
Assistant Referee:Seiichi KANAI
Assistant Referee:Satoshi KARAKAMI
4th Official:Tsuyoshi OGURA
RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES
So Good Sushi Restaurant in Nice France
Navigating Nagoya by Paige, Shop with Intent by Debbie, BULA KANA in Fiji, Kraemer’s Culinary blog by Frank Kraemer in New York,Tokyo Food File by Robbie Swinnerton, Green Tea Club by Satoshi Nihonyanagi in Shizuoka!, Mind Some by Tina in Taiwan, Le Manger by Camille Oger (French), The Indian Tourist, Masala Herb by Helene Dsouza in Goa, India, Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London, Pie
rre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento, Hapabento, Kitchen Cow, Lunch In A Box, Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red’s Bento Factory, Ohayo Bento,
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Ichi For The Michi by Rebekah Wilson-Lye in Tokyo, Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Another Pint, Please!, Beering In Good Mind: All about Craft Beer in Kansai by Nevitt Reagan!
ABRACADABREW, Magical Craftbeer from Japan
-Whisky: Nonjatta: All about whisky in Japan by Stefan Van Eycken
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents
HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City
