Urawa Red Diamonds win 2 matches consecutive after slashing Vissel Kobe with a score of 1-0 in the J.League 2022 at Noevir Stadium, Kobe Hyogo Prefecture.
Yuya Osako, who had been fighting for a long time due to injury in Kobe, has been a starting member since the match against Gamba Osaka on May 8th in Meiji Yasuda J1 Section 12. In the midfield, Hotaru Yamaguchi and Kento Hashimoto acted as double voluntary players, and Andres Iniesta also started in the bottom of the top. Urawa, who got into the away from the home team with a winning lineup, also started Kasper Junker for the first time in about a month. On the 3rd day after experiencing the humiliation of losing to Gunma in the 3rd round of the Emperor’s Cup, attention was focused on how to demonstrate rebound mentality.
Immediately after the kick-off, Kobe lowered the ball backwards to assemble an attack, and Casper’s Junker seized the ball and fired a direct hit on the left post. The fierce battle was cut off by the first action that shook many spectators, but in the 5th minute the Casper accident occurred in his Junker. Yusuke Matsuo was introduced in place of Urawa’s No. 7 who retired from the pitch.
Although it was a dizzying start, it was Kobe that improved the ball retention first. Avoiding the pressure from Urawa’s front line, he moves the ball, and on the front line, Osako becomes a slammer and pushes down the enemy backline. First, the home team grasped the flow of the game, but Urawa who overcame the inferiority in the early stage gradually moved the ball effectively, approaching the goal with a combination from the central breakthrough in the 18th minute, and Kobe also Koya Yuruki in the 22nd minute. Reo Osaki and Yoshinori Muto jump into the cross. Both continued to develop evenly while finding opportunities.
An opportunity arrived in Urawa in the 28th minute. Kai Shibato seizes the ball in the middle stage. Hashimoto managed to clear it, but Ataru Esaka picked up the spilled ball and Tomoaki Okubo shot with his left foot. This is off to the right of the goal, but Urawa is attacking with the pressure of the front line as a weapon. In the 44th minute, Okubo fired a daring left foot shot from a sharp overlap, but unfortunately he did not score a goal.
In the second half, Urawa put Hiroki Sakai into the right SB, which will be the return battle from the injury. With an accurate build-up, remove Kobe’s defense and push it into the enemy camp. Hiroki Sakai also broke through the right side in collaboration with Okubo from a dribble, and the away team strengthened the offensive. However, in Kobe, Muto is aiming for the space behind the SB facing him, and Koya Yuruki is also actively working on it. In the 62nd minute, Bojan put in Krkić and Yuta Goke at the same time, and made a breakthrough.
In the 76th minute, Urawa’s David Moberg gave an accurate free-kick, but GK Daiya Maekawa made a big save in Kobe. The clapping of 21,456 spectators who rushed to the stadium also became fierce, and the battle on the pitch became hot in proportion to it.
It was 90 minutes before the end of the match that the match that both sides fought with all their might to the end moved. Urawa got a long direct free-kick chance, and kicker David Moberg flashed his left foot. This hit the crossbar and was sucked into the goal, and the match moved at the last minute.
Then, after 3 minutes of additional time, the match was settled 1-0. Urawa drastically won the streak following the previous section, and Kobe suffered a disappointing streak.
Credit Photo : J.League
