There are already 2 posts in the random football thread. But anyway, It is good to discuss it in a separated thread, so thank you.
GOALLLLL SHIOTANI 1-0 edit: first half over. My humble opinion: Mazembe has been more "visible", but very ineffective. The Africans have been better physically but Sanfrecce has been tactically smarter overall, playing a great passing game... although they've had a few black-out moments, they never really allowed too much. To exemplify, Sanfrecce scored on his first corner shot, while Mazembe did nothing of its eight. Wouldn't say Hiroshima has been better than Mazembe, but their tactics worked and if they keep playing this way I think they can bring it home.
And it's over, Sanfrecce deservedly advances to the semifinal against River Plate! Started like the first half, with Mazembe trying to get the better of Sanfrecce physically. But this time it didn't last long, Sanfrecce played more aggressively and even wasted a couple good chances with Douglas. After Chiba scored, Mazembe was a ghost of itself.
No! But seeing Sanfrecce's success in the last few years with 3-6-1, I think it is time for Japan to switch to such a formation, especially with the decline of our fullbacks contributions to the team.
Btw a bit disapointed by the olow attendance. I expect in the semi finals for the entire stadium to be supporting Sanfrecce
I think that part of the reason is that J.League teams have deep hometown roots and, being a very balanced championship, there have never been teams able to gain a nation-wide following in the same way as European sides (I'm thinking especially Italy and Spain) except maybe for the Antlers/Jubilo rivalry in the early 00s (Verdy tried to become the Yomiuri Giants of soccer in the beginning years, but failed miserably). And Hiroshima isn't too close to Osaka like, say, Yokohama or Urawa playing in Tokyo. I spotted a banner of the "Sanfrecce Hiroshima Okayama fan club" which imo is already something! Also, I heard Italian commentators mentioning Mito HollyHock. My life is now complete
Yup it was because of that. Still weird because I've been following the J.League for roughly 5 years and it's very rare to watch/read mainstream media talking about it... and the fact that on one of those occasions they mention HollyHock, which is a modest club with nothing really to its name unless you're a regular follower (I actually really like Mito!) was kind of amusing
Great performances from Hiroshima indeed! And nice to see Evergrande win too, although they left if late. Will head to Yokohama for the semifinal between Evergrande and Barcelona, should be an interesting game! What are the chances it will be sold out?
1-0 win for River Plate in the end. Devastating for Hiroshima, really felt they deserved to win this one. Had so many chances, especially in the 1st half. Perhaps Asano or Sato would have scored on Minagawa's missed chances? Strange choice of single FW I thought, but neither Sato or Asano did much when thye came on late in the 2nd half. The Swedish referee Eriksson also had a bad game I think. Were not consistent, and should have warned the Argentine players on several occasions for time wasting, kicking away the ball etc. The goal looked from one of the angles that it could have been offside as well ( on the first cross), but hard to say without proper replay footage. A chance lost for Hiroshima, and we will have to way one more year atleast before we can see a JApanese side in a final. They were really a better team than River Plate imho.
Minagawa didn't miss so much as he was foiled by good goalkeeping. The real wasted chances were in the second half on the counter, and in Hayashi's hesitation on the set piece that led to the goal.