Red Whales Ease Past Erratic Marinos (0-2)

A comfortable win that could have been even more comfortable had we been more ruthless when we looked like running rampant after Josh Kennedy bagged the opening goal. Still, that goal was against the run of play at that point and the final two goal margin flatters us slightly.

Grampus:
Seigo Narazaki
Hayuma Tanaka, Tulio, Takahiro Masukawa, Shohei Abe
Naoshi Nakamura (Igor Burzanovic 52), Danilson, Magnum
Mu Kanazaki (Yoshizumi Ogawa 77’), Josh Kennedy, Keiji Tamada (Mitsuru Chiyotanda 88’)

The Marinos got off to much the better start and looked the better teams for the first 20 minutes or so. Daisuke Tasaka and Shunsuke Nakamura both had great opportunities to open the scoring, but Tasaka skied his effort into the stands and Nakamura was denied by Narazaki. Fortunately, despite these chances they failed to score during this period and once we went ahead in the 37th minute, they were in danger of collapsing and finding themselves out of the contest by half time. However, it was then our turn to waste some good chances and the half eventually ended with us leading by solitary goal.

Kennedy’s goal itself, saw the Auusie striker pounce on a loose ball after some sloppy play in defence by the Marinos, and Yuji Nakazawa’s challenge as the Aussie shaped to send a curling shot into the top corner meant that the ball spun the other side of the wrong-footed keeper. We then proceeded to run rampant over the final minutes of the half, with Magnum and Mu Kanazaki both spurning excellent opportunities to add to our lead.

HT: 1-0 to Grampus

We were forced into an early substitution in the second when Igor Burzanovic came on for Naoshi Nakamuri, who pulled a thigh muscle in an early challenge. Tis seemed to disrupt our rhythm, and the game degenerated into some scrappy play for the next few minutes with neither team able to establish control. Danilson scored for the second game in a row to make it 2-0. A wicked deflection helping ensure that the Columbian’s shot beat Iikura in the Marinos goal.

The Marinos again started to look the more likely team to score as we started to tire in the heat. Watanabe found himself free in box, but hit a difficult chance past Narazaki’s far post. The Japan goalie was eventually forced into another good save, when a typically curling Shunsuke Nakamura free kick saw him tip away the ball as it headed fro the top corner.. In the dying minutes, reserve goalies Yoshiari Takagi was sent off without ever coming off the bench. Danilson was noticeably hobbling at the end after a clash with Kurihara had seen both players earn yellow cards. However, it looks like he recover in time for next game.