On February 12, the opening drama of the 2022 Season of Japanese Football was staged in the Super Cup, and finally last season's J-League champion Kawasaki Forward lost 0-2 to Emperor Cup champion Urawa Red Diamonds, and Japan international Ren Esaka won two goals from Urawa.
This is the 6th year that Onimuda has led Kawasaki, and Kawasaki has won the championship four times in the league in the previous five years, which is now an invincible presence in Japanese football. Kawasaki shouted the slogan of the season's four crowns during the preparation period, and the Super Cup is obviously the first goal to be completed.
However, Urawa is clearly the most difficult opponent Kawasaki has encountered in the past six months, and there is no one. Since losing 5-0 to Kawasaki on March 21, 2021 and suffering the worst home defeat in recent years, Urawa has drawn all three times against Kawasaki in the second half of last year, including a miraculous two goals in the second leg of the Japan United Cup semi-finals, eliminating the opponent's classic match 3-3.
Urawa has set a three-year reconstruction plan in 2020, and the team lineup has undergone an update. Not only were Esaka, Shibato, Takuya Iwaba, Atsuki Ito, Kaohiro Namoto and others reused, but after the end of last season, the club directly abandoned Tomoaki Makino, Kamiya Uga and Shinzo Koki, three 30+ veterans who had played for the team for more than 10 years, which was a complete change of blood. Urawa's main squad this season is expected to be only first-captain goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa and international right-back Hiroki Sakai over 30 years old, while number one centre-back Schultz turns 30 in October this year. (PS: New signings Ken Iwao and Kazuaki Mado are also over 30 years old, and although they start the Super Cup, they may not necessarily be the absolute main players such as Nishikawa and Sakai. ）
What's more, Spanish coach Rodriguez has always been known for reusing local players in Japanese football, and he basically relied on only one foreign defender when he promoted Tokushima in the 2020 season, and the midfield is an all-day class. Last year's first season in Urawa, Rodriguez is basically the same, although the team has super scorer Juncker, but the Danish injuries and transfer rumors are many, Rodriguez has repeatedly let the forward-back-born Esaka as a striker, and only danish defender Schultz has also achieved good results.
In this Super Cup, Rodriguez's tactics are still the same, in the case of Juncker and Koizumi Yoshiho two attacking players can not participate, the back line is still only relying on Schultz a foreign aid, the front line is Esaka Ren partner Named Moto Kaoho. It was Also Esaka's outstanding performance that helped Urawa win the championship.
In the 7th minute of the match, Hiroki Sakai rushed out of the siege with the ball in the right side of urawa, and Esaka Ren wrapped his right foot in the penalty area and pushed into the far corner, and the ball drilled into the side net opposite the goal.
In the 36th minute of the second half, Namoto Kaoho received a long pass from the back and won the ball in a scramble with Kontaro Cheya. Before he crossed the penalty area, Esaka Inserted Shunshi and led the ball to the left, erasing the defense of Kawasaki Captain Akigo Taniguchi, and then a sudden burst of left foot shot the ball into the middle of the goal, Kawasaki goalkeeper Zheng Chenglong was moving to the right to try to save his right side, but it was completely misjudged, and the ball drilled in from his left foot.
In fact, these two balls completely highlight the characteristics of Esaka Ren, both balls are all named Okaho in front of the body to play cover, Esaka Ren inserted after, and the footwork used in the shot can be said to be quite "silky", the goalkeeper beat completely without temper. Ren Ezaka's second goal also makes him the seventh player in the 29-year history of the Super Cup to score two goals in a single game after Kawasaki Striker's Three Balls last year.
More interestingly, this is the second time in Urawa's history that it has won the Super Cup, the last time in 2006. It was also that year that they won the J-League with 22 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats. Will history repeat itself?
On the Kawasaki side, the opening game was knocked out with a stick and lost a crown. In fact, the day before the game, Kawasaki officially announced that 2 players and 2 staff members in the team were absent from the new crown, which is not a good sign from now on.
In this game, in terms of lineup arrangement, I personally feel that Onimuda is a bit aggressive, and The Thai Messi Song Klasin, who has set a Japanese domestic transfer record, directly starts, but he plays the left winger in Kawasaki's 433 formation. During the match, Messi of Thailand could not find any feelings at all, and was eventually replaced by veteran captain Yu Kobayashi in the 77th minute.
In fact, the Thai Messi's best position should be the front, he played 123 games in Sapporo for 5 years, 116 of which were playing in the front, in Sapporo coach Petrovic's 3421 formation, he is one of the two forwards, and even only played once on the left side in 5 years. What's more, Song Krasin himself returned to the team late, and the run-in with the team was obviously not enough.
In the past two seasons, Kawasaki's left side has been the team's killer weapon due to the presence of Mitsuru. Even if the team is behind, as long as you change the way and rhythm of the attack on the left side, there will always be unexpected effects. After the departure of Mitsuru, the team introduced Marcinho, who left the Chongqing team of the Chinese Super League due to unpaid wages, and the Brazilian also replaced the vacancy of the three-goal king in the second half of last season, although he did not score many goals and assists, but he can also play a role in changing the offensive rhythm and routine, including Ryuya Hasegawa, who has left the team to join Yokohama FC this season.
However, the current Song Krasin, which is different from the characteristics of the above three people, also needs to adapt to the new tactics, so the pot of losing must be carried by Onimuda. In fact, in the second half, Oni Muda replaced Schmidt, one of the three midfielders, with Taidou Tsubasa, Shota Oshima and Song Krasin forming a midfield, and Marcinho's return to the winger should be a safer way for Kawasaki. Song Krasin admitted after the game that the first half did not play at all like his own style.
It will be tested later, but if Song Krasin continues to play as a winger, Kawasaki does not have the explosive point of the left-side assault, I am afraid it will be a particularly sad point for the team this season.
However, despite the loss, Onimuda can also see it, after all, this is the first game of the season, and he also admits that the problem exists: "The players are all out, the game and training also see the problem, the accumulation of experience Is very good, although not everything is smooth, but can be corrected before the start of the league." 」 What's more, the runner-up also received a reward of 20 million yen.