On the afternoon of March 19, 2022 Beijing time, the fifth round of the Japanese J-League began, and Shimizu Heartbeat played at home to kobe victory ship. As a result, the two teams fought 0-0. Iniesta came out in the 60th minute of the second half, and although it contributed to the attack of the Kobe Victory Ship, it did not play a role in turning the tide, so we have to admit that the role played by "Lao Bai" has become more and more limited as he has grown older.
In the previous 12 meetings between the two teams, the Shimizu Heartbeat Team won 4, drew 3 and lost 5. The two teams last met on September 24 last year, when The Shimizu Heartbeat team lost 2-0 at home to Victory Kobe. Coincidentally, Iniesta started in that game, but played mediocrely, and was eventually replaced by Daiki Sasaki at the beginning of the second half.
Before the match, Shimizu Heartbeat ranked 14th with 4 points with a record of 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses, and the Kobe Victory Fleet ranked 17th with 0 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses with 3 points. But Victory Kobe played okay in the AFC Champions League play-offs, drawing 1-1 with the Australian team on March 15, and then beating the opponent 3-2 in a penalty shootout to advance to the AFC Champions League.
In this game, the kobe victory ship was obviously not in good shape, especially the match with the Australian team 4 days ago, which was very "physically injurious". So the physical aspect in this game is also a key consideration for the head coach.
After the start of the game, the two teams played evenly in the first half, and Kobe Victory still relied on skillful ground coordination to seek opportunities to break the goal, but the defense of the Shimizu Heartbeat Team was tightly closed, and it hardly gave the opponent too many good chances.
In the second half, the long-unable Kobe Victory Ship was replaced with its own "big killer" Iniesta. Iniesta improved his rhythmic control of the midfield after coming on, but after ten minutes, it was clear that he was tired. Of course, kobe victory ship did not win this game, and it has a lot to do with luck. In the 78th minute, Iniesta sent a precise straight forward, and striker Bojan played too straight on the goal and was finally deflected by the goalkeeper. It was the closest goal to the game, which was a shame.
In this match, Kobe Victory Ship also set a shameful record, that is, Kobe set an embarrassing record in team history of not tasting a single victory in the first seven rounds of the J-League, and played the worst start in the opening stages of the Japanese top league in the 56 years since the establishment of the team in 1966.