Japan 13-14 oct.

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13/10/07 05:00 FC Tokyo Verdy - Shonan Bellmare 1,50/3,50/5,30
13/10/07 05:30 Consadole Sapporo - The Spa Kusatsu 1,30/4,00/8,00
13/10/07 09:00 Sagan Tosu - Vegalta Sendai 3,05/3,20/2,00
14/10/07 07:00 Kyoto Purple Sanga - Cerezo Osaka 1,80/3,20/3,65
14/10/07 07:00 Ehime FC - Montedio Yamagata 2,65/3,20/2,20
14/10/07 12:00 Mito Hollyhock - Tokushima Vortis 2,45/3,00/2,50


13/10/07 08:00 Kashima Antlers - Gamba Osaka 2,10/3,20/2,85
13/10/07 08:00 Kawasaki Frontale - Yokohama Marinos 2,25/3,20/2,65

odds:www.bet-at-home.com

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J2 round 45 Preview - Saturday's games:


Consadole Sapporo-Thespa Kusatsu

Their last meeting was in Kusatsu, where the visiting Consadole side won comfortable 3-0. Consadole took the lead in the 35th minute after Nakayama headed home his 5th goal of the season after a Sunakawa cross. Consadole kept it like that until half-time despite some big chances for the home team. Takagi in the Consadole goal once again denied the opposing team any goals, as he came up with a string of fine saves through the game. Definitely the best goalkeeper in the league. Consadole let Thespa more and more into the game after the break, but the aforementioned Takagi had a good day in the Consadole goal. So, with 15 minutes left to play, Consadole doubled their lead through Sunakawa who ran across the pitch to finish Seiya Fujita’s cross. Fujita made it 3-0 in the 89th minute from a beautiful long-shot. Despite winning by a big margin, Consadole only outshot Thespa 11-10. Thespa won their other home match 2-1, and managed a nice 2-2 draw in Sapporo. All previous meetings gives us 3-3-1 for Consadole. Both teams are quite defensively orientated, but only on 1 occasion have we seen less than 3 goals in their meetings. Consadole’s poor form continued last round, where they deservedly lost 1-0 away at Cerezo. On the last 8 matches, they’ve only taken 4 points ( 1-1-6). Their home form isn’t much either, with 2-2-2 on last 6. Thespa on the other hand, drew their 3rd straight game against Mito last round, and have drawn 8 of the last 12 matches. That’s not too bad, but the problem is they’re not winning, with just 1 win from those 12. On the last 6 away they got 1-3-2.
Thespa are the team that draw most matches in J2 by a big margin, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another draw here like last time. Consadole are in awful form, and currently look like they’re dropping out of the top 3. They are a better team than Thespa though, and if they could just find their composure again they should win this easily. Most likely a DRAW.

Sagan Tosu-Vegalta Sendai

The teams met just a month ago, where Vegalta took their 3rd 1-0 win a row. It was a pretty evenly played match, with some big chances for both teams. Vegalta always looked more dangerous though, and probably deserved the win more than Sagan.
They had to wait until the 85th minute before they scored their goal though, as Lopes were clipped down just outside the edge of the box. Hiroki Bandai, who scored a hat-trick against Sagan earlier this season, neatly lifter the ball over the wall to make it 1-0 for Vegalta. Vegalta had 12 shots to Sagan’s 11. Vegalta won the other home match quite comfortably 5-2, while Sagan won their first home match 1-0. All previous meetings gives us 3-0-4 for Sagan.
Sagan’s form has taken a dip, and they’ve only managed 2 points from their last 5 matches. Their home form is not so bad, with 3-2-1 on last 6. Vegalta also seem a little rusty with only 1 win in their last 4 games. Their main problem lies in attack, as they don’t manage to score more than 1 goal pr game. Their away form is quite good though, with 4-1-1 on last 6.
It’s a pretty open match, and Vegalta can easily drop more points here and with that fall further behind top 3. I doubt we’ll see that many goals, as Vegalta neither concedes or scores goal nowadays.4 of the last 5 meetings have ended with 1-0 wins for one of the teams also.
SAGAN WIN

Tokyo Verdy 1969-Shonan Bellmare

Their last meeting were in Bellmare, and Tokyo must have been left gutted as Shonan equalized in the 89th minute to make it a tie. Hulk were on target again for Tokyo, as he easily put the visitors 1-0 up in the 15th minute. He should have scored at least one more though, but weren’t as effective as he usual are this time. Shonan got their defender Tamura sent off right before the break, and now everyone thought Tokyo would run away with it. Tokyo have to blame rued chances for not winning this, as they played almost half the game 11 against 10. But Tokyo got a man sent off themselves, with 7 minutes to play asYukio Tsuchiya, the highly influental man in defence received the marching order. Shonan were quick to exploit the whole in the Tokyo defence, and got their equalizer in the 89th minute through brazilian Marquez. According to chances and play, Tokyo deserved the win, but Shonan put in a great effort with only 10 men and defended well.Tokyo had 17 shots to Shonan’s 10. Shonan won their other home match quite easily 3-0, while Verdy took a 1-0 win in Tokyo.All previous meetings gives us 3-1-3.
Verdy’s form is brilliant, with 5 wins in a row and unbeaten for 9 games. Recently,they’ve been scoring plenty of goals as well as closing this up at the back. Their home is an impressive 5-1-0. Shonan aren’t too bad themselves, with 2-2-0 on last 4 against top-notch competition. With a win here, they will still be in the run for top 3, so it’s quite a big game for them. Their away form is so-so, with only 2-1-3 on last 6.
In Verdy’s current form, it’s hard to see who will stop them, but Shonan held both Cerezo and Kyoto to 2-2 draws recently.
VERDY WIN.

source:http://cerezo-osaka.blogspot.com/

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Kyoto Sanga F.C.-Cerezo Osaka

In their last meeting, Cerezo took a nice 2-1 win at home.Cerezo had to play with a patched-up defence as Maeda was out, but even without him Cerezo did a brilliant job in defence, and denied Kyoto much chances.
Cerezo took an early lead in the 18th minute through midfielder Ale but the lead didn’t last long, as Paulinho levelled the score after a nice pass from Kuranuki only 8 minutes later. Just before the break, Cerezo regained their lead as in-form striker Rui Komatsu quite nicely put Cerezo 2-1 up. Cerezo kept the lead for the rest of the game, and won quite deservedly. Kyoto outshot them 13-11, but Cerezo were overall the best team.
Cerezo also won the other home match, 3-2, and managed 1-1 in Kyoto their previous time there. All previous meetings gives us 1-3-3 for Kyoto, which tells us that Cerezo is a team they usually struggle against. Kyoto’s form is not so good with only 2 points in their last 3 matches.They’ve had a tendency to drop points in the dying minutes, which suggests that the players struggles with fatigue and are probably in need of a rest. Their home form is a mediocre 2-2-2. Cerezo on the other hand, are in great form with 7-1-0 on last 8. But it’s at home Cerezo takes the majority of their points, and away they got 3-0-3 on last 6. Overall this season, Cerezo rank no higher than the 8th best away team in the league ( while they are the 2nd best home team). Both teams looks like fielding the same team as previous matches, apart from Rui Komatsu most likely taking Yasuhito Morishima’s place up front alongside Furuhashi. But Komatsu have proved his worth on several occasions this season, and will probably do just as good a job as Morishima.
With the teams current form, and previous meetings, Cerezo are natural favorites here. But Cerezo’s poor away record goes against them, so they might struggle here. Earlier this season, Cerezo has had a tendency to collapse as well in important matches, but for now it looks like the team has ”grown” past that problem. I think form and fitness will play an important role here, so I’ll rate Cerezo as small favorites.
CEREZO WIN

Update: Kyoto’s coach Minobe got fired 1 hour ago, and in steps Hisashi Kato, a former defender of the Japan NT in the late 70’s / early 80’s. I haven’t found other info about him yet, like coaching history etc, but it will be interesting to see what effect this will have on the Kyoto team. To fire the coach just 1 day before the match of the season might not be a smart thing, but then again, alot of teams get a boost when they sign a new coach. However, I still think Cerezo will win this one.

Ehime FC-Montedio Yamagata

In their last meeting, Ehime lost 1-0 away after pretty much being outplayed for most of the match. Ehime defended with all players behind the ball for most of the game, and only on occasions tried to attack Montedio themselves. For long their tactic worked, cause Montedio didn’t manage to score before in the 66th minute. Montedio should have at least have doubled that score, as they had some big chances that failed to hit the back of the net. Ehime produced only 4 shots to Montedio’s 18, and never really looked like scoring.
Montedio also won the 2 other matches this season, 1-0 away and 3-1 at home. All previous meetings gives us 5-2-0 for Montedio.
Ehime’s form is pretty good for a bottom-half team, with 2-1-0 on last 3, which includes a strong 1-0 away win at Vegalta. Their home form is a decent 2-2-2. Montedio have only picked up 1 point from their last 3 matches, but they met 3 of the top teams those matches.Their away form is 1-3-2.For this match, Ehime has to play without 2 important members who are out with suspension, which will only help Montedio’s case. So despite Ehime’s decent form, I think they will struggle here, and the most they can hope for is a point. Montedio were unlucky not to win against Vegalta last round, and should have gotten more from the 1-2 loss against Avispa too. Both teams are missing their best striker, and for Ehime it’s even more worrying as their other regular goalscorer Uchimura also is out.
MONTEDIO WIN

Mito Hollyhock-Tokushima Vortis

In their last meeting, Mito took a fine 1-0 away win after Mito starlet Shohei Ogura fired home a beautiful shot from 15 metres out that went past everyone. It was an even match, where both teams had a fair amount of dangerous chances. GK Honma in the Mito goal once again did a brilliant job, and kept a clean sheet. Tokushima played really tough ( as usual),but the technical Mito players proved to be too fast for them. Tokushima had 9 hots to Mito’s 8. The 2 other meetings both ended draws, 1-1 and 0-0. Mito holds the upper hand over Tokushima, with an impressive 4-3-0 on all previous meetings. Mito have gone 7 games without a win now, and ended a 6-game losing streak with a 0-0 draw at Thespa last round. Their home form is 1-2-3. Tokushima have only taken 1 point in their last 4 matches, but have impressed at home in some of their previous matches. Away, they’ve only managed 0-2-4 on last 6 and holds a 1-7 goal difference in those matches.
Mito have only managed to win 2 times at home this season, and has here a golden opportunity to make that 3. Tokushima looks shaky, and Mito holds a psychological advantage over them with their great record against them before. Tokushima are also the 2d worst away team in the league, which should strenghten Mito’s chances.
MITO WIN

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Cerezo is on the uptrend, having a 7-1-2 record in last 10.
Kyoto meanwhile has been losing steam,

the +0.5 AH for Cerezo is value to me

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damn, kyoto took a 1-0 HT lead... gogo cerezo

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cerezo went 2-0 down but scored in 88 and injury time to make it 2-2

what a rush!