2009-09-20 Kashiwa Reysol 1-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Reysol's fans at the Big Arch in April - stefanole

Sanfrecce’s title ambitions were dented slightly as they were unable to overcome relegation-threatened Reysol at the Hitachi.

September Update: 89th Emperor’s Cup and Chugoku League 2009

The 89th Emperor’s Cup began in earnest last weekend, as the first round proper was played across Japan. As I reported in a previous article, amateur and semi-pro teams across the country have been fighting it out across the country in the past few weeks in local competitions to decide who will be the representative for each of the 47 prefectures, plus one representative from the Japan Universities’ Football Association.

2009-09-12 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-2 Yokohama F. Marinos

STOYANOV (centre) is mobbed by HATTORI, Hisato and MAKINO after his goal - stefanole

A hard-fought win against a battling F. Marinos side sees Sanfrecce move up to joint-second place, and with Kashima Antlers’ grip on the lead of J1 loosening, Hiroshima are headed for a possible title-chase.

2009-08-30 Montedio Yamagata 1-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

KASHIWAGI scores against Yamagata in the home fixture in May - stefanole

Sanfrecce stretched their unbeaten run to seven games, as they did just enough to overcome Montedio Yamagata at the ND Soft Stadium. Montedio thus become the second team that Sanfrecce have taken a full six points from this season, the other team being Oita Trinita. Like Trinita, Montedio are looking increasingly likely to fall through the trapdoor to J2, after just one season in J1.

2009-08-22 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-1 Urawa Red Diamonds

The Sanfrecce faithful at the Big Arch - stefanole

Yes! We are Sanfrecce!

A five-year record crowd of over 27,000 descended on the Big Arch to witness Sanfrecce’s first league victory over Urawa in over ten years (although we did beat them in the Nabisco Cup earlier this year).

2009-08-19 Sanfrecce 1-0 Oita Trinita

AOYAMA, TAKAYANAGI, MORIWAKI and MAKINO celebrate Sanfrecce's goal - stefanole

Sanfrecce overcame relegation-favourites Trinita in a fairly lacklustre game at the Big Arch. The win moves the Purple Archers up to sixth place on the back of five unbeaten games, within sight of Champions League qualification. The game also saw the return of former Sanfrecce assistant coach Ranko Popović as Oita manager, who worked under Sanfrecce’s current manager Mihailo Petrović for a year, from the start of his tenure in 2006.