2011-10-15 Yokohama F Marinos 1-1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Sanfrecce dropped to 7th in J1 after coming from behind to claim a point at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.

2011-03-05 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0-0 Vegalta Sendai

Sanfrecce’s League campaign got off to a slow and nervous start. MIZUMOTO Hiroki made his debut on the left of the defence, and David MUJIRI also debuted after 74 minutes.

NAKAJIMA continued in his improvised centre-back role after playing there in pre-season. Up front, LEE stood in for HISATO who must have picked up a knock in the final practice game against Giravanz Kitakyushu.

2010-04-21 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0 Nagoya Grampus

I’ve been quite inactive lately, as my time in Japan draws to a close. I’ll try to write a Sanfrecce Update soon, before the World Cup break at least. For now here is a photo from this evening of Tulio getting away with a trip on Hisato.

Tulio versus Hisato - stefanole

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.

2009-06-27 Kyoto Sanga 2-0 Sanfrecce

Sanfrecce were unable to avenge their 2007 playdown defeat after they lost to a physical Kyoto side.

Just from these highlights, I count a free-kick from within 25 yards out, and two penalties not given to Sanfrecce. Kyoto’s first goal came about because the Sanga player had too much space, but that was because the Sanga players had kicked Kashiwagi around so much that he was limping and couldn’t keep up. Nice to see the spirit of fair play still alive and well. The second goal seems to have come from bad marking by Morita.

2009-06-03 Oita Trinita 2-2 Sanfrecce

No Youtube yet unfortunately, but I’ll post this anyway.

A. Ienaga 30′ 1 – 0
1 – 1 39′ Y. Hashiuchi
1 – 2 59′ R. Hirashige
Ueslei 79′ 2 – 2

Scorers for Sanfrecce were youngsters (21 and 20 years old respectively) Hashiuchi Yuya (DF) and Hirashige Ryuichi (FW).

Hirashige is a known talent, with over thirty appearances for Sanfrecce since 2007 (most if not all as a substitute probably) and half a dozen goals.

Hashiuchi is a new name to me though, and Wikipedia claims that he has made only three previous appearances for Sanfrecce. This would be his first professional goal. It’s likely that he was given a chance in place of Makino, who is away with the Japan national team who play tomorrow in Uzbekistan. (A win for Japan will see them qualify for the 2010 World Cup.) If that is the case then it is a very good call by coach Petrović.

Although Sanfrecce are currently third in their qualification group for the quarter finals of the cup, they are only a point off second place (and qualification) with a game in hand, and after the 7-0 drubbing of Omiya, Sanfrecce have the best goal difference of any team in the competition. Most forum pundits therefore have Sanfrecce qualifying from Group A along with Urawa Red Diamonds. (Link to tables. Note that the colour coding is incorrect: the top two teams qualify, not the top four.)

I now have mixed feelings about Sanfrecce’s possibly progressing in the Nabisco Cup. Previously I was set against it since it is a big distraction for such small gain. However, if Petrović continues to use the competition as a means to blood Sanfrecce’s talented youngsters in a challenging but relatively safe environment, then I will stand square behind the effort. Really I think the competition should be restricted to U23s or something, along the same lines as the Olympics, but apparently that idea was shot down when the JFA proposed it to the J-League. So it goes.

As for Sunday’s game against Albirex Niigata, Sanfrecce are 1.62/1 to win. Albirex Niigata are a massive 6/1. Here’s hoping for eight goals this time, since I’m planning on attending this weekend.

2009-05-30 Sanfrecce 7-0 Omiya Ardija

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

I didn’t go to the game as it was a pointless cup game. But still, what about them Purple Archers eh? Some more results like this in the league would be nice.

H. Sato 4′ 1 – 0
I. Stoyanov 12′ 2 – 0
Y. Kashiwagi 35′ 3 – 0
Y. Kashiwagi 56′ 4 – 0
T. Aoyama 67′ 5 – 0
T. Yokotake 89′ 6 – 0

Don’t know who the seventh scorer was yet.

2009-05-23 Oita Trinita 0-1 Sanfrecce

I mistook this game for a cup game. The previous game was a cup game as are the next four, but for some reason that escapes me this weekend was scheduled for league fixtures. Whatever, the three points come in very handy. Although Sanfrecce would have been expected to win this game since Trinita are currently rock bottom, they did manage a draw last week in the cup against Urawa (2nd in the league) and nobody wants to be facing a team who have their backs against the wall and a new-found purpose. Hisato put paid to that with his second goal in two games, which after today (Sunday)’s games, means Sanfrecce are in sixth place, level on points with Gamba Osaka.

2009-05-16 Sanfrecce 3-1 Montedio Yamagata

9,479人
Y. Kashiwagi 8′ 1 – 0
T. Makino 10′ 2 – 0
Y. Takahagi 45′ 3 – 0
3 – 1 67′ M. Akiba

Sanfrecce claimed three points against a lacklustre Yamagata at the Big Arch.

I got some good photos including two of the three Sanfrecce goals, but I’ve no idea when the crap with Flickr will be sorted since it’s been a week of talking to the brick wall that is Flickr’s customer support. Anyway, here is Kashiwagi poking the ball in for the first goal. I’ll try to write a quick summary before next weekend.

2009-05-05 Sanfrecce 2-0 FC Tokyo

Finally, three points, and another clean sheet into the bargain. Maybe I’ll write a report tomorrow, maybe not. The flickr set will take a while though because my paid account expired and it’ll take a few weeks for me to organise payment for another year.

Scorers were Takahagi and Hisato.