Kobe Starting XI: Yamamoto; Yasuda, Masukawa (Takahashi, min. 46), Iwanami, Okui; Morioka (Ogawa, min. 46), Jung, Bueno; Watanabe, Marquinhos (Ishizu, min. 70), Pedro Junior

Reysol Starting XI: Sugeno; Wako (Yamanaka, min. 73), Masushima, Suzuki, Kim; Cristiano, Otani, Barada, Taketomi (Kurisawa, min. 90 +1); Leandro (Ota, min. 85), Kudo

In the first match of the 2015 J-League campaign, Kashiwa Reysol came into the NOEVIR Stadium and won all three points to get their season off to the perfect start. A goal in the sixty-third minute from Masato Kudo sealed the deal for Tatsuma Yoshida’s men.

Formations

Kashiwa’s new head honcho put his men in a classic 4–4–2. But they really relied on the pace of Cristiano down the left flank to create some space down the middle and in the box. The two-pronged attack of Leandro and Kudo really caused fits in the Kobe back line because the duo was constantly hanging around the back shoulders of the two center halves.

For the hosts, manager Ryo Adachi threw out a 4–3–3 starting formation with the hopes of over running the middle of the park. The midfield trio of Morioka, Jung, and Bueno did a good job of pressing early on. However, their energy soon faded and Reysol were able to find spaces where the Vissel midfielders were supposed to be.

Brazilian Influence

Brazilian footballers have been coming to Japan to practice their trade for many years now and there were a couple in both starting XI’s including Bueno, Pedro Junior, and Marquinhos on Kobe with Reysol possessing both Cristiano da Silva and Leandro. The two standouts in this match were Marquinhos and Cristiano.

Vissel’s Marquinhos had a couple of opportunities to really make a statement on the match. The 38-year-old striker played a sublime pass to Pedro Junior that threaded the opposition backline apart. He also nearly found the back of the net on another occassion but failed to get any decent contact on the ball. His fellow forwards often roam around him opening up space and can finish from some distance away as well.

Cristiano was really prominent down that left flank throughout the entire 90 minutes. His pace really dictated how Reysol were going to attack as he often drifted inside to whip a ball into the box. However, he could sometimes be caught out of position being that high up the pitch and could lead to dangerous counterattacks in future matches.

Reysol’s Interchanging Forwards

The central midfield duo of Otani and Barada really caused the hosts some issues. Both midfielders were given the freedom to roam around to just run where the ball was instead of sticking to their positions.

In return, this created more opportunites for the two strikers and forced the backline to maybe step up to win the ball higher up the pitch rather than stay back and make sure the strikers are covered. These two will need to work on playing better passes to their forwards if they want this strategy to pay dividends in the long run.

Conclusion

Kobe will have felt hard done by this result as they defended excellently for 88 minutes but one lapse in concentration allowed Kudo to score. The only thing that they really lacked was that clinical finish.

Meanwhile, the visitors could not have gotten off to a more perfect start. Their movement off the ball was good as this opened up space for others to roam and put pressure on the Kobe defenders. They will also have to be more potent around the eighteen yard box because sometimes one goal will not be enough for the three points.