J-League 2013 Game 1 vs Sanfrecce Hiroshima

First J-League match of the season. Watched it on TV (NHK) at home with couple of my Reds friends. Great start for the season for the Reds 1-2 winner at Hiroshima! Overall ball possession was good,  the 2 goals were both by Kashiwagi and Haraguchi. The first goal was assisted by Haraguchi and scored by Kashiwagi, the second goal was other way around. The only lost goal was direct free kick by Koji Moriwaki, hit the bar and went in, was nothing the GK Kato could have done about it.

Koroki was the starting center FW, quite a surprise as we were told that he was injured and hadn't played against Guangzou on Tuesday.  The other members were as expected. I would have expected a goal from Koroki but, not this time. The Reds player were very focused and the winning factor was didn't let Hiroshima's ace striker Hisato Sato score or play well in the game. What's most important is 3points earned from Hiroshima in a away game, and believe it or not it's actually the first time that Reds (in it's 20 years history in the J-League) won the opening away match. What a start!

Next match is against Nagoya Grampus at our home, Saitama Stadium. Tulio is injured in the match against Jubilo Iwata which is a good sign, although I wished to see him play at Saitama.