Football Tribe SEA Editor
Thai international Chanathip Songkrasin was victorious over national teammate Theerathon Bunmathan as his Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo side brushed aside defending champions Yokohama F. Marinos 3-1 at the Sapporo Dome on Sunday night. The match, billed as the “Thailand Derby” by the J.League’s social media team, was also Yokohama’s Keita Endo’s final match, with Endo having sealed up a loan move to German Bundesliga side Union Berlin only days earlier. However, Endo’s final appearance in a Yokohama shirt for a while was cut short after he suffered hamstring problems in the 17th minute, forcing an early substitution.
Defending champions Yokohama had initially taken the lead in the 15th minute after a Jun Amano screamer from outside the box had beaten Consadole goalie Takanori Sugeno. However, the Northerners acted quickly after being a goal down and soon equalized in the 16th minute through Yoshiaki Komai. Komai connected well with an excellent pass from Brazilian teammate Lucas Fernandes and wasted no time in firing home his first goal in the Japanese top flight.
Chanathip then had his moment in the spotlight in the 18th minute, beating two Yokohama defenders inside the penalty area before laying the ball off to Takuma Arano who slotted in to turn the tide around in Consadole’s favor, much to the horror of Theerathon who could only watch his side going down.
Takuro Kaneko sealed the win for Consadole in the final minutes of the match, ensuring an excellent victory for Consadole over the shell-shocked defending champions. The loss meant that Yokohama had only won two of their 7 matches so far, with the defeat in Sapporo being the fourth one this season.
Kawin Thamsatchanan was an unused substitute in Sunday night’s “Thailand Derby,” watching from the Consadole bench as his team won the match.
Teerasil Dangda came on the pitch as a late substitute as his Shimizu S-Pulse side finally won their first league game of the season, a 4-2 thrashing of visiting Oita Trinita at the IAI Stadium Nihondaira. Shimizu were 2-0 up as the match was suspended for almost an hour in the second half due to adverse weather conditions. Once the match resumed, Shimizu scored twice to make it 4-0, before a late Oita fightback closed the gap to 4-2. The Kyushu side were unable to turn things around though and they fell to their third consecutive defeat.
Shoma Doi scored a 75th minute equalizer as Kashima Antlers forced FC Tokyo to a 2-2 draw at the Kashima Soccer Stadium, while Urawa Red Diamonds had a great day away from the office after beating Yokohama FC 2-0 at the NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Stadium. Another Hanshin Derby also took place on Sunday night, with Gamba Osaka visiting Vissel Kobe at the Misaki Park Stadium. Goals from Yuji Ono and Takashi Usami silenced the star-studded hosts as Gamba emerged out 2-0 victors over their neighbors.
Three late goals ensured that Kawasaki Frontale’s undefeated record remained unblemished after Matchweek 7, as they came back from 1-0 down to beat Shonan Bellmare 3-1 at the Todoroki Athletics Stadium. Both Sagan Tosu and Cerezo Osaka played out a 1-1 draw at the Ekimae Real Estate Stadium, while Kenyan international Michael Olunga had a field day as he scored a hat-trick to ensure a crushing 5-1 victory for Kashiwa Reysol over Vegalta Sendai at the Hitachi Stadium Kashiwa.
As reported previously, Nagoya Grampus’ away tie at Sanfrecce Hiroshima was postponed indefinitely following news that two of Nagoya’s players and a Nagoya team staff were infected with COVID-19, with an alternate date for the match to be announced soon.