Tuesday December 1st saw yet another J.League 1 rescheduled match taking place, this time between bottom-of-the-league Vegalta Sendai and mid-table Kashiwa Reysol at the former’s Yurtec Stadium. Kashiwa, in their third outing after their self-imposed COVID-19 enforced isolation in late October, managed to clinch their second consecutive three points after their temporary hiatus with a straightforward 2-0 win over Vegalta, with Cristiano and Kenya international Michael Olunga on the scoresheet.
J1 Golden Boot-chasing Olunga did his part in creating the first goal for a dominant Kashiwa in the 21st minute, passing the ball towards Cristiano who tore the Vegalta defense apart before planting the ball past goalkeeper Jakub Slowik.
The hour-mark saw Kashiwa doubling their lead, this time with Olunga turning from provider to scorer. A corner kick from Cristiano was unable to be cleared properly by the Vegalta defense, giving an unmarked Olunga the perfect opportunity to score his 26th J1 goal of the season with a powerful right-footed shot that left Slowik well-beaten.
The goal was Olunga’s third consecutive goal in Kashiwa’s three matches after their return from COVID-19 isolation, with the Kenya international also scoring in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sagan Tosu and the 4-1 demolition job of Kashima Antlers in Kashiwa’s previous two post-COVID outings.
Despite having the likes of former FC Barcelona graduate Isaac Cuenca and Shun Nagasawa on the pitch, Vegalta rarely troubled Kashiwa, who managed to retain their two-goal advantage all the way into full-time. The 2-0 win meant that Kashiwa are now 8th in the J1 table, leapfrogging both Urawa Red Diamonds and defending J1 champions Yokohama F. Marinos.
Kashiwa will return to action in the J1’s Matchweek 31 this Saturday, taking on silver medal-chasing Nagoya Grampus at the Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium, before taking on Oita Trinita at the same venue on Wednesday in another rescheduled J1 match. With Kashiwa having six more J1 matches left to be played for, Olunga would have the opportunity to further widen the gap between himself and 2nd placed Golden Boot contender Everaldo of Kashima, with the Brazilian having 17 goals to his name, nine less than Olunga.