The 2021 J.League 1 season is now officially underway and the league’s opening match saw champions of the past two seasons facing-off against one another in an exciting encounter. Defending champions Kawasaki Frontale took on the challenge of 2019 champions and Kanagawa Prefecture rivals Yokohama F. Marinos at the Todoroki Athletics Stadium on Friday, with Toru Oniki’s Kawasaki emerging out of the tie victorious. Veteran midfielder Akihiro Ienaga scored a first half brace as the defending champions started their title defense in the best way possible, beating Yokohama 2-0.
Oniki fielded a strong lineup for his side’s first J1 match of 2021, deploying the same starting eleven that dispatched Gamba Osaka 3-2 in the 2021 Japanese Super Cup last week, while his counterpart Ange Postecoglou was missing Brazilian trio Marcos Junior, Elber, and Leo Ceara as well as Takuya Kida. However, familiar faces in Thiago Martins, Theerathon Bunmathan, Teruhito Nakagawa, and Ado Onaiwu were still present in Yokohama’s starting lineup, and Ange also gave a starting debut to new signing Tomoki Iwata, who was poached away from Oita Trinita during the off-season.
Kawasaki picked up from where they left off in 2020, taking charge of the match from the get-go and testing Powell Obinna Obi in the Yokohama goal as early as the 12th minute. Nigerian-Japanese goalie Powell pulled off an excellent save to deny Kaoru Mitoma from scoring the first goal of the 2021 J1 campaign.
However, Ienaga received the honor of being the first J1 goalscorer of 2021 in the 23rd minute, volleying in a Miki Yamane back-heel into Powell’s goal to give the defending champions the lead.
Former Omiya Ardija man Ienaga almost doubled his personal tally in the 32nd minute, firing a shot over the crossbar after being provided excellent service by Leandro Damiao. There was no denying Ienaga his brace in the 43rd minute though after Ao Tanaka crossed in the ball for the veteran to finish things off with a close-ranged header, doubling Kawasaki’s advantage.
Yokohama did well to recover from the defending champions’ double whammy in the second half, with Onaiwu rattling the post in the 63rd minute. However, Kawasaki managed to shut up shop throughout the second stanza to deny Yokohama their fightback, allowing the defending champions to reap all three points in their first match of the season.
Matchweek 1 continues on Saturday with the opening matchweek’s bulk of the action. First off, Oita welcome newly-promoted Tokushima Vortis at the Showa Denko Dome, while Sanfrecce Hiroshima host Vegalta Sendai at the Hiroshima Big Arch. Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo take on Yokohama FC at the Sapporo Dome, while Urawa Red Diamonds accepts the challenge of FC Tokyo at the Saitama Stadium 2002. Kashima Antlers are set to square-off against Shimizu S-Pulse at the Kashima Soccer Stadium as Shonan Bellmare went up against Sagan Tosu at the Shonan BMW Stadium Hiratsuka and Kashiwa Reysol made the journey down to the Kansai region to take on Cerezo Osaka at the Nagai Stadium. Last but not least, Saturday’s action is rounded off by the first Hanshin Derby of the season between Vissel Kobe and Gamba Osaka at the Misaki Park Stadium.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still going strong, the J.League have taken a number of actions to ensure that the league would go on smoothly during these trying times. State of emergencies being placed in several prefectures mean that a number of matches were to be played during the afternoons, with attendance caps of 5000 people being placed within stadiums. Teams are able to perform five substitutes with a sixth one being implemented for concussions, while teams face forfeits should they are unable to name 13 healthy players for a match and the match is unable to be rescheduled.
With 20 teams contesting the J1 instead of the usual 18, four teams are set to be relegated at the end of the season to bring the numbers back to normal for 2022.