An 85th minute goal from Yuta Goke helped settle a thrilling tie between FC Tokyo and Vissel Kobe at the Ajinomoto Stadium on Wednesday. Goke’s late goal meant that Vissel edged out their 2021 J.League 1 Matchweek 3 opponents 3-2 in an electric encounter that saw an exchange of goals between the two sides.
Atsuhiro Miura’s Vissel had initially taken the lead in the 5th minute through Douglas, with the former Shimizu S-Pulse striker taking advantage of a defensive mix-up from the home side after they had failed to clear Goke’s initial shot properly. With FC Tokyo goalkeeper Go Hatano denying Goke his shot, the ball fell into the possession of Hotaka Nakamura, who intended to clear the ball away as far as possible. Nakamura’s clearance struck fellow FC Tokyo defender Joan Oumari, though, which allowed Shion Inoue to collect the ball and passed it towards Douglas, who hammered in the finishing blow past Hatano.
Brazilian striker Douglas then doubled his tally in the 65th minute, after Gotoku Sakai had swung in a cross from the left flank into the FC Tokyo penalty area. The cross prompted a scramble within the FC Tokyo area, with Lebanon international Oumari battling it out against Goke and Kyogo Furuhashi for the ball. Goke managed to wrestle the ball away from the FC Tokyo players and played it short towards Douglas, who stabbed home a scrappy finish past Hatano to extend his team’s advantage.
Vissel then found themselves being pegged back by a quick double salvo from FC Tokyo, with the home side rallying themselves in order to chase the game and mount a comeback. Firstly Diego Oliveira managed to latch onto an Adailton through ball before outsmarting Vissel goalie Daiya Maekawa to reduce his side’s deficit in the 74th minute, before three minutes later Kensuke Nagai restored parity by seizing an Adailton shot that has been deflected away by Maekawa.
Despite this setback, it was Vissel who had the last laugh as the men from Hyogo Prefecture planted a late third to ensure that they will be returning home with all three points. Goke launched an absolute screamer in the 85th minute that struck both Hatano and the goalpost, before the 21-year old pounced on the rebound the quickest and tapped in the winner for Vissel.
The three points ensured that Vissel are unbeaten in their first three matches, with two wins and a draw to their name. As for FC Tokyo, the defeat meant that the Gasmen had suffered their first loss of the season, having drawn and won their first two matches.
Kawasaki Frontale continued their red-hot start to the season after winning all four of their J1 matches so far, with Tokushima Vortis being their latest victims. With the newly promoted side paying the Todoroki Athletics Stadium a visit, a double from Leandro Damiao was enough for the defending champions to capsize their opponents in a 2-0 win.
Kyushu rivals Sagan Tosu and Avispa Fukuoka had contrasting results at home, with Tosu dismantling Vegalta Sendai 5-0 at the Ekimae Real Estate Stadium while Avispa succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Yokohama F. Marinos at the Best Denki Stadium.
The J1’s third Kyushu-based side in Oita Trinita had the entire matchweek off, as their away trip to Gamba Osaka was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak within the Kansai club, with 8 cases now recorded within the Gamba camp. Gamba’s next three matches against Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, Vegalta, and Yokohama were also postponed, meaning that Tsuneyasu Miyamoto’s men are not expected to return to action until at least Matchweek 6. Having already postponed their matches against Nagoya Grampus and Kashima Antlers, Gamba had already accumulated a backlog of six postponed matches due to their COVID situation.
Should Gamba’s six postponed matches are unable to be replayed, the men from Suita are expected to receive 3-0 forfeits in their place.
Urawa Red Diamonds managed to recover from Matchweek 2’s shock defeat away at Tosu by winning their Matchweek 3 encounter against Yokohama FC, with goals from Kenyu Sugimoto and Yuki Abe guiding Ricardo Rodriguez’s men to a 2-0 victory over Takahiro Shimotaira’s charges.
Other Matchweek 3 results saw Kashiwa Reysol succumbing to a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Nagoya, Cerezo Osaka edging out Shimizu 2-1 at the Nagai Stadium, Sanfrecce Hiroshima eking out a 2-1 win at the Hiroshima Big Arch over Consadole, and Kashima working out a routine 3-1 win over Shonan Bellmare.