Sensai 0 - 5 Iwakuni (371471623)

39436 punters turned up at Chitose Stadium, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Rajmond Heremans was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Joni Larjama and Simon Eule. Sensai had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. Lineup: 佐藤 (Sato) - 橘 (Tachibana), 斎藤 (Saito), Watanabe, 柏木 (Kashiwagi) - 浅見 (Asami), 笠原 (Kasahara), Kurihara, 原 (Hara), 吉田 (Yoshida) - Levante.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Iwakuni. They fielded: Sandblom - Bergman, Jaworek, 成辉 (Chenghui) - Arras, 山本 (Yamamoto), Aoyama, 原田 (Harada), Farkas - Hautz, Goldberger.

Sensai immediately set off using their skill at pressing their opponents. Iwakuni were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Players in Iwakuni heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. The terraces were silenced after 12 minutes when Iwakuni's 有. 山本 (Yamamoto) put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack on the right. With 25 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed 有. 山本 (Yamamoto) of Iwakuni to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 2. Iwakuni's W. Hautz left the field after 27 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was N. Rønde. S. Farkas's speed was clear to see after 35 minutes, as he darted down the wing and released O. Goldberger who placed the ball into the back of the net to make the score 0 - 3. At this time in the match, Sensai were using their skill at pressing to successfully stifle the game. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 3. Iwakuni had most of the ball, with 76 percent of possession.

After the ball was lifted in from the left, K. Jaworek was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 62 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. After 73 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave N. Rønde a chance to increase the lead for Iwakuni, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 4. 有. 山本 (Yamamoto) of Iwakuni took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 74 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 5. This third goal completed a hattrick for 有. 山本 (Yamamoto). Confident in their lead, Iwakuni's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Possession in this half belonged to Iwakuni, who controlled the ball 79 percent of the time.

P. Levante performed admirably for Sensai. 利. 吉田 (Yoshida) turned in a dismal performance, however. Iwakuni's best player was 有. 山本 (Yamamoto). On the other hand, M. Sandblom's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 5.