The 12000 fans in attendance at
kk-wing were roasting in the hot sun.
Aksel Miller was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Elizalde Zamorano and
Anthony Largeau.
Alouette decided to use a 4-4-2 set up.
They fielded: 向井 (Mukai) - 小川 (Ogawa), 葛西 (Kasai), 佐藤 (Sato), 清水 (Shimizu) - 柴田 (Shibata), 加藤 (Kato), 石井 (Ishii), 山田 (Yamada) - 小川 (Ogawa), 大井 (Oi).
A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for rain.
Starters: 渋谷 (Shibuya) - 高橋 (Takahashi), 本田 (Honda), 高原 (Takahara), 松井 (Matsui) - 原田 (Harada), 石川 (Ishikawa), 斎藤 (Saito), 窪田 (Kubota) - 池田 (Ikeda), 堀江 (Horie).
Making his way up the middle 10 minutes into the match,
洋. 葛西 (Kasai) almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert
泰. 渋谷 (Shibuya) blocked it to keep the score level.
Always quick and a menace to his opponents,
良. 堀江 (Horie) was very close to getting through after 11 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms.
Alouette's
洋. 葛西 (Kasai) tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders.
0 - 0 was the halftime score.
Alouette claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.
54 minutes into the game,
友. 向井 (Mukai) had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came
隆. 加藤 (Kato).
Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 62 minutes into the match, and
祐. 原田 (Harada) wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors.
竹. 柴田 (Shibata) enjoyed the sunshine and demonstrated his stunning technique over and over again.
rain's
浩. 斎藤 (Saito) got himself booked for a foul.
Unfortunately for Alouette,
洋. 葛西 (Kasai) was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field.
海. 今野 (Konno) replaced him.
The heat made it a terrible day for
勇. 石井 (Ishii), who seemed unable to keep up with the other players.
良. 堀江 (Horie) wasn't much help defensively. His energy-consuming forward runs proved quite costly in the oppressive heat.
On any other day,
克. 小川 (Ogawa)'s free kick would have found the back of the net to tie the game for Alouette, but not today - the visitors' keeper displayed extraordinary reflexes as he blocked the shot harmlessly to the side.
Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for Alouette, but
一. 大井 (Oi)'s shot went over the bar.
Possession in this half belonged to Alouette, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time.
Most important Alouette player was
海. 今野 (Konno).
However,
隆. 加藤 (Kato) made a disastrous appearance.
賢. 石川 (Ishikawa) performed admirably for rain.
直. 松井 (Matsui) turned in a dismal performance, however.
The match ends 0 - 1.