Review: Cerezo Osaka vs Kagoshima United FC (Emperor's Cup 3rd Round)

Cerezo Osaka beat J3 leaders Kagoshima to advance to the Emperor’s Cup Round of 16, with Lucas Fernandes scoring in three straight official matches and Reiya Sakata scoring his first goal of the season.

Seven days after their 2-1 victory over Fujieda MYFC in the second match of the J.League Yamazaki Biscuit Levain Cup 1st Round, Cerezo Osaka turned their attention to the Emperor’s Cup, taking on J3 side Kagoshima United FC, representing Kagoshima Prefecture, in the third round. There were two changes to the starting lineup from the Fujieda match. Koto Abe made his first start since the second round of the Emperor’s Cup against FC Gifu, while Satoki Uejo made his first start of the season. Jackson Irvine, Dion Cools, and Yumeki Yokoyama, who had been called up by their respective national teams, also returned to the bench.



Cerezo Osaka controlled the ball from the early stages, but they struggled to move forward against Kagoshima’s organized pressing. Still, in the 12th minute, Rikito Inoue switched play with a long ball to the left. Reiya Sakata received it and broke forward to create a chance, and in the 16th minute, Shinji Kagawa switched play to release Takumi Nakamura down the right. By making effective use of the wide areas, Cerezo began to stretch the opposition, and in the 19th minute, Lucas Fernandes played a one-two with Kagawa to penetrate deep on the right side of Kagoshima's half. As Cerezo gradually moved closer to goal, they opened the scoring in the 25th minute. Uejo won the ball back with a press from behind, and Kagawa immediately played an exquisite ball to Pablo Sabbag, who had started running into open space. Sabbag brought the ball under control, beat his marker, and passed into the middle. Lucas received it, beat his opponent and, while falling, guided the ball into the bottom left corner with his right foot. Having taken the lead through Lucas’ third consecutive goal in official matches, Cerezo suddenly stepped up the pace. In the 28th minute, Takumi Nakamura, Lucas, and Kagawa combined to break down the right and create a chance, and in the 37th minute, Inoue won the ball high up the pitch to create another big chance. Lucas ran onto Sabbag’s through ball and was about to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but he could not get his shot away. Cerezo were also quick to transition from attack to defense and had given Kagoshima virtually no real chances, but in the 44th minute, Kagoshima created what was arguably their only clear-cut chance of the match from a cross. Inoue blocked the resulting shot, allowing Cerezo to escape the danger and go into halftime with a one-goal lead.





In the second half, Cerezo began attacking from the outset against a Kagoshima side whose defensive intensity had dropped. In particular, Sakata and Uejo, with Kagawa also involved in their combinations, repeatedly broke through down the left. In the 54th minute, Lucas won the ball high up the pitch and carried it forward before going one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his well-placed shot was denied by a fine save. In the 57th minute, Cerezo were briefly put under pressure by a Kagoshima counterattack, but Uejo tracked back to cover and prevented them from getting a shot away. In the 68th minute, Lucas and Sabbag, who had combined to create the opening goal, were substituted. Yumeki Yokoyama and Yota Komi took up their respective positions, and just three minutes later, Yokoyama broke forward down the left and sent in a cross to create a big chance. In the 75th minute, Uejo ran onto Travis Takahashi’s pass and delivered a cross. Komi met it at the near post, but his effort narrowly missed the target. Cerezo continued to attack, and in the 80th minute, Sakata cut inside and fired a dangerous shot, only to be denied by the goalkeeper. Cerezo did get their second goal from the resulting corner, however. They started with a short corner, and it was Sakata who met Kagawa’s cross at the far post, finding the net with a clever back-header. The No. 17’s first goal of the season effectively settled the match, with Kagawa, who provided the assist, also praising him by saying, “I think he must have felt a lot of pressure since returning, so I think this was also a big goal for him.” Then, in the 84th minute, manager Pablo Machin brought on Shunta Tanaka and Koki Nagasoe, a Cerezo Osaka U-18 player registered as a Class-2 player, who made his official first-team debut. Nagasoe got involved in several chances during his brief appearance. In the 87th minute, he ran onto Takumi Nakamura’s pass and cut the ball back to create a shooting chance for Komi, and in the 90th minute, he got in behind on the right and came close to scoring. The match ended 2-0. Although Cerezo had struggled in the early stages of the first half, they ultimately defeated Kagoshima 2-0 without much trouble and advanced to the Round of 16 of the Emperor’s Cup.





The next match comes just two days later, against Yokohama F. Marinos in Matchweek 9 of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. From here, October will be a busy period of consecutive matches, but as Kagawa said, “Having matches to play is something to be happy about as a player. We have enough strength in the squad, so all we can do is keep working so that whoever plays can compete at a high level.” Cerezo will look to turn the opportunity to play at home again into another positive as the whole team makes good preparations for the restart of the league.