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Shimizu Storming To A First Ever J. League Title?
Shimizu lead the pack after an explosive start to their J. League campaign
Mike Tuckerman
Whisper it quietly, but after seventeen years of heartache Shimizu S-Pulse fans are finally starting to believe.
"We Believe" might have been the club's official slogan in 2008 and 2009, but it's the new campaign that has S-Pulse fans chattering with excitement, with the Shizuoka side off to a blistering start.
Ten games played for seven wins and three draws is how Kenta Hasegawa's team have opened up a four-point gap on second-placed Kawasaki Frontale, but it's the manner of Shimizu's victories that has most impressed.
Shimizu's most recent win came in a 4-2 trouncing of Kyoto Sanga on May 6, with the free-scoring outfit coming from two-goals down to register a thumping come-from-behind win.
A rejuvenated Jungo Fujimoto scored twice from the penalty spot, but it was goals from foreign stars Frode Johnsen and Eddy Bosnar that swung the game in an inspired second half display.
Fresh from his dramatic stoppage-time winner over Urawa Reds just four days earlier, Norwegian veteran Johnsen scored from another header to level the scores at 2-2 midway through the second half, before lanky Australian defender Bosnar added a late fourth with an outrageous free-kick from more than 30 yards out.
Shimizu's dramatic fightback was just one of several stunning results in a sensational round of holiday action, with promoted Cerezo Osaka seeing off defending champions Kashima Antlers at Nagai Stadium, while more than 41,000 fans turned out at Big Swan Stadium to witness Albirex Niigata beat Shunsuke Nakamura's mid-table Yokohama F. Marinos by the same scoreline.
Arguably the match of the round took place at Saitama Stadium, where over 55,000 fans turned out to see Urawa Reds come from a goal down to beat Nagoya Grampus 2-1.
Socceroos striker Josh Kennedy opened the scoring for Nagoya, but a first ever Urawa goal from mercurial midfielder Yosuke Kashiwagi levelled proceedings, before teenager Genki Haraguchi added a second from Robson Ponte's incisive cross.
The other big game of the round saw Gamba Osaka and Kawasaki Frontale meet at a packed Expo '70 Stadium on the northern fringes of Osaka, and the hosts somehow managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory.
Leading 4-3 in stoppage-time at the end of the game, Gamba simply had no answer to Frontale substitute Jumpei Kusukami, who finished off an incredible 17-minute hat-trick with his third goal and Kawasaki's fourth, as the memorable encounter finished 4-4 in front of a raptuous crowd.
The Golden Week round of fixtures comes to a conclusion on the weekend of May 8/9, with the pick of the bunch the clash between Urawa Reds and eternal rivals Yokohama F. Marinos.
Copyright: Mike Tuckerman & Soccerphile.com
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