Match details:

Kawasaki Frontale vs. Nagoya Grampus
4^th May at 11:30 AM
Venue: Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium

Preview:

The J1 League is the topmost division of the Japanese professional men’s football league system where 20 teams from across the country battle against each other via league and playoffs to be determined as Japan’s champion club. It is game week 14, and in this league fixture, the top placed team on the table Kawasaki Frontale, take on the 2^nd placed team, Nagoya Grampus. In their previous respective competitive fixtures, these two teams played each other with Kawasaki Frontale winning the match away by 0-4 in the J1 League. Kawasaki Frontale yet against showed the entire world why they have won the league title three times in the last four years. They decimated contenders and second placed Nagoya Grampus netting four goals against them. Such was the quality of their attack that they scored against a defense which had kept a clean sheet in 10 of their last 12 league games. While we surely cannot expect four goals yet again from them against the same opponents in the next match, we can definitely expect an attacking intent and a strong will to dominate their opponents. Nagoya’s defence was clueless against the might of the champions. They were virtually impenetrable before their last match, conceding just three goals in 12 games played, but Kawasaki’s attack not only penetrated them, but made light work of their defense. An immediate re-match is something that they wouldn’t have immediately wanted, nevertheless, it gives them a chance at immediate redemption as well and remove this blemish off their good season so far.

Key Stats & Info: 

• Nagoya Grampus are unbeaten in 3 of their last 5 games against Kawasaki Frontale in all competitions.
• Kawasaki Frontale have won 13 of their last 15 J1 League matches, scoring at least 2 goals in 5 of their last 7 J1 League matches.
• Nagoya Grampus have kept a clean sheet in 10 of their last 13 J1 League games.

Probable starting XI:

Kawasaki:

Jung Sung-Ryong (GK), Yamane, Jesiel, Taniguchi, Noborizato, Schmidt, Tanaka, Hatate, Ienaga, Damiao, Mitoma

Nagoya:

Langerak (GK), Naruse, Kimoto, Maruyama, Yoshida, Yonemoto, Inagaki, Mateus, Kakitani, Soma, Yamasaki

Key players:

Damiao (Kawasaki): Brazilian forward Leandro Damiao joined Kawasaki Frontale in 2019 from Brazilian side Santos, and has since made 91 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 37 goals and giving 21 assists. He had a good 2020 season with the club, scoring 14 goals and giving 7 assists in 40 games across all competitions, and his contributions helped Kawasaki win the title in that season. He has started the 2021 season brightly, scoring 9 goals and giving 7 assists in in 13 games across all competitions, and had an excellent outing in his last game against Nagoya Grampus, where he scored 2 goals and gave 1 assist in a strong win for his side. In this game, he played for 77 minutes and had 3 shots on target from 4 attempts on goal, had 39 touches of the ball, gave 1 key pass, and had a passing accuracy of 54%, giving 14 accurate passes. He is in excellent form this season, and is expected to make a difference in the next game.

Mitoma (Kawasaki): Japanese midfielder Kaoru Mitoma is a Kawasaki Frontale academy graduate, and since making his senior team debut in 2018, has made 52 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 24 goals and giving 16 assists. He top scored for the club in the 2020 season with 18 goals and 14 assists in 37 games across all competitions, and his contributions helped Kawasaki win the title. He has started the 2021 season on a similar note, scoring 6 goals and giving 2 assists in 14 games across all competitions, and played for 72 minutes in his last game against Nagoya Grampus, where he had 67 touches of the ball, gave 2 key passes, and had a passing accuracy of 72% giving 36 accurate passes. He is in good form, and is expected to make a difference in the next game.

Inagaki (Nagoya): Japanese international midfielder Sho Inagaki joined Nagoya Grampus in 2020 from Sanfrecce Hiroshima, and has since made 51 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 7 goals and giving 2 assists. He was directly involved in 5 goals in the 2020 season, scoring 3 and assisting 2 in 38 games across all competitions, and has scored 4 goals already in 13 J1 League games in the 2021 season. In his last match against Kawasaki Frontale, he had 69 touches of the ball, gave 1 key pass, and had a passing accuracy of 93%, giving 50 accurate passes. He is in good form this season, and is expected to make a difference in the next game.

 Captain & vice-captain picks:

• Damiao (Kawasaki)
• Mitoma (Kawasaki)
• Ienaga (Kawasaki)
• Inagaki (Nagoya)
• Yamasaki (Nagoya)

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