National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Shimizu S-Pulse or Sanfrecce Hiroshima that keep their silverware dream alive.
The hosts Shimizu S-Pulse saw competitive action as recent as four days ago, playing in the J-League. At least it's nice to return home after that away game at Kyoto Sanga.
Shimizu S-Pulse form and stats
Shimizu S-Pulse participated in J-League Cup the last season, where they reached the play-offs and lost against Kashima Antlers.The home fans haven’t been spoiled with victories in the J-League this season. Shimizu S-Pulse have only managed 0 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses from their games here at IAI Stadium Nihondaira.
Shimizu haven't scored a league goal since they found the net 211 minutes ago. Suzuki scored that one.
The home team returns to IAI Stadium Nihondaira after drawing with Kyoto Sanga on their last time out; the game ended 0-0. The goalie Gonda was named most valuable player of the team in that game, scoring 7.85 out of ten. Gonda topped it up with a clean sheet.
Preceding that match was the home J-League game against Kawasaki Frontale that was lost 0-2.There's a new fixture coming up fairly quickly for Shimizu S-Pulse, as the J-League home game vs Nagoya Grampus is only three days away.
The goals haven't exactly been flowing for Shimizu here at IAI Stadium Nihondaira in the league, with less than one goal per game on average (5 from 6 games). Shimizu S-Pulse have conceded 9 from these games.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima form and stats
Sanfrecce's mission in J-League Cup last season failed in the group stage.The story so far for the visiting team on their J-League travels is 1 win, 4 draws and 1 defeat.
The Sanfrecce Hiroshima goalkeeper Takuto Hayashi is collecting clean sheets like a laundry worker. It's been 183 league minutes without conceding a goal, and counting.
It's another away game for the visitors, as they travelled to Urawa Reds in their previous outing. The match ended in a draw 0-0. Goalkeeper Osako made a total of seven saves, making him a hero against Urawa Reds. Heavily contributing to the draw after 90 minutes. Goalkeeper Osako got the top player rating of the team with 8.9/10. Osako topped it up with a clean sheet.
Prior to that match, a home win 3-0 against Kashima Antlers in the J-League.After this away game Sanfrecce Hiroshima return home for a J-League game against Kyoto Sanga. That game is only three sleeps after this.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima have a decent goal production going in their away games, although not fantastic. In 6 league away games 7 goals have been scored. 7 goals have been conceded by Sanfrecce in these games.
Head 2 Head
The former head-to-head game ended Sanfrecce Hiroshima - Shimizu S-Pulse 1-2, played this season. H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Shimizu S-Pulse two wins, three draws and Sanfrecce Hiroshima five victories. As for goals, six matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), four games had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  T. Morishima 4 goals |  Y. Suzuki 3 goals | Y. Kashiwa 3 goals |
Shimizu S-Pulse missing players
Sanfrecce Hiroshima missing players
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Won | W | 4 | 10 | ||
| 10 | 6 | Drew | D | 5 | 7 | ||
| 9 | 4 | Lost | L | 3 | 8 | ||
| 23 | 11 | Scored | S | 16 | 34 | ||
| 32 | 15 | Conceded | C | 13 | 26 | ||
| 84% | 92% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 83% | 88% | ||
| 64% | 67% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 67% | 72% | ||
| 40% | 33% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 48% | ||
| 24% | 25% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 25% | 20% | ||
| 8% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 8% | 8% | ||
| 52% | 58% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 44% | ||
| 24% | 17% | Clean Sheets | C S | 33% | 44% | ||
| 40% | 33% | Failed to Score | F T | 33% | 24% | ||
| 4.8 | 4.3 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4.4 | 4.5 | ||
| 4.6 | 4.6 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.2 | 3.7 | ||
| 0.5 | 0.4 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.1 | 1.1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 10.3 | 11.2 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 13.1 | 12.3 | ||
| 4 | 4.3 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 4.9 | 4.7 | ||
| 23% | 21% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 27% | 29% | ||
| 11.9 | 11 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 11 | 9 | ||
| 4.4 | 3.4 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.8 | 3.8 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 12 |
| 2 | Nagoya Grampus | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -3 | 5 |
| 4 | Tokushima Vortis | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 4 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Kashima Antlers | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 28 |
| 2 | Kawasaki Frontale | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 26 |
| 3 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 20 |
| 5 | Sagan Tosu | 13 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 19 |
| 6 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 13 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 18 |
| 7 | Tokyo | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -1 | 18 |
| 8 | Cerezo Osaka | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 17 |
| 9 | Kyoto Sanga | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 17 |
| 10 | Gamba Osaka | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 17 |
| 11 | Consadole Sapporo | 13 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 12 | -4 | 17 |
| 12 | Avispa Fukuoka | 13 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 15 |
| 13 | Nagoya Grampus | 13 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -3 | 14 |
| 14 | Júbilo Iwata | 13 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 21 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 13 | -4 | 14 |
| 15 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 13 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 7 | -3 | 13 |
| 16 | Urawa Reds | 12 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 12 |
| 17 | Vissel Kobe | 12 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 12 | -9 | 7 |
| 18 | Shonan Bellmare | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -13 | 7 |
