Favorites fade as Vegalta soars- J2 around the league

Verdy has early company for kings of the 2nd set

Vegalta VS Avispa- Pierre Littbarski decided to go with the recently returned Tatsunori Hisanaga and it paid early dividends for the Fukuoka squad as he notched a goal in the 13th minute of play. However the story on the day was Ryan Yong Gi who managed to notch two in a 15 minute span to give Sendai a 2-1 victory and put them behind Verdy on goal differential.

Kyoto VS Tokushima- In another minor miracle, tokushima managed to grab a point on the road against Sanga. Tokushima led for most of the game until FW Paulinho grabbed one late to salvage a tie for the purple and red. Former Shimizu man Ryuzo Morioka got the hook with two yellows for Kyoto. 1-1

Ehime VS Mito- 0-0, nothin to see here.....move along!

Consadole VS Shonan- In a battle of defensive minded teams, it makes sense that the game ended knotted at 0-0. Takahiro Takagi is quickly claiming the mantle as J2's best keeper with his third clean sheet in 4 games.

Thespa VS Sagan- Nobuhito Triizuka scored late to salvage a tie at home for Thespa. Sagan finally managed to get a point this season.

So, only Cerezo has yet to get a point on the season.

Games for Saturday


Thespa plays Sendai in a northland squabble. Thespa has settled down after a drubbing in the opener, but Sendai is playing great ball right now. I'd look for the trend to continue at home

3-1 Vegalta

Montedio hosts Consadole in another matchup of defensive minded squads. I think it will be another brawling, low scoring affair

1-0 Montedio

Sagan tries to build on their first point of the season as they host the increasingly improving Tokushima Vortis. I think this will be the game that Sagan gets a little on track.

2-0 Sagan

Mito hosts Avispa in a contest that won't be

4-1 Avispa

Shonan hopes to break out of the scoring slump as they take on the little orange squad from Ehime. I think this will be the game

3-0 Shonan

Cerezo really didn't need to take on a hungry Kyoto squad who keeps falling short. Tsunami must feel a Vegalta deja vu with the mounting losses.

3-1 Kyoto