Urawa Red Diamonds vs Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo
How the goals came
20' Rafael Silva opens the scoring for Urawa Red Diamonds → 34' Shingo Hyodo equalises for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo → 40' Takahiro Sekine puts Urawa Red Diamonds ahead → 74' Shinzo Koroki extends Urawa Red Diamonds's lead (the winner) → 87' Akito Fukumori pulls one back for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. Full time: 3-2, Urawa Red Diamonds win.
The match, goal by goal
2 of the 5 goals came after half-time.
20' Rafael Silva (Urawa Red Diamonds) 1-0
The first 20 minutes at Saitama Stadium 2002 produced no goals, until Rafael Silva broke the deadlock for the home side. His strike put Urawa Red Diamonds 1-0 ahead against Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. It was the opening goal in a match that would eventually yield five.
34' Shingo Hyodo (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo) 1-1
Urawa Red Diamonds held their lead for 14 minutes. In the 34th, Shingo Hyodo levelled the match for the visiting Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, making it 1-1. The away side had drawn themselves back into the contest before the interval.
40' Takahiro Sekine (Urawa Red Diamonds) 2-1
The parity lasted only six minutes. Takahiro Sekine struck in the 40th to restore the home advantage at 2-1 for Urawa Red Diamonds. Three goals had come before the interval, and it was Urawa who carried the lead into the break.
74' Shinzo Koroki (Urawa Red Diamonds) 3-1
The scoreboard stayed still until the 74th minute of a goalless second half. Shinzo Koroki then made it 3-1, stretching the Urawa Red Diamonds lead to two. Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo would pull one back later, but no further, leaving Koroki's goal as the decisive one.
87' Akito Fukumori (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo) 3-2
With three minutes of normal time left, Akito Fukumori pulled a goal back for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo to make it 3-2. It was the fifth goal of the afternoon and the visitors' second. There was not enough time left to level again, and Urawa Red Diamonds closed out the win before a crowd of 36,880.
