Afghanistan
Angola
Argentina
Asia (AFC)
Asian Games
Australia
Belgium-Netherlands
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Central American & Caribbean Games
Central American Games
Congo DR
Denmark
England
Europe (UEFA)
FYR Macedonia
Finland
Germany
Greece
International Tournaments
Italy
Mediterranean Games
Mexico
National
Nepal
North & Central America (Concacaf)
Palestine
Pan American Games
Panama
Russia
Scandinavia
Serbia And Montenegro
South American Games
Spain
Syria
USA
Venezuela
World (FIFA)
Yemen
Zimbabwe

Urawavs.Shonan Bellmare

sportsmole.co.uk, 4 July 2024, 09:53
Buoyed by back-to-back wins at the end of June, Urawa Red Diamonds will commence their July schedule as relegation-threatened Shonan Bellmare visit Urawa Komaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the J1 League.

The Red Devils comfortably put Jubilo Iwata to the sword last time out, whilst Bellmare suffered a damaging defeat to fellow strugglers Kyoto Sanga on home soil.

Match preview

Following a six-game winless run across all competitions - which included a defeat to second-tier V-Varen Nagasaki in the League Cup - Urawa have managed to get back on track in the J1 League, winning consecutive matches for the first time since the middle of May, beating Nagoya last Wednesday before defeating Jubilo on the weekend.

Facing a side who are slowly being dragged into bottom-three contention, the Red Devils recorded a convincing three-goal success at Urawa Komaba Stadium, with strikes from Ryoma Watanabe, Atsuki Ito and Hirokazu Ishihara sealing Urawa's joint-largest victory of the 2024 season to date.

After finishing fourth in the J1 League standings of 2023 and missing out on AFC Cup qualification by just a single point, Saturday's hosts are adrift of the top-three conversation this time around, currently sitting in ninth position, six points behind third-placed Gamba Osaka.

Despite being restricted to minutes off the bench in recent matches, 31-year-old Thiago Santana remains the primary source of attacking magic for the Red Devils, with the Brazilian forward netting seven goals in 21 league appearances so far after scoring 13 in the second tier for Shimizu S-Pulse during 2023.

If the league standings were determined purely on home form, Per-Mathias Hogmo's troops would be marching towards an appearance on the continental stage in 2025, with Urawa earning an impressive tally of 21 points from 11 fixtures at Urawa Komaba Stadium - only Kashima Antlers (22), Gamba Osaka (22) and Cerezo Osaka (22) have collected more home points.

Approaching this weekend's trip to Urawa, visitors Shonan are facing the real possibility of their seven-year stay in the J1 League coming to a sobering end in 2024, with Bellmare suffering another blow in their fight for survival on Sunday, losing at home to relegation rivals Kyoto Sanga.

Despite having 66% of possession, Shonan managed just a single shot on target throughout the 90 and failed to breach the net of Gu Sung-Yun, meaning that Taichi Hara's solitary strike in the opening 25 minutes of the contest was enough to hand the visitors a significant three points.

With their only victory in the last seven matches across all competitions arriving against Konan University in the Japanese Cup, Bellmare are bang out of form and sliding towards a maiden second-tier appearance since 2017, with Saturday's visitors occupying 19th place, four points behind Sagan Tosu in 17th.

Shonan will need Brazilian marksman Lukian firing if they are to avoid an unthinkable bottom-three placement, with the 32-year-old capable of enjoying purple patches of goalscoring form as he showcased a month ago, when he netted four times across meetings with Albirex Niigata, Jubilo and Gamba Osaka.

The reverse fixture between these sides was one of the most entertaining matches of the J1 League campaign to date, with a 81st-minute Samuel Gustafson strike for Urawa forcing a share of the spoils at Lemon Gas Stadium, where an eight-goal thriller ended even at the final whistle.

Urawa Red Diamonds J1 League form:

L

D

L

D

W

W

Shonan Bellmare J1 League form:

L

L

D

L

D

L

Team News

After keeping back-to-back clean sheets recently, Urawa are set to stick with a centre-back pairing of Yota Sato and Norwegian Marius Hoibraten on Saturday afternoon.

Winger Watanabe has doubled his goal tally from two to four over the past week and will retain his spot on the left flank, with Hidetoshi Takeda operating in the advanced-midfield role.

There needs to be a change for the Red Devils on the right wing, with Ola Solbakken returning to parent club Roma following the expiration of his loan deal.

Despite missing a second-half penalty versus Kyoto, Shonan's Sho Fukuda did enough in his overall performance last weekend to retain his place up front with Lukian.

Bellmare may opt for an alteration at wing-back, where Daiki Sugioka could be promoted from the bench at the expense of 32-year-old Takuya Okamoto.

Urawa Red Diamonds possible starting lineup:

Nishikawa; Ishihara, Sato, Hobraten, Ohata; Ito, Yasui, Santana, Takeda, Watanabe; Linssen

Shonan Bellmare possible starting lineup:

Song; Y Suzuki, Kim, J Suzuki; Sugioka, Barada, Tanaka, Hata; Okuno, Fukuda, Lukian

We say: Urawa Red Diamonds 2-0 Shonan Bellmare

Only dropping points to second-placed Kashima in the last three matches, Urawa are enjoying a good run of form and should be too strong for relegation-threatened Shonan this weekend.

Previews by email

Top News

14 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Kazakhstan vs. Austria (Thursday, 3.00pm) Amid a three-way battle for promotion from League B Group 3, Austria aim to improve their prospects with a win on Thursday, when they meet Kazakhstan in the UEFA Nations League. 14 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Athletico Paranaense can temporarily climb out of the Brasileiro Serie A relegation zone with a victory over Atletico Mineiro on Saturday at Arena de Baixada. 14 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk England interim manager Lee Carsley has played down Harry Kane's strong words about the withdrawal of many of his teammates, insisting he is looking forward to working with other players who also deserve a chance. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Manchester United are reportedly fearful that Lisandro Martinez could spend an extended spell on the sidelines with the hip injury that has forced him to withdraw from Argentina duty. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Sporting Lisbon wing-back Maximiliano Araujo has hinted that he hopes to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in the near future. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Morocco will be looking to maintain their 100% record in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when they visit the Stade de Franceville to take on Gabon on Friday. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk San Marino will hope to leapfrog Gibraltar and prevent them from earning promotion from their UEFA Nations League D group when they welcome them to Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle on Friday. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk In their fifth UEFA Nations League C match of 2024-25, Northern Ireland are set to host Belarus on Friday at Windsor Park, with victory enough to guarantee a place in the top two. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Zimbabwe will be hoping to book their place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations when they face Kenya on matchday five of qualifying this Friday at the Peter Mokaba Stadium. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Manchester United could reportedly move for Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite and Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez during next summer's transfer window. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Liverpool should arguably be considered favourites for Premier League glory after they took charge of the title race last weekend when they beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield and moved five points ahead of second-placed Manchester City. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Burnley could reportedly offer Ruud van Nistelrooy the chance to make a swift return to English football, with the Clarets interested in bringing him in as their new manager. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Cristiano Ronaldo is set to lead Portugal out in Porto when they face Poland in the UEFA Nations League on Friday night. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk England captain Harry Kane has expressed his disappointment at the number of players to have withdrawn from the Three Lions squad for their UEFA Nations League fixtures with Greece and Republic of Ireland. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Barcelona centre-back Pau Cubarsi has been handed a call-up to the Spain squad for the national team's November international fixtures against Denmark and Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Real Madrid youngster Marc Cucalon has been forced to retire from professional football at the age of 19 due to a serious knee injury which he suffered in the latter stages of 2022. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Barcelona have revealed that Ansu Fati has been ruled out for around four weeks with a hamstring injury. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Portugal manager Roberto Martinez is facing a crisis at centre-back ahead of their UEFA Nations League clash with Poland in Porto on Friday night. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Portugal welcome Poland to Porto on matchday five of the UEFA Nations League on Friday night. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has said that it is "the right moment" for Ruben Amorim to arrive at Old Trafford, claiming that the Portuguese "did something very special" at Sporting Lisbon. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Arsenal defender Ben White has apparently gone under the knife to treat a joint issue in his knee, which will sideline the Englishman for around two months. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Real Madrid have reportedly identified Al-Nassr centre-back Aymeric Laporte and Tottenham Hotspur right-back Pedro Porro as two of their top defensive targets for 2025. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Liverpool are reportedly among three Premier League clubs interested in FC Nordsjaelland full-back Daniel Svensson. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Liverpool are reportedly among three Premier League clubs interested in FC Nordsjaelland full-back Daniel Svensson. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Botswana will host Mauritania in their penultimate 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Francistown Stadium on Friday. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia has provided a positive injury update ahead of potentially representing Belgium. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Scotland's stay in the UEFA Nations League's top tier could be brought to its end on Friday, when they face an almost must-win game against League A Group 1 rivals Croatia. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Lamine Yamal is among a number of absentees for Spain, as the national side conclude their 2024-25 UEFA Nations League group-stage campaign with fixtures against Denmark and Switzerland. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Spain will be bidding to secure top spot in Group 4 of League A in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League when they head to Denmark on Friday evening for what is shaping up to be an intriguing affair. 13 November 2024 sportsmole.co.uk Brighton & Hove Albion forward Danny Welbeck has claimed that speculation regarding a potential return to Manchester United is "irrelevant".