Yokohama came from behind to beat Dzifu 2-1 in a Round of 64 clash in the J-League Cup on Tuesday night. The visitors looked comfortable after taking the lead through their own goal, but Dzifu fought back before Joao Paulo's stoppage-time strike settled it.
It was the visitors who had the first breakthrough, though not through their own efforts. M. Harada bundled the ball into his own net in the twenty-fifth minute, and suddenly Dzifu were chasing the game. To be fair, they responded well — you could see them pressing higher, trying to find an equaliser before the break.
K. Uda pulled one back in the fifty-sixth minute and the game opened up. Dzifu threw everything at it after that, pushing forward with urgency. Yokohama sat deep and soaked it up, waiting for the counter. And here's the thing about these Cup ties — they rarely stay closed for long.
The decisive moment came when the clock ticked past ninety. Joao Paulo found a way through, and Dzifu's defence simply couldn't recover. By then, the home side had already made three changes, including bringing on K. Yamada and K. Yakabi in the eightieth minute. They were looking for something, but time had run out.
Statistically, the match was evenly balanced. Both sides registered fifty percent possession and similar numbers of attacks — 86 for the hosts, 91 for the visitors. Yokohama earned seven corners to Dzifu's three, but that's only part of the picture. The away side also committed seven offsides compared to the hosts' two, which tells you something about their direct approach.
Yokohama now sit third in the table with six points from six games, though that record of two wins and four defeats hardly reads as a success. Still, this result ended a run of three matches without a victory — they'd lost 0-2 to Ivaki and drawn 3-3 with Cataller Toyama in their previous outings. Dzifu, meanwhile, saw their recent form take another hit after wins against Toyama Shindo and Tespacatsu Gunma earlier in the year.
