Kobe Victory lost their last match against Sanfrecce Hiroshima with a score of 0-2, and they surely don't want to repeat the same mistake in this match. In that match, Kobe Victory maintained 59% of the possession with 5 shots, 1 of which was on target. Their opponents, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, on the other hand, had 23 shots on goal, 5 of which were on target. Sanfrecce Hiroshima's goal scorers were Taakaki Shichi (7') and Mutsuki Kato (30').
Kobe Victory have been regularly outscored in recent matches, in fact, they have conceded in 5 of their previous 6 matches, totaling 8 goals. Previous results show that Kobe Victory have failed to beat Sakura Osaka in their last 7 league matches. However, they have maintained a 9-game unbeaten streak in their home matches, which is a great result.
Team Cerezo Osaka lost their last game to and they are looking to turn things around in this game. In that match, Cerezo Osaka kept 73% of the possession and took 12 shots, 2 of which were on target, while their opponents Kashima Antlers took 7 shots, 4 of which were on target. Kashima Antlers' goal scorer was Yuma Suzuki (13').
The Sakura Osaka defense has been solid in recent matches, conceding 4 goals in their last 6 games**, while their forwards have scored 8 goals in that span. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues in this match.
Prior to this, Cerezo Osaka were unbeaten in three league matches away from home against Kobe Victory. The history of their meetings shows that since September 16, 2020, these two teams have not been able to reap much good results for Kobe Victory. Kobe Victory have never won any of the matches they've played, while Sakura Osaka have kept the upper hand, winning 67% of those games. A total of 12 goals have been scored in those matches, with Kobe Victory scoring 3 and Sakura Osaka scoring 9. That's an average of 2 goals per game.
On June 10, 2023 in the 17th round of the J1 League in Japan, the match between the two teams ended in a 2-1 Kobe victory for Cerezo Osaka. In that match, Cerezo Osaka maintained 44% of the possession and took 13 shots, 6 of which were on target. The goals were scored by Jordy Croux (50') and Sota Kitano (93'). Kobe Victory, on the other hand, took 15 shots, four of which were on target, with a goal scored by Hotaru Yamaguchi (51').
Looking ahead to this match, we think that Sakura Osaka are capable of scoring on the Kobe Victory goal, but it might not be enough to prevent them from getting a loss. We expect this match to end in a 2-1 win for Kobe Victory, it will be a very tense game so let's see what happens.
