Urawa Reds vs Fukushima United

Japanese 3rd-tier outfit Fukushima United head to the Urawa Komaba Stadium to take on J1 League underachievers Urawa Reds in the opening Emperor’s Cup fixture.

Urawa Reds’ lacklustre goalless draw away to Avispa Fukuoka in their most recent J1 League outing marked their fifth stalemate in six competitive matches (L1). Urawa’s recent form wobble has to be pinned on their growing scoring woes, which have seen them draw a blank in four of their last six fixtures. On a more positive note, the ‘Red Devils’ haven’t lost any of their six home league encounters (W3, D3) since a 1-0 defeat to Gamba Osaka in late February, netting 2+ goals in three of them. With their last two home fixtures featuring the opening goal within 12 minutes of play, a quick-fire start could be on the cards in this exciting Emperor’s Cup clash.

In the meantime, a lack of consistency of late has seen none of Fukushima United’s last six J3 League fixtures repeat the same outcome twice in a row (W2, D3, L1). However, the visitors can draw confidence from a decent run of just one defeat from their ten competitive matches in 2022 thus far (W5, D4, L1). Head coach Yu Tokisaki has based his team’s eye-catching form on a rock-solid backline. Fukushima have recorded seven clean sheets in their ten league outings this calendar year, while they’ve not conceded in five of their last six games. But only once across their six league matches have Fukushima netted more than once, underlining their propensity for low-scoring contests.