Match Report
The table gap was wide: 44 points between Sanfrecce Hiroshima (4th, 68 pts) and Albirex Niigata (20th, 24 pts). Scoring rates set the scale: Albirex Niigata 0.95 scored and 1.76 conceded per game, Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1.21 and 0.74, with the league averaging 1.2.
Albirex Niigata had been beaten in five straight games. The five-game form split read 0/15 points for Albirex Niigata against 9/15 for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
The head-to-head ledger counts 5 games: 1 Albirex Niigata win, 2 for Sanfrecce Hiroshima, 2 draws, at 2 goals per meeting. Whoever hosts gains little here: home teams have taken just 20% of the wins in this fixture. Low-scoring is the pattern: just 20% of the meetings went over two goals.
The match was played at Denka Big Swan Stadium in Niigata (capacity 42,300). On the scoreboard, Sanfrecce Hiroshima led 1-0 at the break; 1 second-half goal set the final 0-2.
Goal scorers
Sanfrecce Hiroshima: Shunki Higashi (2'), Kosuke Kinoshita (48')