Urawa Reds were celebrating all three points as they made up their 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE Match Week 21 fixture against Shonan Bellmare on Wednesday, thanks to a 4-1 win at Saitama Stadium 2002.
First-half goals from Marius Hoibraten and Hiiro Komori put Urawa 2-0 up at half-time, with Takahiro Sekine adding a third midway through the second period. Shusuke Ota pulled one back for Shonan with 13 minutes remaining, but Thiago Santana wrapped up the victory for Urawa in stoppage time.
Samuel Gustafson thought he had headed Urawa in front in the 12th minute, but his effort was ruled out for an offside in the build up after a VAR check and on-field review
Hoibraten did give the hosts the lead just past the half-hour mark though, arrowing a header into the top corner from Ryoma Watanabe’s corner from the left in the 33rd minute.
New signing Komori then doubled Urawa’s lead with another header from a corner in the fourth minute of first half injury time, rising highest at the near post to glance Takuya Ogiwara’s out-swinging delivery into the far side of the net for his first goal for the club.
Some quick thinking from a restart saw Urawa move further in front in the 71st minute. Hirokazu Ishihara’s throw-in from the right played Taishi Matsumoto into space in the penalty area, and he drove an inviting ball across goal for Sekine to dive in and head home from inside the six-yard box.
Shonan struck back just six minutes later, when Ota joined Komori in opening his scoring account for his new side. Luiz Phellype did well to keep possession and turn his man in a tight spot 30 yards from goal before teeing Ota up inside the area, and the recent signing from Albirex Niigata made no mistake with a crisp right-footed finish.
There was to be no heroic comeback for Shonan though, and Thiago Santana added a flourish for Urawa in the 94th minute. The Brazilian seized upon a loose ball just inside the Shonan half, surged towards goal, and then slammed a fierce low drive into the bottom corner of the net to make it 4-1 and send the majority of the 26,977 fans in the stadium home happy.
Urawa Reds vs. Shonan Bellmare - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 21
