J-League Team of the Week Round 10: Sanfrecce's Sato and Frontale's Yajima lead with doubles

07/05/2012 9:00:00 PM

The conclusion of the Golden Week Sprint saw another fantastic round of performances despite poor weather as four teams sent multiple players to our Team of the Week

J-League

Team Of The Week:

Week 10

Weekly Roundup

GOALKEEPER

Akihiro Hayashi
Shimizu S-Pulse

Just one week after maintaining a clean sheet with nine men against FC Tokyo, Hayashi did it again on Sunday as 10-man S-Pulse shut out current frontrunners Vegalta Sendai. Despite the tough opponents, Hayashi almost made it look easy with solid saves throughout the match.

DEFENDERS

Kenta Mukuhara FC Tokyo	Keisuke Iwashita Shimizu S-Pulse	Kosuke Kikuchi Omiya Ardija
Iwashita returns to the Team of the Week again after teaming up with Hayashi to protect the S-Pulse goal. Kikuchi was instrumental in stopping Gamba Osaka's once-potent attack, while Mukuhara in a rare starting appearance was efficient on the left side and was the creator of both FC Tokyo goals.

MIDFIELDERS

Takuya Nozawa
Vissel Kobe

Kengo Nakamura
Kawasaki Frontale

Hiroki Yamada
Jubilo Iwata

Baek Sung-Dong
Jubilo Iwata

Yojiro Takahagi
Cerezo Osaka

While this week's midfielders are mostly of the attacking variety, to take any of them out of the lineup would be a disservice to their contributions. Nakamura controlled the match with his play, while Nozawa's one-touch plays and his eventual game-winning goal helped Vissel to a big win at Cerezo. Baek and Yamada helped Jubilo earn an improbable point with their goals, and Takahagi's superb volley and fine through passes contributed to Sanfrecce's late victory.

FORWARDS

Takuro Yajima Kawasaki Frontale	Hisato Sato Sanfrecce Hiroshima
The inclusion of these two forwards would draw no complaints after their stellar performances. Yajima's brace gives him five goals in nine appearances; he also assisted Frontale's third goal in their upset win at Grampus. Meanwhile, Sato has an impressive nine goals in ten appearances after his two on Sunday, and is on track to break the 30-goal mark this season. The 30-year-old hasn't worn the Samurai Blue shirt since 2010, but certainly deserves an opportunity given his current form.