I have spoken often in recent years about how these end of season J-League games tend to play out and that is with most of the real action after the break and often very late. Teams and players tend to be fairly disciplined and will stick with the game plan, at least for a while, but as the game wears on, the team with the greater motivation does tend to press on, whilst their opponent weakens and in a league where we see a lot of late goals anyway and matches are played at high tempo, they do usually find a way to get the desired result. More so than in most other leagues.
 

They are great for "in play" betting, but I do accept that for anyone based in Europe the early Saturday start times are far from ideal for that.
 

I discussed Reysol's home game with Sagan Tosu last weekend .........

This is a friendly and I would (almost) always lean towards the host under those circumstances, at this stage of the season, especially when I view them as the stronger side in any case. However, Reysol rarely come alive early on home soil and games here have produced a J-League high 31 goals after the break, Sagan are much improved in Stage 2 and their games have also started to burst into life late, with an average of 1.93 per game. This was a five goal thriller last season and a repeat would really not surprise and I definitely see no reason why we will not get two + after the break, given how these two play and what we are expecting at this stage of the campaign.
 

That worked out perfectly with five goals, two before, three after the break. Three of Omiya's last four starts have produced at least four goals and this could play out very similarly. The visitor have a 3-2-0 record in this fixture, scoring 15 goals in that sequence, two or more in each.
 

Ahead of their home game with Shonan Bellmare last Saturday, my notes went an awful lot like this ...............
 

Omiya came up as champions last season and have had a terrific 2016, they are 6th in the overall table and whilst they have little to play for, 4th would be a fantastic achievement (they are only a point shy of Gamba) and has to be, you feel, a target. They spent ten straight seasons in the top flight until relegation in 2014, before dropping out, they (incredibly) finished between 12th and 15th for each of those previous nine campaigns and 4th would be amazing. So, still some motivation IMO and they could hardly be in better shape, bring unbeaten in six (all comps) with five wins and 12 goals in their last four and they can record a sixth straight home win over Shonan. The visitors are better on the road, where they have collected 14 of 21 points, but most of those came early in the campaign and they have only won once away from home since May 4th, this should not be a draw, we get few at this time of year and there is no good reason for one today and Omiya look the far more likely of the two to claim the win.

 

 

1.5 units Omiya Ardija +0.25 ball 2.01 asian line/Sportmarket.
 

1.5 units "over" 3 goals asian line/Sportmarket.