It was a fantastic season for Kawasaki Frontale as they won their 4th J1 league title and the second title back to back. They were winning it quite comfortably at the end, just like the last season. All of their players helped in building in the success. Kawasaki had a perfect start to the season, and they made it pretty clear they were going for the title again. Let’s look back at their wonderful season and how they achieved it.
The league games started on 26th Feb. 2021 for them. Kawasaki played Yokohama on the first matchday and comfortably won 2-0. They then won four games on a roll to make a winning streak of five games. This winning streak consists of 13 goals and conceding only three goals, from which Osaka scored two in the second game, and Vegalta Sandai scored one in the third match.
The winning streak was ended by Vissel Kobe when they hosted Kawasaki; the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Since this draw, Kawasaki went on a winning spree of five games again, where they defeated Urawa Reds, Oita Trinita, Sagan Tosu, FC Tokyo and Avispa Fukuoka. They scored 15 goals and only conceded three goals. Against Urawa Reds, they scored five goals and maintained a clean sheet. Again this winning run was ended by a 1-1 draw against Sanfrecce Hiroshima when they visited Kawasaki.
Next, they visited Nagoya Grampus and demolished them in their own background 4-0. The next game was the reverse fixture of the previous game where Nagoya Grampus visited Kawasaki and gave them a good fight but could not make it through as Kawasaki won 3-2. Extending the winning streak to three games again by defeating Osaka in their home. Unfortunately, this winning streak was ended again by a draw against Vegalta Sendai 2-2.
This was followed by back to back wins against Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo and Yokohama FC; both were played at Kawasaki’s home.
Kawasaki visited Shonan Bellamare, where; they could not finish with a win and had to satisfy for a draw. The draw then led to a winning run of four games where only once they played at home, and the rest three were away from home. They conceded one goal, which was played at home, and did not even concede a single goal in the three games they played out. After that came two more away matches, which ended in a draw. This was their 25th game in the league, and still, they were unbeaten. However, good things do come to an end; in their 26th game against the Avispa Fukuoka, they had to taste their first defeat, and it was a bit sour as Kawasaki won in the reverse fixture easily.
Coming towards the end, Kawasaki was edging toward the champions tag, which worked as a motivation that led to seven games winning streak. This consisted of 14 goals scored. This was enough to make them the champions for the season. From the rest five games, they collected 8 points, drawing two games, losing one and winning two. Leandro Damiao, the Brazilian forward, remained their top scorer for the season.
Can Kawasaki start just like the way they started the 2021 season?. As they have won 4 titles in 5 years, it will be difficult for other teams in the league to contain them.
