Kyoto Sanga vs Ratchaburi 1-0

Kyoto Sanga beat Ratchaburi 1-0 in the AFC Champions League Elite after Temma Matsuda struck in the 88th minute, six minutes after coming on. Haruki Arai supplied the assist and the late goal settled a match that stayed level until the closing stages.

The first half produced no goals, with Kyoto making an early change on 15 minutes when Ren Kato came off for Ryuma Nakano and Ratchaburi replacing Pablo Insua with Daniel Ting on 44 minutes. Kyoto then changed Thiago Sousa Lima for Shimpei Fukuoka on 45 minutes before the teams went in at 0-0.

Kyoto made three more changes on 59 minutes, a double switch that brought on Temma Matsuda and Alex Souza for Marco Túlio and Everton Maceió, and Matsuda later delivered the decisive finish. Ratchaburi had a quieter second half in front of goal, then saw a possible penalty cancelled by VAR in the 90th minute plus two, with Pedro Tanausú Domínguez Placeres involved in the decision. Kyoto also sent on Kodai Nagata for Takaaki Shichi in the 90th minute plus three, while Ratchaburi’s Roque Mesa was replaced by Thossawat Limwannasthian in the 90th minute plus eight.

The numbers leaned slightly in Ratchaburi’s favour for the ball and the pass count, with 54% possession and 499 passes to Kyoto’s 46% and 422, but Kyoto had more shots, 12 to 9, and more corners, 7 to 4. Both sides had 5 shots on target, Kyoto recorded an xG of 1 to Ratchaburi’s 0.31, and the home side also finished with 15 fouls to 8, 6 offsides to 0, and 5 saves to 4.

Ratchaburi collected the only bookings, with Jesse Curran booked in the 11th minute and Roque Mesa in the 79th minute. Kyoto had no yellow cards and no red cards were shown.