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The story
In the Ibaraki Derby held on September 2, 2026 as part of J1 League Matchday 5, Mito HollyHock defeated Kashima Antlers 4-2. It was the first-ever meeting between the two clubs in the J1 league, and captain and forward Shinta Watanabe delivered a stunning performance, scoring all four goals himself, including a first-half penalty. Rather than the match itself, discussion on 5ch threads centered on side topics — the location and name recognition of Kashima’s home city, GK Tomoki Hayakawa’s slump, and the rarity of Ibaraki Prefecture producing two J1 clubs.
Mito HollyHock faced Kashima Antlers on September 2 in J1 League Matchday 5. In the first-ever Ibaraki Derby played in the J1 league, Mito scored four goals to beat the reigning champions Kashima 4-2. Captain and No. 10 forward Shinta Watanabe scored a stunning four goals all by himself.
[Photo] “Too cool” “Badass” — the G-Wagen the Mito captain cruises around in
In the 5th minute, Mito’s Watanabe latched onto a long ball from GK Konosuke Nishikawa, broke through, and drew a foul from Kashima GK Tomoki Hayakawa to win a penalty. He converted it in the 8th minute to open the scoring, then added a second goal in the 21st minute, meeting a cross from the right flank.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
That's because the Kashima area counts as 'Chibaraki' (the Chiba–Ibaraki border zone)
He's good at spraying passes around and shielding the ball, but
he holds it needlessly, loses it, and it costs goals
His play speed is slow too
Slow to turn and face forward
Shots don't hit the frame
He doesn't function without a ball-winner type paired with him, like Uno
A second Leo Silva just hasn't shown up
Though that's partly because Leo Silva was on a completely different level at both ends of the pitch
Come to think of it, if it weren't for the J.League, even most Ibaraki residents probably wouldn't know where Kashima is
Re: #70
They've got Kashima Shrine though, so that's not it
I mean, you do learn about it in school as the Kashima Coastal Industrial Zone
Ibaraki is a legit soccer powerhouse
Last year alone they swept J1, J2, university, and youth titles
Only came up runner-up in the national high school championship
Not an exaggeration to call it the strongest soccer prefecture around
Can't be helped — dogs have a homing instinct, so they get homesick for J2 (joking that Chiba can't stay away from the second division)
No wonder they can't compete with Mito, the biggest city in the prefecture
Mito's downtown has been declining ever since the prefectural government moved out of the old Mito Castle site
I mean, Tsukuba's population has already overtaken Mito's
And since the Tsukuba Express extension to Mito fell through, there's no coming back now
'Hear me now'? It's 'hear me NOW-a!' (correcting the dialect)
Was driving, thought something smelled bad, rolled the window down — smelled even worse, I tell ya (more Ibaraki dialect ribbing)
Would've been better to invest in just one of the two instead of bringing both back
Shibasaki was actually good up through last match
No need to go all-out for the Emperor's Cup, the prize money's pathetic anyway
At Mito's level, better to just lose early and get it over with
Background and Talking Points
Mito HollyHock and Kashima Antlers are both Ibaraki Prefecture clubs, but they occupy very different positions: Kashima is a storied club that has racked up results since the league’s founding, while Mito is a club that has only in recent years pushed to establish itself in J1. This was the first-ever meeting between the two in the J1 league, and Shinta Watanabe’s four-goal haul came to symbolize that historic clash. Where the thread split was over the standing of Kashima, the city that hosts the club — some asked why it was chosen as a base when it’s so out of the way, while others countered that it’s plenty well known thanks to Kashima Shrine. Many also flagged GK Tomoki Hayakawa’s slump, sparking discussion about how even national-team-caliber players hit rough patches. Worth noting for context: Ibaraki is one of the very few prefectures with two clubs — Mito and Kashima — in J1, a rare setup in today’s J.League, where big-city clubs otherwise dominate.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Soccer] Mito HollyHock’s Shinta Watanabe scores a stunning 4 goals as J1’s first Ibaraki Derby champions beat Kashima Antlers.”
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