Urawa 1-4 Newcastle: The perfect pre-season test for Toon in tough conditions

Newcastle continued their unbeaten over pre-season, kicking off the J-League International Series 2024 with 4-1 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds in an action-packed encounter in Japan.

Alexander Isak opened the scoring two minutes in before Urawa equalised and almost went 2-1 ahead only for Nick Pope's penalty save. Jacob Murphy then bagged a brilliant brace with strikes either side of the break and Lewis Hall struck from range to make it four.

We scored some lovely goals (watch them all below), avoided any injuries, saw a few players get their first minutes of pre-season and will be all the better for a competitive game in sweltering conditions.

Eddie Howe named a strong side to face 2022 AFC Champions League winners at the 63,700-capacity Saitama Stadium, seeing Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff return to midfield after the pair missed our 2-0 win at Hull last weekend.

Miguel Almiron returned to the bench, but the game came too soon for Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes, Martin Dubravka and Lloyd Kelly. Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier are still enjoying extended breaks after Euro 2024, Sandro Tonali is ineligible and Gillespie, Botman (ACL), Lascelles (ACL), Targett (Achilles), Ashby, A. Murphy (hip), L. Miley (broken foot), White (back), Kuol (knee) Wilson (back) made it 17 in total to miss out.

NUFC XI: Pope – Livramento, Krafth, Burn, Hall – Longstaff, Joelinton, Willock – Murphy, Isak, Barnes.

SUBS: Vlachodimos*, Ruddy, Almiron*, J.Miley*, Turner-Cooke*, Heffernan*, Parkinson*, Harrison*, Sanusi*.

It’s great to see Joe Willock appear for the first time in pre-season and he made an immediate impact. After some nice link up with Harvey Barnes down the left, Willock fired a sharp pass into Isak and the Swede had the Urawa defence back-peddling as he drove towards goal. It looked like the attack had been held up, but our top scorer got a second bite of the cherry and made no mistake, firing into the bottom corner to give us a 1-0 lead just two minutes in.

https://twitter.com/NUFCblogcouk/status/1818601310112919910

It could've been 2-0 moments later as a defensive mix up allowed Barnes to get a shot on goal. The goalkeeper was all at sea, but his goal-bound effort was blocked by a recovering Urawa defender.

After total Toon domination for the opening 10 minutes, Urawa got their foot on the ball and began to pose a threat, with Emil Krafth doing well on 14 minutes to cut out a dangerous low cross that was put behind for a corner.

Sean Longstaff had a big chance blocked after bursting into the box and latching onto Murphy's threaded pass, but it was blocked well as the Urawa defender got crucial touch on his close-range effort from the angle.

Urawa were coming back into the game and they got an equaliser on 25 minutes. It came via Matsuo Yusuke's cross from the left, which was flicked home via the post by Nitta Rio to make it 1-1.

Tino Livramento got free at the other end after the restart and almost helped restore our lead, as his run and cut-back fell to Barnes, who struck and edge of the box shot just wide via a slight deflection.

Our all-action right-back was involved again, this time at the other end as he lunged in carelessly to give the hosts a penalty. Thankfully for Tino, Nick Pope showed his class with a superb stop to keep us level.

https://twitter.com/NUFCblogcouk/status/1818603902599663800

Pope then made another superb save to deny Nitta before the break, showing his reflexes once again and reminding us all why he was badly missed last season with a strong right hand.

After Isak and Barnes both went close, forcing the Urawa goalkeeper into two decent saves, Jacob Murphy continued his superb form over pre-season with another neat finish on 44 minutes. It was his third goal in as many pre-season outings (he also set up Isak's goal at Hull) and came thanks to some superb work from Willock, who stole possession back, drove into the final third and set up Murphy to do the rest:

https://twitter.com/NUFCblogcouk/status/1818607394907148563

Howe made two pre-planned changes at the break, seeing Willock and Longstaff make way for Miguel Almiron - his first minutes of pre-season after returning from Copa America - and Jamie Miley; Lewis' older brother.

It had been a competitive fixture played at a good intensity - two things that will have pleased Eddie Howe - and it got even better from a Newcastle perspective as that man Jacob Murphy scored again, taking him up to four goals in three summer friendlies as he collected Miley's pass, cut in on his left and fired into the far corner!

https://twitter.com/NUFCblogcouk/status/1818613462882258946

It's only pre-season, but five goal involvements and another positive, confident and quality display showed what a key member of the squad he's become; even if our need for a top right-winger remains a real priority in what remains of the summer window.

Urawa had made six changes at the break and despite testing Pope twice with two second half chances, it was Newcastle who found the next goal and made it four as Lewis Hall's long-range strike flew in via a big deflection. Still, it'll go down as a Hall goal and it's no less than he deserves after another assured display from our hugely talented left-back.

https://twitter.com/NUFCblogcouk/status/1818616503815585921

Isak, Barnes and Pope then made way on the hour mark, seeing Ben Parkinson, Trevan Sanusi and Odysseas Vlachodimos come on for the final 30 minutes at the Saitama Stadium.

More changes followed as Alfie Harrison and Jay Turner-Cooke came on 10 minutes later, replacing Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento. Like the end of the Hull friendly, there was now plenty of square pegs in round holes on the pitch and a mishmash of young and old, but great to see some of our Academy talents getting valuable experience and a chance to impress Howe.

Sanusi showed flashes of pace, quick feet and dribbling ability on occasions down our left before our final change saw former AC Milan talent Cathal Heffernan replace Dan Burn at centre-back. Joelinton took the captains armband and was feeling it late on, but it was clearly just cramp and nothing to worry about as the Brazilian got 90 minutes in the tank.

It got scrappy and a little disjointed in the closing stages, but this feels like another positive pre-season outing, where we come away with a confidence-boosting win in tough conditions, no injuries and a good run out for several of our senior players working their way back to full fitness.

• 22nd July – SpVgg Unterhaching 1-3 Newcastle (⚽ Barnes ⚽ Murphy ⚽ Isak)
• 27th July – Hull City 0-2 Newcastle (⚽ Isak, ⚽ Murphy)
• 31st July –  Urawa Red Diamonds 1-4 Newcastle (⚽ Isak, ⚽⚽ Murphy, ⚽ Hall)
• 3rd August – Yokohama F. Marinos vs Newcastle (11am)
• 9th August – Newcastle vs Girona (7.30pm )
• 10th August – Newcastle Women vs AC Milan Women (1pm)
• 10th August – Newcastle vs Stade Brest (4pm)

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