Only little time remained after returning from the international trip with Japan to prepare for the task in the 2nd league with Hannover. Sei Muroya solved it with flying colours in the 0-0 draw against Paderborn.
His performance even elicited high praise from the visiting coach. “For me, he was the best man on the pitch,” admitted Paderborn’s Lukas Kwasniok to Sei Muroya. The opponent’s top scorer Sven Michel, who with his twelve goals already has two more on his account than the entire 96 team, was almost completely taken out of the game by Muroya, who was defensively involved in numerous duels (in total he won 73 percent of them) and also set offensive accents. Bad luck for the Hannoverian: In the 15th minute, SC defender Robin Yalcin cleared a Muroya shot just before the goal line for the already beaten keeper Jannik Huth.
Börner flogged with red, Franke had to go off injured
“We defended Sven Michel’s runs very well,” was also the opinion of 96 coach Jan Zimmermann, who also saw Muroya well supported by his sidekick. “Marcel Franke tipped off in time, Muroya covered him. Especially in the offensive he cranked up a lot and exploited Michel’s Achilles heel. Both full-backs often got into promising situations, which we then didn’t really finish well. But I think our back four defended really well. “
While the Lower Saxons made the necessary changes in the centre (Julian Börner was sent off with a red card for an alleged emergency stop, Franke had to retire early with muscular problems) in the second half and remained without conceding a goal, Sei Muroya stood out from the group with bravura and was quickly back in the thick of the action in the second division against Paderborn. He had just returned from an international trip with the Japanese national team, for which he had played in the Asian World Cup qualifier in the 1-0 win in Vietnam
