J-League 2011

[blahblah]

It's on again. Jesus managed a 95th minute penalty to scrounge a point for Nagoya in their game against Marinos. Bosnar was sent off as Shimizu S-Pulse felt the rage of Kashiwa Reysol who have returned to J1 with a vengence.

Gamba and Cerezo started the season with a derby that saw the former take local honours with Adriano scoring against his old club & Endo scoring a second. Ironically Kurata, who is on loan from Gamba, scored for Cerezo.

The biggest concern was Avispa Fukuoka being handed a 0-3 hammering at home to Alibrex Niigata. Not an auspicious start to the campaign for the boys from Kyushu.

Kobe managed a 1-0 win over Uruwa which serves them right for leaving Spira on the bench.

For those dying to know..... V-Varen Nagasaki kick off their campaign for dominance in the JFL with a clash this Sunday against JEF United Reserves. No doubt all of Asia will be tuning in for this clash of the Titans. V-Varen will be hoping that 22y.o. ex-Uruwa squad player Hashimoto Makoto will shore up the defense; or better yet develop as a fine defender so they can flog him off for some much needed cash. The horrific mascot, V-V-kun seems to have survived the cut and is once again to be present at all games to scare the little kiddies witless.

[Interloper]

Kennedy takes penalties? The quality of finishing in Japan must be more dire than I thought

[shinAUFC]

Im seriously thinking of paying for the AFC stream for the J-league (asumming they allow it in australia) and getting into the gamba games.

Its just a long break in the a-league .

Though that non english commentary will be annoying

[RedsUnited]

The Cerezo/Gamba game was pretty exciting. So was the Kashima/Omiya game - was see-sawing all game.

[Steelinho]

I'd contemplated making a massive post to start things, with all updated information and tables and such, but wasn't sure how much interest there'd be and figured that it would be up to blahblah and myself to keep it updated (and just blahblah when I have to sacrifice Internet for island life), so kudos to blahblah for starting it, I guess.

Im seriously thinking of paying for the AFC stream for the J-league (asumming they allow it in australia) and getting into the gamba games.

Its just a long break in the a-league .

Though that non english commentary will be annoying

English commentary for J. League is absolutely horrid. Anyone who watched the Nagoya v Yokohama game on Setanta on Saturday will probably agree. Eurosport, as far as I'm aware, are the only ones who cover the game in English, but put in zero effort to make it marketable.

I'm not sure what language the commentary is in, but I assume it's the native language of each league's country. But I don't think that watching a game with commentary in a foreign language in that bad. Makes it a somewhat unique experience. At least, that's how it feels watching Argentine, Brazilian or German games in a foreign language, for me.

Kennedy takes penalties? The quality of finishing in Japan must be more dire than I thought

Must make you wonder just how bad Australian teams are in comparison, if they're conceding 5 goals a game.

[RedsUnited]

I'll be watching both Osaka teams games each week as well as Kashima's games. So I'll pop in every now and then to discuss the games.

[blahblah]

I'll be watching both Osaka teams games each week as well as Kashima's games. So I'll pop in every now and then to discuss the games.

I think I can get access to J-League games at one of the bars here which is convenient. The problem is I believe work will have me on the road a bit this year so will purchase the AFC feed this week.

I am keen to see how Kashiwa Reysol size up. They appear to be a club on one hell of a mission.

[Steelinho]

I am keen to see how Kashiwa Reysol size up. They appear to be a club on one hell of a mission.

Definitely. I'm sure you saw some footage of how they played in J2 last season, and it looks like they're keeping the same style and tempo (even after having lost a great defender in Kobayashi). Nelsinho Baptista seems to be reflecting his personality and philosophy in the way he's got the side playing, which is very good.


But it seems that something about Kashiwa has made Koki Mizuno turn strange...



Oh dear.

[RedsUnited]

Kashiwa may be a surprise. Honestly I was surprised how well Cerezo did last season.

[Steelinho]

Kashiwa may be a surprise. Honestly I was surprised how well Cerezo did last season.

Aye, but they've both taken different routes for promotion.

Cerezo stayed down longer, brought through a load of young talent and used their brute attack to dominate most games they played, then continued through J1 playing the same brand of fluid, attacking football. The manager, Levir Culpi, was patient and brought thought the likes of Takashi Inui and now Dortmund star Shinji Kagawa in order to get to where they are now.

Kashiwa were only in J2 for one season, just recruiting well and playing a short-passing and attacking brand of football, using the players he had at his disposal (being able to sign the likes of Koki Mizuno, who had a pick of several J1 clubs, would have been a boost). Their last few years in J1 were a real struggle, so I'm guessing they're not expecting too much, but still hoping for a better season.


But I do expect some good results from Nelsinho Baptista's side. I've a lot of respect for him after the way he returned to the top flight.

[blahblah]

it's just a pity that I find Kashiwa itself a terribly uninspiring place.

[Steelinho]

Yeah, fairly drab part of Chiba. (Not that Chiba's terribly exciting, it's just a spot between Tokyo and the airport, really.)

It has a nice little stadium (kind of like Hindmarsh), but the word I get from FC Tokyo fans is that their supporters are "mean and rude." Not experienced it myself, but I think they thought I supported Kashiwa as well.

Also, playing there does this to its players:

[RedsUnited]

In light of the earthquake and tsunamis, this weekend's games in J1 and J2 have been postponed.

[blahblah]

In light of the earthquake and tsunamis, this weekend's games in J1 and J2 have been postponed.

Given the grief and the fact that transport may still be largely shut down it is to be expected.

They will have to do engineering inspections on a number of the stadiums as well before they can be used. Some teams like Sendai may take some time before they get back to action. I'm not sure how Kashima fared however Ibaraki was also in the hot zone.

[Steelinho]

All of this week's League Cup games and this coming weekend's J1/2 games have also been postponed, likely to be played in June, as there's already so much congestion in the schedule.

Only Japanese matches expected to be played are the Japan NT friendlies against Montenegro and New Zealand at the end of the month in Shizuoka's Ecopa on the 25th and Kokuritsu (Tokyo stadium) on the 29th, respectively.