We Are The Reds

Kicks off March 2nd.

Probably the biggest change to this year is the relegation of Gamba Osaka to J2 (where they will face newly promoted V-Varen Nagasaki ). The other teams out are Vissel Kobe (relegated after 6 years in J1) and the ever consistent Consadole Sapporo.

Coming up from J2 are Kyushu lads Oita Trinita, the beach bums of Shonan Bellmare and Ventforet Kofu. With 9 teams from Kanto there is going to be a lot of money saved on travel this year.

I have only watched the occasional match or highlight show, but this time round I gonna try to watch a few more matches.

I was pretty shocked to see Gamba do so poorly last year. Will be interesting to see how they go.

Well bugger me. V-Varen, having been denied J2 or so many years because they didn't even have enough funds for a decent stadium, are now 4th in the J2 after 10 rounds. Gamba have recovered from a slow start and are now looking certain to return straight back to J1. That said, there is a lot of football left to play.