Nabisco Cup - Antlers away

In our 2nd group game in the Nabisco Yamazaki cup we went away to Kashima Antlers. This season the Antlers have been having a torrid time in the J League and if I'm right have failed to score a goal so far. However they have had better luck in the League Cup and they chalked up another victory with a 1-0 win over the Squirrels. The goal was scored by Koroki on 31 minutes when Kitano came out to clear the ball away from an oncoming Antlers forward, but only managed to (unwittingly) pass the ball to Koroki who finished with ease. The game was lost but it remains very early days in the Nabisco Yamazaki Cup group stage, there are plenty of games left for Ardija to get more points. To be homiest though, I would trade success in this 3rd competition for valuable wins in the J League, especially some wins at the Nack 5 in front of our own supporters.

Omiya Ardija 1-1 Nagoya Grampus Eight

Omiya Ardija went into this home game on the back of a thrashing by league leaders Vegalta Sendai. For our next opponents we would have liked an easier proposition than last year's runner up and many people's favorites for this season's title, Nagoya Grampus but that was the wonderful prospect the computer had thrown up. The result therefore must be seen as a good result for the Squirrels even if it meant that our search for a home win goes on (and on???) The first half ended 0-0 and all the goals would come in a 7 minute burst in the second half. Nagoya opened the scoring on 48 minutes through Danilson. Nagoya were able to build an attack on the left side of Omiya's box, they quickly moved the ball about and as we were unable to put in a decent tackle, the ball was laid back to Danilson and he struck the ball home from outside the penalty box. Seemingly Kitano was well beaten but could he have done better fans will ask. And it was yet another goal conceded at home from outside the penalty box. Admittedly Yokohama's in the Nabisco Cup had an element of luck but it could be seen as a worrying trend if teams start to think they can score from distance where against other teams they might not expect to. Our goal came on the 55th minute. Cho made a forward run and took a shot at goal which was missing the target but Kanakubo had got ahead of his marker on the right side of the Nagoya six yard box and finished neatly. Omiya Ardija survived some late Grampus pressure and a valuable point was secured. Again, the value of Cho and Carlinhos to the team was shown and the re-introduction of Jun Kanakubointo the starting lineup clearly worked well here. Next up in the league is a home game against Cerezo Osaka. Let's hope as the Cherry Blossom comes into full bloom in Omiya Park, we can send those Cherry blossoms from Cerezo back to Kansai pointless and wishing they'd stayed at home for Hanami.

Saturday 31st March

Omiya Ardija v Nagoya Grampus   13:00
FC Tokyo v Sanfrecce Hiroshima 14:00
Urawa Reds v Kawasaki Frontale 15:00
Jubilo Iwata v Kashiwa Reysol 15:00
Cerezo Osaka v Vegalta Sendai 15:00
Albirex Nigata v Gamba Osaka 16:00
Shimizu S Pulse v Consadole Sapporo 18:30
Yokohama Marinos v Kashima Antlers 19:00
Sagan Tosu v Vissel Kobe 19:00

Vegalta Sendai 4-1 Omiya Ardija

A poor result and performance sent the Squirrels back to Saitama with their tails between their legs. The day started badly with the news that Carlinho would be missing from the lineup. Despite a relatively bright start and an early lead through Cho Yong Cheol, Ardija faded quickly and were dominated by Sendai's pressing attack and in the end were thoroughly beaten. More bad news involved the injury to Omiya's young, talented midfielder and Japan Olympic representative, Keigo Higashi. I'm not sure how serious his injury is yet, but if as it seems he will miss games then that is a huge setback to Ardija's hopes. Omiya's goal came from a corner which was re-directed to an unmarked Cho in the Sendai box who was happy to firmly plant it away to give us the lead, which we somehow managed to keep until halftime. After the first half hour of the game Sendai basically took over and regularly threatened Kitano's goal, chances came and went, including hitting the bar and a goal disallowed for offside but it was surely a worried Ardija team that went into the break. Sendai came out for the second half and picked up from where they left off and by the end of the game were easy 4-1 winners through 2 goals by Ota, a goal by Sugai and an unfortunate own goal by Kikuchi.

What have we learned from this performance and the others by the Orange men this season so far? An inability to score goals is an only too obvious weakness. We played well against Tokyo but failed to take any of the chances we created and took nothing from the game. At home to F Marinos in the Nabisco Cup we took the lead, but could not deliver any more goals to back up the early goal and had to settle for a draw, an away win against a struggling Albirex Nigata when 1-0 down at half time is so far the only time we have scored more than once and we left it late, and finally this game against Sendai where we never looked like scoring more than the once. To be honest the goal was gifted to us by poor defending from Sendai. Cho should not really have found that kind of space in their penalty area. Ardija urgently need to find more goals to give the defence confidence that we can hold teams out over the 90 minutes of a match. The passing game we play seems to be easily handled by sides with more physically imposing midfielders, and teams seem to be able to then find the space they need to cause our defence problems.

The positives so far. For me the only answer can be Carlinho and Cho Yong Cheol. They have come in to the side and looked good, strong performers in their respective positions, and when they have played, they have contributed well to the team performance.

It looks to be another long season for Jun Suzuki's men in J1. The optimism of a few weeks ago, when some of us dared to dream of a record breaking 11th place finish would now appear to be the hopes of the crazy.

Next up at the Nack5 - It's Nagoya Grampus Eight. Time to turn things around then......Let's go Omiya!

Nack 5 stadium

Omiya Ardija play their home games at the NACK5 stadium. It was originally built in 1960 and was used in the 1964 Summer Olympics. It was closed in 2006-2007 when it was renovated to bring it up to the standards of the J League and it re-opened on November 11th 2007 when Ardija played Oita Trinita, Omiya losing that game 2-1.


While the stadium was being renovated Ardija played their home games at either Urawa Komaba stadium or Saitama stadium, the home of their Saitama city bitter rivals, the Urawa Red Diamonds.



The Nack 5 stadium is based in the lovely location of Omiya Park. The walk to the stadium is noted as one of the nicer approaches to a stadium in Japan. Spectators get to walk along the way to Hikkawa Shrine, through the big red Tori gates before heading to the edge of the park where Nack 5 stadium is located, opposite the Baseball stadium and not far from the Keirin stadium. For those of you unfamiliar with Japan, keirin is a Japanese form of bicycle racing, races which old Japanese men love to bet their money on, whilst baseball is traditionally far more popular in Japan than football. However it is certainly true that football has been eating into that popularity recently.





Back to the stadium, the NACK5 is a small stadium with a capacity of 15,500 people. The two ends behind the goals have two tiers, an upper tier of seating emblazoned in the orange color of the home team and a lower tier of terracing, where the supporters who love to jump and shout all game tend to stand. The main stand is a relatively simple stand of seats with a small roof, which in fact is the only roof in the whole ground but offers little protection in bad weather. Opposite the main stand is a small one tier stand of seats running the length of the pitch.

Although it's a small stadium and one where you are definitely going to get wet in the rain, it is a very nice and comfortable ground with pretty good views almost anywhere you go. I have never been to a game and complained about the view. It also seems to be friendly to both home and away supporters.

You can see some photographs which I was able to take from just outside the stadium. The fence you can see is at the back of the small stand which is opposite the main stand.

Nabisco Yamazaki Cup

The Nabisco Yamazaki Cup began yesterday on a National Holiday in Japan for the Spring Equinox. This cup competition is the equivalent of the League Cup (currently sponsored by Carling) in England. The first stage has 14 teams divided into 2 groups and works in a league format. Japan's representatives in the Asian Champions League receive a bye in this stage and will go straight into the quarter finals.

 Omiya Ardija entertained Yokohama F Marinos at Omiya's home stadium of Nack 5 for a 4pm kick off. Omiya took an early lead in the 15th minute through new Brazilian defensive midfielder Carlinho. A long pass to Rafael who quickly crossed the ball which eventually came to Carlinho who confidently stroked the ball home. His double somersault celebration was a sight to be enjoyed by the Squirrels fans. His performances so far have been very encouraging and the fact that he has now shown an ability to score is even more promising for the rest of the season. A Yokohama F Marinos side including ex Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura fought back in the second half and eventually found a way through Kitano's goal. The equalizer was scored by Manabu Saito in the 84th minute.

 It was mostly an even match  with both teams playing some nice football. Yet again, Omiya were guilty of missing chances which if taken would have put the game out of reach of the Marinos. By far the best example of this was in the second half when a lovely ball from midfield split the Yokohama central defenders and Cho was through on goal with only the keeper to beat but he chipped the ball not only over the oncoming keeper but alas also over the bar. The equalizer from Saito had both elements of luck and skill, and also highlighted the freedom Ardija defenders will sometimes give to opposing attackers around the penalty area. The ball came to Saito and he found himself with the time and space to craft a wonderful right footed shot on goal which curled on to Kitano's left hand post, rebounded onto the unfortunate Ardija keeper and into the net. Ardija therefore had to settle for a point in their first game in the Nabisco Yamazaki cup, when their overall performance could have won them more if they had been sharper in front of the Marinos goal.

Orange Battle - Away to Albirex Nigata

On the Friday afternoon before the away game against Albirex Nigata I was sitting enjoying a coffee and trying to improve my poor Japanese by studying Kanji in the Starbucks in Lumine in Omiya, when I saw a group of the lads arriving to get some refreshments for the journey to Nigata. Rafael and Carlinho were among them and everyone looked positive.

 I wasn't lucky enough to go to the game. In fact I have to admit that I have never seen Omiya play away yet. Well, it is good to leave plenty of things needing to be done in the future. Something to look forward to.

Both Albirex Nigata and Omiya Ardija's home shirts are Orange so Ardija played in their white away shirts and hence the title of this post. If anyone went to Albirex, I'd love to hear about your day. Certainly I am sure that if you went to Nigata's stadium to follow the Orange of the Squirrels from Omiya, then you would have had a long but great day out as Omiya ended up taking this battle of two orange teams 2-1.

Nigata started the brightest with a goal after 20 minutes from Bruno Lopes, but Ardija fought back in the second half to equalize through Kikuchi on 68 minutes and that man Rafael on 83 minutes.

Rafael has his critics and even I wondered if he was fully fit for the first game of the season, but you can never right him off. He has the strength and the ability to score against all the J League defenses on his day. So Omiya came away from Nigata with a valuable 3 points which put along side their good performance in the first game, even if it ended in a home loss, this is something to build on in the next coming weeks. Well done to the Squirrels! Let's go Omiya!