The next game for Omiya Ardija is an away fixture at Sagan Tosu on Saturday 12th May 2012 which will hopefully kickoff on time at 2pm. Perhaps at the beginning of the season we might have expected that our games against Tosu would be a chance for a rare 6 pointer, and that the Kyushu outfit would be finding their very first season in the J1 league difficult.
That has so far been very far from the truth and in fact the team from Tosu in Saga-ken in North West Kyushu find themselves sitting fairly prettily in 5th position with 4 wins and 2 draws out of their fist ten games. Such a start to their J1 presence is one they can be rightly proud of, and they have made people sit up and take notice of them. This has been good to see, as far too often teams who come up from J2 go straight back down again and often without so much as a whimper. FC Tokyo will of course be another exception, but then no one ever expected them to be in J2. Just as we have seen this season in the Premier League with Norwich and Swansea, promotion to, and survival in the highest level, does not have to mean a defensive or negative style of football in a desperate bid to stay in the higher flight, and Tosu have indeed impressed with the style of their performances. I'm sure if they continue their early good form, they will win plaudits far and wide this season.
So therefore this is not going to be an easy game for Jun Suzuki's men, although the players will be heartened by their close win over Gamba Osaka last Sunday, which was a third home win in a row. After their last road trip to Kobe, which went downhill very early on in the game, the Squirrels will be looking to put in a far stronger away performance and collect at least a point from Sagan Tosu. I would hope to see Hasegawa play up front with either Cho pushed up alongside him looking for knockdowns in the penalty box, or if fit, Rafael. I feel certain Rafael could score more goals if only he had some kind of partner to work with. Last season Suzuki often kept Naoki Ishihara on the bench when he could have provided such support for Rafael and now it seems Hasegawa is being given the same treatment. Hasegawa is of course very different to Ishihara, but still could offer support to Rafael through his physical presence and height. I'd rather have Ishihara available, but unfortunately he is away making Sanfrecce Hiroshima fans very happy and indeed scored twice in their last game, a victory away at defending champs, Kashiwa. Ardija fans must be asking why did we sell him.
My prediction therefore is a draw. However I am far from confident. I'm looking for our lads to put in a real shift to make the fans who travel and the rest of us back in Saitama City proud of their efforts. Let's go Omiya Let's Go!
Friday, 11 May 2012
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Kobe away and Gamba at home
The first half of Golden week came and went, The sun shined and Omiya got a home win over bottom team Sapporo. We Squirrels looked forward to the team's trip down to Kobe, who had just sacked their manager, Masahiro Wada and installed an interim coach in his place, Adachi.
However Ardija failed to capitalize and performed and lost dismally. The first goal came early, very early and was a complete disaster, a poor attempt at a defensive header and then a sloppy back pass from Kim let in Ogawa to score easily, and I guess things just deteriorated after that. Kobe wrapped up a relatively easy win in the second half with a nice strike from Lee on the 60th minute and an easy tap-in from Mogi on 68 minutes after Kitano could only parry a Kobe shot. This result meant Ardija slipped down the league table to 13th, and left fans worried by the performance and most likely thinking that the two recent home wins were hiding the truth of the team's level, or perhaps the inability of coach Suzuki to change his tactics depending on the team we are playing. On the latest J Talk podcast, Alan Gibson strongly predicted that Kobe would finish this season in the top three, so if that's the case, maybe by the end of the season this won't look such a bad result!
The Kobe game was on the Thursday of the Golden Week holiday, and the Squirrels didn't have too long to wait for another holiday fixture, and on Sunday Gamba Osaka arrived in town to play at the Nack5. Although it was Golden Week, don't listen to the name too closely, as just prior to the planned match day kick off of 4pm a massive storm broke over the stadium and the kick off was delayed for an hour. Usually Gamba turn up at the Nack 5 looking down at Ardija from a lofty J1 league table position, but on this Sunday surprisingly enough, It was us looking down on them. Gamba have been having a rough old time of it this season, and are already out of the Asians Champions League, and have changed their manager. For the second time this week we would face a Kansai side going through changes and difficulties, although Kobe's are clearly not as deep as Gamba's and the coach change seems to be more about personality clashes with the players and not meeting the high standards of the owners. Standards which would probably do Omiya's owners just fine. Despite having said that Gamba had been poor this season, the Osaka side fairly bossed the first half, both in terms of possession and chances. The Omiya team that Suzuki has been picking recently, definitely has some skill about it, but is based on having just one forward player, who quickly becomes isolated and only thrives in a counter-attack situation when the other team's defence is stretched. This might work away from home, though clearly not against Kobe, but it's just not good enough for me at home. Secondly, this plan needs a striker on form, who "scores when he wants" and unfortunately Ardija do not have such a player. Yet somehow Gamba could not convert their chances and with Rafael off, and Hasegawa on we did. Cho got the all important winner in the 73rd minute when a Carlinhos shot from distance rebounded off a defender to Cho and he finished well. Three more valuable points for the Squirrels, and three home wins in succession. Definitely something for the fans to be happy about and makes a pleasant change from last season when home wins were very scarce! Konno said for Gamba, that it was one of their better performances of the season so far, even though they still lost.
Who would have thought that after 10 games we would be 11th on 14 points. Well, probably a lot of people, but who would have thought that we would be on the same points as Nagoya Grampus, and above Cerezo, Yokohama, Kashima, Kashiwa, and Gamba. I would have bet decent money that most of those teams would be above us in the league. As it stands, it's a happy position for Ardija, if a close one. Nagoya have a game in hand, and Cerezo and Yokohama are only a point behind, the latter beginning to pick up form. It goes to prove that the J League this season is not an easy league to predict, which is hopefully keeping it interesting for the fans, especially those of us who follow the so called smaller teams and whom are enjoying seeing some of the big boys struggle. Funnily enough, on the latest edition of the J Talk podcast, host, Ben and guest, Alan Gibson both predict Omiya will easily stay in the J1. Mmm, I can't be so confident as they are, but certainly I hope their words prove correct by the end of the season.
However Ardija failed to capitalize and performed and lost dismally. The first goal came early, very early and was a complete disaster, a poor attempt at a defensive header and then a sloppy back pass from Kim let in Ogawa to score easily, and I guess things just deteriorated after that. Kobe wrapped up a relatively easy win in the second half with a nice strike from Lee on the 60th minute and an easy tap-in from Mogi on 68 minutes after Kitano could only parry a Kobe shot. This result meant Ardija slipped down the league table to 13th, and left fans worried by the performance and most likely thinking that the two recent home wins were hiding the truth of the team's level, or perhaps the inability of coach Suzuki to change his tactics depending on the team we are playing. On the latest J Talk podcast, Alan Gibson strongly predicted that Kobe would finish this season in the top three, so if that's the case, maybe by the end of the season this won't look such a bad result!
The Kobe game was on the Thursday of the Golden Week holiday, and the Squirrels didn't have too long to wait for another holiday fixture, and on Sunday Gamba Osaka arrived in town to play at the Nack5. Although it was Golden Week, don't listen to the name too closely, as just prior to the planned match day kick off of 4pm a massive storm broke over the stadium and the kick off was delayed for an hour. Usually Gamba turn up at the Nack 5 looking down at Ardija from a lofty J1 league table position, but on this Sunday surprisingly enough, It was us looking down on them. Gamba have been having a rough old time of it this season, and are already out of the Asians Champions League, and have changed their manager. For the second time this week we would face a Kansai side going through changes and difficulties, although Kobe's are clearly not as deep as Gamba's and the coach change seems to be more about personality clashes with the players and not meeting the high standards of the owners. Standards which would probably do Omiya's owners just fine. Despite having said that Gamba had been poor this season, the Osaka side fairly bossed the first half, both in terms of possession and chances. The Omiya team that Suzuki has been picking recently, definitely has some skill about it, but is based on having just one forward player, who quickly becomes isolated and only thrives in a counter-attack situation when the other team's defence is stretched. This might work away from home, though clearly not against Kobe, but it's just not good enough for me at home. Secondly, this plan needs a striker on form, who "scores when he wants" and unfortunately Ardija do not have such a player. Yet somehow Gamba could not convert their chances and with Rafael off, and Hasegawa on we did. Cho got the all important winner in the 73rd minute when a Carlinhos shot from distance rebounded off a defender to Cho and he finished well. Three more valuable points for the Squirrels, and three home wins in succession. Definitely something for the fans to be happy about and makes a pleasant change from last season when home wins were very scarce! Konno said for Gamba, that it was one of their better performances of the season so far, even though they still lost.
Who would have thought that after 10 games we would be 11th on 14 points. Well, probably a lot of people, but who would have thought that we would be on the same points as Nagoya Grampus, and above Cerezo, Yokohama, Kashima, Kashiwa, and Gamba. I would have bet decent money that most of those teams would be above us in the league. As it stands, it's a happy position for Ardija, if a close one. Nagoya have a game in hand, and Cerezo and Yokohama are only a point behind, the latter beginning to pick up form. It goes to prove that the J League this season is not an easy league to predict, which is hopefully keeping it interesting for the fans, especially those of us who follow the so called smaller teams and whom are enjoying seeing some of the big boys struggle. Funnily enough, on the latest edition of the J Talk podcast, host, Ben and guest, Alan Gibson both predict Omiya will easily stay in the J1. Mmm, I can't be so confident as they are, but certainly I hope their words prove correct by the end of the season.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
2 in a row!
Saturday afternoon came around warm and sunny and we headed to the Nack5 for once in glorious expectation. Ardija were coming off a great home win against the Urawa Reds and next up we would face the league's bottom team, the winless Consadole Sapporo. However the story is never that simple and Consadole have been labelled luckless on the J Talk podcast, so I am sure most Ardija fans would have found reason to temper their unlikely optimism. We managed to find two seats in the upper tier behind the goal at the home end, which is not always easy I have to tell you. I am not sure how early the Ardija faithful turn up to bag their seats, but we got their 45 minutes early and most of the stand was full. Overall it was a disappointing crowd of just over 8,000 fans that had turned up, but as kickoff approached both the home and away fans made some noise and the Nack5 was ready for some action.
The action came quite early as Ardija pressed down our left with Shimohira taking up some good positions, and the midfield passing the ball well and having most of the possession with Carlinhos looking lively in the middle of the pitch. Indeed it was Shimohira who delivered a lovely cross from the left for Carlinhos, using his body strength well to get in front of the Sapporo defender and powerfully head the ball into the net. Carlinhos celebrated with joy and ran full pelt across the pitch and over to the dugout to celebrate with Jun Suzuki. A sign that the players still back our coach despite many fans starting to want a change in the Ardija hot seat?A great start and Ardija continued to have a lot of the ball, Shimohira continued to make inroads down the left, Cho pressed up front and Higashi was alas looking on good form, but the second goal remained elusive and as the game neared the half time break Sapporo started to come into the game more and in fact managed to get an equalizer in first half injury time through Takagi. Our defenders seemed scared to make a tackle inside our penalty box, time seemed to stand still as it felt like our defenders just started watching the game like us fans! So we went in at half time at 1-1 and despite a fairly solid and decent performance from the Squirrels, my feeling was that the momentum had swung to Sapporo.
That feeling was born out in a second half display from Sapporo that got them almost everything apart from a goal, and the claims on J Talk podcast that Sapporo are an unlucky team, do appear to be right. The unluckiest player on this occasion was the Australian Jade North who had a superb volley and a header both cleared off the line by some desperate last ditch defending from Ardija. Jade North is a defender, but showed some real skill when in our penalty box, and later showed his defensive skills, by making some important tackles in the Sapporo box. Ardija were mostly restricted to playing on the break and fortunately for us they managed to get that crucial second goal through Takuya Aoki with a fine finish on 71 minutes. Aoki's goal turned out to be the winner, although Rafael had a great chance to make it 3-1 when through on the goalie, but he was unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Somehow Ardija held on, the ref blew his whistle and we had 3 points and a second home win in a row, whilst those plucky gallant men from Sapporo had nothing yet again.
Two home wins in a row, Omiya sit tenth in the league, a point ahead of Kashima and Kawasaki, and 2 points ahead of our next opponents Kobe, who we will play away at on Thursday 3rd May. Is this a chance for Omiya to get a third win in a row and climb a little more up the table? Let's hope so. Let's go Omiya Let's go!
The action came quite early as Ardija pressed down our left with Shimohira taking up some good positions, and the midfield passing the ball well and having most of the possession with Carlinhos looking lively in the middle of the pitch. Indeed it was Shimohira who delivered a lovely cross from the left for Carlinhos, using his body strength well to get in front of the Sapporo defender and powerfully head the ball into the net. Carlinhos celebrated with joy and ran full pelt across the pitch and over to the dugout to celebrate with Jun Suzuki. A sign that the players still back our coach despite many fans starting to want a change in the Ardija hot seat?A great start and Ardija continued to have a lot of the ball, Shimohira continued to make inroads down the left, Cho pressed up front and Higashi was alas looking on good form, but the second goal remained elusive and as the game neared the half time break Sapporo started to come into the game more and in fact managed to get an equalizer in first half injury time through Takagi. Our defenders seemed scared to make a tackle inside our penalty box, time seemed to stand still as it felt like our defenders just started watching the game like us fans! So we went in at half time at 1-1 and despite a fairly solid and decent performance from the Squirrels, my feeling was that the momentum had swung to Sapporo.That feeling was born out in a second half display from Sapporo that got them almost everything apart from a goal, and the claims on J Talk podcast that Sapporo are an unlucky team, do appear to be right. The unluckiest player on this occasion was the Australian Jade North who had a superb volley and a header both cleared off the line by some desperate last ditch defending from Ardija. Jade North is a defender, but showed some real skill when in our penalty box, and later showed his defensive skills, by making some important tackles in the Sapporo box. Ardija were mostly restricted to playing on the break and fortunately for us they managed to get that crucial second goal through Takuya Aoki with a fine finish on 71 minutes. Aoki's goal turned out to be the winner, although Rafael had a great chance to make it 3-1 when through on the goalie, but he was unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Somehow Ardija held on, the ref blew his whistle and we had 3 points and a second home win in a row, whilst those plucky gallant men from Sapporo had nothing yet again.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Consadole are coming to town!
Next up for the Squirrels is a home game against bottom of the League Consadole Sapporo. In fact we will be playing Consadole at home twice in quick succession, as we also take them on at the Nack5 on May 16th in our next game in the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup.
Saturday's game is far more important to me, as J1 survival remains our key target and the first seven games have done nothing to suggest that it is going to be an easy ride. Therefore when the team propping up the table comes to town, even the most despairing of Ardija fans must be thinking of bagging all three points. Our record so far is played 7, won 2, drawn 1 and lost 4. Those four losses make particularly bad reading this early on, however we do go into this game right off a confidence boosting 2-0 win over our local rivals Urawa Reds, so this is a big opportunity to back that up with a win over Sapporo. Football is a simple game, and simply put, goals win games. The key lesson of our two wins this season is the fact that it is only in those 2 wins that we have scored more than one goal. I'm guessing that injuries aside, Suzuki will stick with the same starting eleven that took the field last Saturday so we will hope to see Cho pushing on to support Rafael up front.
In the game against Urawa we basically played on the counterattack, and did it very successfully of course.Having said that, I'm hoping to see a more dominant performance against a team which has lost every league game so far and has only managed one draw and that point came on the very first day of the season against Jubilo Iwata a long time ago now. Just to throw in a bit of caution though, in their last outing at home to Kawasaki Frontale, Sapporo did race into a 2 goal lead. Sadly for them they failed to hold on to that lead, or even a share of the points and went down 3-2. One wonders how demoralizing such a loss might have been and will they fancy the long trip away from home.
My prediction then is for a home win. I'm going to plump for a 3-1 win to the Squirrels.
Let's go Omiya Let's Go!
Go! Go! Omiya Ardija
Omiya Ardija might be one of the smaller and less fashionable clubs in the J League, and they are certainly one of the least successful! But that does not stop them from having an internet presence in both Japanese and English.
The leader in the English language stakes is the brilliant Go! Go! Omiya Ardija.
Now I don't know too many details about who is behind this website, but if you have any interest in Omiya Ardija and it's place in Japanese football, then I urge you to read it. The writing is humourous and irreverent, and is definitely one of it's strong points. You can't be a Squirrels fan without a sense of humour.
The writers (there seems to be more than one but not sure quite how many - a post at the top of the site mysteriously hints at a legion of dedicated members of the Squirrel Nation.) have a detailed knowledge of the goings on at Nack 5, at least to do with the team and squad. I'm sure they also know a lot more about behind the scenes at Ardija than the average fan too. If the sheer joy of watching Ardija's first team games is not enough for them, they also go and watch the practice games. More evidence of the dedicated members of the Squirrel Nation at work. I'm not sure how long it has been going, but I could find posts going back to 2008 available on there site if you are looking for a bit of recent Ardija history.
As a fan of Omiya Ardija, it is a site that I love to check regularly and get a all sorts of useful information and much more besides. Why not check it out? I certainly hope the members of the Squirrel nation keep on producing fine work on the site, which, you never know, might even inspire the lads to do the business on the pitch.
omiyaallezallezblogspot.com
twitter - @GoGoOmiyaArdija
The leader in the English language stakes is the brilliant Go! Go! Omiya Ardija.
Now I don't know too many details about who is behind this website, but if you have any interest in Omiya Ardija and it's place in Japanese football, then I urge you to read it. The writing is humourous and irreverent, and is definitely one of it's strong points. You can't be a Squirrels fan without a sense of humour.
The writers (there seems to be more than one but not sure quite how many - a post at the top of the site mysteriously hints at a legion of dedicated members of the Squirrel Nation.) have a detailed knowledge of the goings on at Nack 5, at least to do with the team and squad. I'm sure they also know a lot more about behind the scenes at Ardija than the average fan too. If the sheer joy of watching Ardija's first team games is not enough for them, they also go and watch the practice games. More evidence of the dedicated members of the Squirrel Nation at work. I'm not sure how long it has been going, but I could find posts going back to 2008 available on there site if you are looking for a bit of recent Ardija history.
As a fan of Omiya Ardija, it is a site that I love to check regularly and get a all sorts of useful information and much more besides. Why not check it out? I certainly hope the members of the Squirrel nation keep on producing fine work on the site, which, you never know, might even inspire the lads to do the business on the pitch.
omiyaallezallezblogspot.com
twitter - @GoGoOmiyaArdija
J League info in English
When I first came to Japan, I knew very little about Japanese football and could find out even less information about it. The games I went to in my early days living in Japan were usually thanks to a kind Japanese friend who shared my passion for football and would sort out all the arrangements for me.
If you don't speak Japanese fluently and can't read the language either, it can often be very difficult to keep in touch with what's happening in the J League and to find decent match day information. Especially for tourists coming to Japan and hoping to take in a game on foreign soil. Furthermore, I got very little information about what was happening in the J League, about the players, managers and the teams and all the usual highly charged and enjoyable debate about football you find in England every day of the week. This is starting to change.
With the advent of the internet and social media there are now far more ways to keep in touch with Japanese football, to debate the issues and to find help to get tickets and go along and support your local J League team.
Your first stop on the internet should be JSoccer.com - a website about all things on Japanese football. It is also a very good magazine which has been published 3 times so far and a new issue should be coming soon in early May and will be available at all the usual outlets, and also for overseas readers. You can get interesting articles, match previews and reports and much more besides.
Podcasts in football have become very popular over the last few years with football fans all around the world. James Richardson's football podcast on the Guardian has been particularly praised and has garnered a loyal and large following. I know of two podcasts in English which cover the J league and both are well worth a listen, and appear regularly on Mondays during the season.
The J-Talk podcast is presented by Ben Maxwell, an Australian sports-mad guy who loves his football. He is a fan of Liverpool FC and more relevantly an FC Tokyo fan. In fact he has a blog on FC Tokyo, so if you are interested in FC Tokyo or finding more out about the Capital's J1 team, you should check it out. The show has only started recently and I have listened to all the episodes so far. It's a great addition to the Japan football scene. The format so far is Ben with one invited guest and they discuss the previous week's football in the J league, the Asian Champions League and any Japan national team news, followed by a look at the next week's fixtures. Players, coaches and team performances are assessed and criticized and I feel as a listener are dealt with fairly and honestly without too much undue bias. It gives me an update on how Omiya's rivals are playing, and information on players to look out for. It's fun and engaging and so far the guests have been value for money. Ben has talked to a mixture of journalists based in Japan, or guys who are huge fans of certain teams and are often involved in running blogs or websites on those teams. From the journalists you tend to get an overview of the whole league from a rather neutral standpoint, whilst from the fans you get a look at that same league but from a far more passionate perspective. Both work.
The second podcast I know of, which concentrates on the J League is presented by a journalist called Ben Mabley and is called The Football Japan Minutecast. Interestingly enough, it usually lasts longer than a minute. Most of the shows I've listened to, seem to be about 5 or 6 minutes but one I heard was a much longer discussion. The regular Minutecast appears on Mondays and is a round up of that weekend's fixtures with any key talking points also highlighted. The listener gets all the relevant info in a timely manner, so it's perfect for people who are busy on Mondays and who just want to get the salient points of what happened in the J League over the weekend, and then perhaps they will delve into the details at a later date. Or at least that's how it works for me, and in that sense I find it useful. Ben also publishes the text of his podcast. To be honest, I'm not sure of the purpose behind the Minutecast, but as I said I get some value out of it. The longer discussion I mentioned earlier, came after the Osaka derby between Cerezo and Gamba and was a roundtable between Ben and two other journalists discussing the match and everything surrounding it. I found that show very informative and entertaining, and I hope that at some stage more episodes like that are produced. Ben also has a website which I have glanced at too and seems to be all about football in Japan. He is based in Osaka and is a Gamba Osaka fan, but writes very well on all Japanese football, and I'm sure if you are looking to find more out about Japanese football, then you might do very well to give his website a look too.
Here are some details about the websites I mentioned above.
JSoccer.com
twitter - @jsoccermagazine
jtalkpodcast.blogspot.com
twitter - @jtalkpod
mabley.footballjapan.co.uk
twitter - @benmabley
on-the-gas.blogspot.com
twitter @On The Gas1999 (FC Tokyo)
Anyway, if you don't know much about Japanese football and want to know more. Or if you are already a fan but just want to get more involved, then give these guys a try as a starter. There are more guys out there writing about Japanese football in English and I will review them at a later date.
If you don't speak Japanese fluently and can't read the language either, it can often be very difficult to keep in touch with what's happening in the J League and to find decent match day information. Especially for tourists coming to Japan and hoping to take in a game on foreign soil. Furthermore, I got very little information about what was happening in the J League, about the players, managers and the teams and all the usual highly charged and enjoyable debate about football you find in England every day of the week. This is starting to change.
With the advent of the internet and social media there are now far more ways to keep in touch with Japanese football, to debate the issues and to find help to get tickets and go along and support your local J League team.
Your first stop on the internet should be JSoccer.com - a website about all things on Japanese football. It is also a very good magazine which has been published 3 times so far and a new issue should be coming soon in early May and will be available at all the usual outlets, and also for overseas readers. You can get interesting articles, match previews and reports and much more besides.
Podcasts in football have become very popular over the last few years with football fans all around the world. James Richardson's football podcast on the Guardian has been particularly praised and has garnered a loyal and large following. I know of two podcasts in English which cover the J league and both are well worth a listen, and appear regularly on Mondays during the season.
The J-Talk podcast is presented by Ben Maxwell, an Australian sports-mad guy who loves his football. He is a fan of Liverpool FC and more relevantly an FC Tokyo fan. In fact he has a blog on FC Tokyo, so if you are interested in FC Tokyo or finding more out about the Capital's J1 team, you should check it out. The show has only started recently and I have listened to all the episodes so far. It's a great addition to the Japan football scene. The format so far is Ben with one invited guest and they discuss the previous week's football in the J league, the Asian Champions League and any Japan national team news, followed by a look at the next week's fixtures. Players, coaches and team performances are assessed and criticized and I feel as a listener are dealt with fairly and honestly without too much undue bias. It gives me an update on how Omiya's rivals are playing, and information on players to look out for. It's fun and engaging and so far the guests have been value for money. Ben has talked to a mixture of journalists based in Japan, or guys who are huge fans of certain teams and are often involved in running blogs or websites on those teams. From the journalists you tend to get an overview of the whole league from a rather neutral standpoint, whilst from the fans you get a look at that same league but from a far more passionate perspective. Both work.
The second podcast I know of, which concentrates on the J League is presented by a journalist called Ben Mabley and is called The Football Japan Minutecast. Interestingly enough, it usually lasts longer than a minute. Most of the shows I've listened to, seem to be about 5 or 6 minutes but one I heard was a much longer discussion. The regular Minutecast appears on Mondays and is a round up of that weekend's fixtures with any key talking points also highlighted. The listener gets all the relevant info in a timely manner, so it's perfect for people who are busy on Mondays and who just want to get the salient points of what happened in the J League over the weekend, and then perhaps they will delve into the details at a later date. Or at least that's how it works for me, and in that sense I find it useful. Ben also publishes the text of his podcast. To be honest, I'm not sure of the purpose behind the Minutecast, but as I said I get some value out of it. The longer discussion I mentioned earlier, came after the Osaka derby between Cerezo and Gamba and was a roundtable between Ben and two other journalists discussing the match and everything surrounding it. I found that show very informative and entertaining, and I hope that at some stage more episodes like that are produced. Ben also has a website which I have glanced at too and seems to be all about football in Japan. He is based in Osaka and is a Gamba Osaka fan, but writes very well on all Japanese football, and I'm sure if you are looking to find more out about Japanese football, then you might do very well to give his website a look too.
Here are some details about the websites I mentioned above.
JSoccer.com
twitter - @jsoccermagazine
jtalkpodcast.blogspot.com
twitter - @jtalkpod
mabley.footballjapan.co.uk
twitter - @benmabley
on-the-gas.blogspot.com
twitter @On The Gas1999 (FC Tokyo)
Anyway, if you don't know much about Japanese football and want to know more. Or if you are already a fan but just want to get more involved, then give these guys a try as a starter. There are more guys out there writing about Japanese football in English and I will review them at a later date.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
The Saitama Derby
Last Saturday was the first Saitama derby of the 2012 season and it took place at the home of the Squirrels. Ardija have been struggling to find any form recently but what a way to cheer up the players, staff and fans with a win against your biggest rivals, the Urawa Reds.
Prior to the game, the Reds were sitting pretty in the league, in second place, whilst the home team were in a lowly 13th place. Most tipsters were looking to an away win, and I wouldn't have disagreed with them. Those same tipsters would have been burying their heads in shame after the first half-hour , whilst I was half in joy and half in shock as the Squirrels raced into a surprise 2-0 lead through goals by Cho and Rafael.
Despite some pressure from the Reds, Omiya managed to waste a few chances to get a third, but held on for a double whammy - a derby win and three very important points.
Our first goal from Cho came in the eighth minute and the players worked the ball forward well on our left with some neat interplay passing and Cho got free of the Reds defence, turned inside the covering defender and slotted the ball home. The second goal came just before the half hour when Cho crossed the ball from the left wing perfectly for Rafael to finish with a smart header. Rafael seems to enjoy scoring against Urawa which is something the Omiya fans are very happy to see continue.
Key pointers were having Higashi fit and back in the midfield, Cho being able to push forward from midfield and link up with Rafael, and finally getting the 2nd goal gave us a bit of a cushion upon which we could defend with more confidence than has been evident of late.
A great win for Ardija, that saw us move up once place in the league to 12th place on 8 points, 5 points and 6 places behind the Reds.
The worry for Ardija fans is that this was a one-off performance inspired by the visit of our crosstown rivals, and that we will soon dip again. The good news is that the next visitors to the Nack5 on Saturday April 28th are bottom placed Consadole Sapporo. Is this a chance for the Squirrels to post back to back home wins? Let's go Omiya Let's go!
Prior to the game, the Reds were sitting pretty in the league, in second place, whilst the home team were in a lowly 13th place. Most tipsters were looking to an away win, and I wouldn't have disagreed with them. Those same tipsters would have been burying their heads in shame after the first half-hour , whilst I was half in joy and half in shock as the Squirrels raced into a surprise 2-0 lead through goals by Cho and Rafael.
Despite some pressure from the Reds, Omiya managed to waste a few chances to get a third, but held on for a double whammy - a derby win and three very important points.
Our first goal from Cho came in the eighth minute and the players worked the ball forward well on our left with some neat interplay passing and Cho got free of the Reds defence, turned inside the covering defender and slotted the ball home. The second goal came just before the half hour when Cho crossed the ball from the left wing perfectly for Rafael to finish with a smart header. Rafael seems to enjoy scoring against Urawa which is something the Omiya fans are very happy to see continue.
Key pointers were having Higashi fit and back in the midfield, Cho being able to push forward from midfield and link up with Rafael, and finally getting the 2nd goal gave us a bit of a cushion upon which we could defend with more confidence than has been evident of late.
A great win for Ardija, that saw us move up once place in the league to 12th place on 8 points, 5 points and 6 places behind the Reds.
The worry for Ardija fans is that this was a one-off performance inspired by the visit of our crosstown rivals, and that we will soon dip again. The good news is that the next visitors to the Nack5 on Saturday April 28th are bottom placed Consadole Sapporo. Is this a chance for the Squirrels to post back to back home wins? Let's go Omiya Let's go!
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