Teenage striker Takayuki Morimoto of Tokyo Verdy 1969 is set to move to newly-promoted Italian Serie A club Catania on loan, Verdy officials noted.According to Yoshiyuki Kato, a Verdy director in charge of player selection, both clubs will shortly announce a one-year deal for the 18-year-old Morimoto after working out details.Good luck to him, he was going nowhere at Verdy!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170005387799Somebody had to do it!LATEST – sold for 7 cents!

Reports from Sweden announce the soon-to-be new manager of Helsingborg! If true, a bad day for Vissel Kobe!

Kobe Shinbun called me to tell me of Nakata’s retirement and asked for comment! We are going up in the world! Nakata.net announces Hide’s retirement from the game…. It is official retirement, not just from the national team, as expected, but football in general – a big loss to Japanese football (blame the Japanese press!? Blame the pressure on Japan’s most gifted player? Blame a secret that Hide is keeping to himself, for now?), but Nakata has long been fed up of the intrusions into his life, and the inane and objectionable journalism that passes for “coverage” in Japan, and is probably rich enough and successful enough to find more than enough other things to do with his life! Good luck to him!

J2 Data – results, table, scorers – updated after every game – VISSEL ON A RUN to be PROUD OF!! 20 points from the last 24!! J1 here they go!! Baxter for Japan!! (but not yet, please!). Vissel, Vegalta, Yokohama FC and Kashiwa look like the four to fight it out for J1 now…..

…. probably good new for Maki and Abe!? But for the rest of us, too!

So far, so average…. Japan started with Tamada and Maki, and Inamoto was in for Fukunishi…. should have had Ono in MF for one of the FWs, but, hey, better than it could have been. Japan even took the lead with a Tamada wondergoal before a shocking lapse in concentration by Nakazawa gave Ronaldo an open header. Kawaguchi was busy but excellent….. but….. read on…

I suggested we lose the National Anthems and have some pop tunes instead… your suggestions are coming in….. keep ‘em coming to alan@jsoccer.com

25 minutes gone and Japan are creating openings, and Kawaguchi has saved a penalty! Last minutes, Zico FINALLY gives Oguro a few minutes and he should have had a PK!

Alan lets fly and irritates the whole world….