After Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s first J1 Championship three years back, they were picked apart by Urawa Reds, and then won another Championship. They won J1 again… and were picked apart by Reds again. Finally, the losses told and Gamba Osaka took over the J1 reigns last season but, just to be consistent, Reds have picked up Naoki Ishihara for 2015, as Sanfrecce continue to hemorrhage players.
2015 begins with talisman left (wing) back Hwang Seok-Ho (scorer of some very important goals last season) jumping ship to Kashima Antlers and Yojiro Takahagi leaving for Western Sydney Wanderers (see page 34 of Issue 15 of JSoccer Magazine).

The biggest transfer news of the new campaign is possibly that Tsukasa Shiotani is still with the club and, with Hiroki Mizumoto, Kazuhiko Chiba will look to keep it “tight at the back”. With the aging – and rarely seeing-a-full-90-minutes – Hisato Sato as the main fulcrum up front, accompanied by (dare I say it, or perhaps give it inverted commas?) “Japan international” Yusuke Minagawa looking for goals, Sanfrecce are looking short up front. Tokushima Vortis have sent over Douglas, but there’ll need to be a huge improvement from him to make Sanfrecce a top team.
In midfield, Kyoto Sanga have been raided and Kohei Kudo has joined the team, but the squad is definitely looking a little shallow. Toshihiro Aoyama, Shiotani and Sato may feel the pressure of keeping this team on course… manager Hajime Moriyasu is a tactical genius in this writer’s opinion, and Sanfrecce will in no way be struggling in the relegation zone (famous last words?), but anything better than a mid-table finish may be a stretch.

Web site – www.sanfrecce.co.jp

Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2015 shirts!