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FC Tokyo 2015 Preview

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by @OnTheGas1999

Edu has departed for Jeonbuk in South Korea, and fellow striker Kazuma Watanabe, the scorer of 17 league goals in 2013, has also moved on, to Kobe, with the club putting a lot on the shoulders of the major ‘In’, incoming veteran Ryoichi Maeda, who moved from Jubilo Iwata after 15 seasons and 187 goals in over 450 appearances in all competitions.
Twice J1’s top scorer, and a national team fixture as recently as 2013, Maeda certainly has the pedigree, and FC Tokyo supporters will hope he has enough left in the tank to make the most of Yosuke Ota’s crosses and Hiroki Kawano’s incisive passes, and to compliment the exciting Yoshinori Muto as well as Edu did in 2014. Maeda is a big name in J1 circles, but once again Tokyo have failed to snag a real ‘splash signing’ – a player either in
midfield or attack who can win you games off his own boot – and will again put their faith in Japanese talent: the only foreign player in the squad is the Italian, fringe centre-back Michele Canini.
In defence, Takuji Yoshimoto’s emergence made another former Jubilo player, centre-back Kenichi Kaga, expendable, and he moved on to Urawa Reds, while two fan favourites, back-up goalkeeper
Hitoshi Shiota and fullback Kenta Mukuhara, both departed on permanent deals to relegated clubs, Shiota to Omiya Ardija, where it appears he will be stuck as a back-up again, and Mukuhara to Cerezo Osaka, where he played on loan in 2013.
FC Tokyo have spent large stretches of the past three seasons in, or on the fringes of, the top six, but have lacked consistency, and struggled to get results against the better sides in the league.
Strides were made in both areas in 2014 though, as their 14-game unbeaten run, and the fact they lost only twice against last year’s top five (W4 D4 L2), showed. If further improvement comes, the defence remains resilient, and further up the pitch if Muto can cut down on his magazine interviews and continue his development, with help from Kawano, Maeda and hopefully at least one of the speedy tricksters (Shoya Nakajima, Tasuku Hiraoka and
Wataru Sasaki) breaking through, then a top six finish is attainable.
Having said all that, while they have indeed threatened to break into the top six at times in the last three years, it’s clear from their end-of-season positions where Tokyo’s level is. With
no impact signing to freshen things up, yet another mid-table finish looks likely. The Gasmen drew as many games as they won in 2014 (12), and that failure to turn one point into three will probably be their Achilles heel yet again.

JSoccer#15 12 Vegalta plus

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Urawa Reds 2015 Season Preview

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by Ray Gunawan

Let’s start of by saying that the last time Urawa Reds came runners-up to Gamba Osaka the following year we went one better! So how will we go in 2015?
Before we answer that, we need to first picture how the team might look after the off-season moves (assuming manager Mihailo Petrović sticks with the 3-6-1 formation).
Everything should remain the same at the back with Shusaku Nishikawa in goal and the offensive-minded defensive trio of Ryota Moriwaki, Daisuke Nasu and Tomoaki Makino forming the back three. Hopefully they will be able to play more efficient
defensively to go along with their goalscoring exploits (they need to learn how to hold on for the win).
Tomoya Ugajin and Tadaaki Hirakawa are the incumbent wing backs; but I wouldn’t be surprised if Wataru Hashimoto takes one of their places out wide. Yuki Abe is locked into one of the defensive midfield positions; Keita Suzuki played alongside Abe for most of last year, but for some reason I can see Takuya Aoki slotting in there on a more regular basis and playing a bigger role. Yosuke Kashiwagi should once again be the “number 10″, with Tsukasa Umesaki alongside him. Naoki Ishihara (pictured), Yuki Muto and Shuto Kojima should also be able to challenge for a spot in the midfield.

JSoccer#15 9 Reds poster

Finally, upfront, the addition of Zlatan Ljubijankic pushing Shinzo Koroki and Tadanari Lee for places should make a formidable striking rotation, with Lee being my first choice of the three.
Toshiyuki Takagi (pictured) is also a useful addition to the attacking half of the side. There aren’t any drastic changes in the starting XI but we weren’t that far off from winning it all
last year. What we do need is depth, considering that we are participating in the Asian Champions League also, so that will take its toll on the players.
My expectations are mixed for this year; my heart says, yes, we were so close to winning the J.League last year that we should be able to go one better. My head on the other hand knows that a majority of J.League teams don’t do so well when they are involved in the ACL. I’ll go for top three in J1 and at least the round of 16 in the ACL…
We Are Reds!

JSoccer#15 8 Reds A

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Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2015 Season Preview

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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

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Sanfrecce away 12852

Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2015 shirts!

JSoccer#15 19 Vissel Sanfr Tosu

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Kawasaki Frontale 2015 Season Preview

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by FRsoccerNathan

Kawasaki Frontale were very much the nearly men again in 2014, contesting for the title before falling short in the closing weeks of the campaign. Eventually finishing sixth, Frontale couldn’t match their achievements of 2013 which saw them finish third and qualify for the AFC Asian Champions League.

Arguably Kawasaki’s most important piece of business in the off- season was to retain the services of 32-year-old striker Yoshito Okubo. The J.League’s top scorer for the last two campaigns, Okubo was heavily linked with a move away to FC Tokyo, and former clubs Cerezo Osaka and Vissel Kobe, but the Japanese international has decided to remain in Kanagawa for another season. He will again be complemented by Brazilian winger Renato, the effervescent Kengo Nakamura, and his fellow international Yu Kobayashi. Future Samurai Blue hopefuls Shogo Taniguchi and Ryota Oshima were also key men last season and will be looking to take further steps forward in 2015.

Many of Frontale’s squad players have been cleaned out. The likes of Junichi Inamoto (Consadole Sapporo), Yasuhito Morishima (Jubilo Iwata, loan) and Sota Nakazawa (Cerezo Osaka, loan) have moved on. The most notable outgoings are defenders Yusuke Tanaka and Jeci who have moved to Australia and returned to Brazil respectively.

The attacking side of the team has been bolstered by two prominent additions. Takayuki Funayama, who fired Matsumoto Yamaga to J1 last season with 19 goals has been signed along with Kenyu Sugimoto. Once hotly tipped as a future international, Sugimoto’s career stalled last season as his former club Cerezo Osaka were shockingly relegated. The 22-year-old will be looking to breathe new life into his game at Frontale, and at his best he certainly strengthens manager Kazama’s options.

Other incomings include former Vegalta Sendai defender Makoto Kakuda and Brazilian full- back Elsinho, from Brazilian Serie B side América. However, Frontale still look light at the back which is surprising given that this was their main failing last season.

After a couple of seasons of near misses the new two stage system and end of season champion- ship play-offs are likely to benefit Kawasaki Frontale, who found it difficult to sustain a challenge at the top over the full 34 matches last season.

Web site – www.frontale.co.jp/
English – www.frontale.co.jp/about/club_profile_e. html
Twitter – @frontale_staff

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Kawasaki Frontale 2015 shirts

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My story of the Last Day of the J1 Season, 2005

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Let me take you back to the final game of the 2005 J1 (single stage, thankfully) season … with less than a minute to go in normal time at Nagai Stadium, Cerezo were top of the league and cruising towards a J1 title, leading FC Tokyo 2-1.

The table looked like this as we went into the final 90 minutes:

1 Cerezo Osaka 58 pts GD +8
2 Gamba Osaka 57 pts GD +22
3 Urawa Reds 56 pts GD +24
4 Kashima Antlers 56 pts GD +18
5 JEF United 56 pts GD +13

Going into the final day both Cerezo and Gamba in Osaka, Urawa Reds, JEF United AND Kashima Antlers ALL still had a chance to win the league!

I personally watched a guy in a suit put on his white gloves and take out the (a) J1 trophy from a box, place it on a display pedestal and begin decorating it with pink ribbons. Holding a press pass I was able to be pitch-side as the game approached its conclusion. 1988 was the year I first watched Matsushita Denki, “chosen” as they were the closest team to my new home in Kobe at the time – I VERY much believe in supporting your local team. So, as a long-term Gamba Osaka watcher it was with mixed feelings that I was also watching as a long-term J.League writer – someone who SHOULD be neutral – and seeing Cerezo Osaka about to pick up the trophy. On the field were some friends – some of whom I am still in touch with on a regular basis, including Hiroaki Morishima – still at Cerezo as a team Ambassador.

There were 43,927 packed into the stadium on a bright, sunny day of 12 degrees C. The referee was Toru Kamikawa, and he had signaled that the game was going into additional time.

I looked at the clock, I looked at the trophy and … well, let’s go back a little!

Gamba Osaka had gone ahead 3-2 at Kawasaki Frontale through a Yashito Endo penalty kick with 11 minutes to go. Meanwhile Kashima Antlers were cruising against Kashiwa Reysol, but were not going to become champions unless both Osaka teams lost.

Cerezo had gone ahead through Akinori Nishizawa, before conceding an equaliser to Norio Suzuki and it was level at the break.

Nishizawa scored his second and put Cerezo on top of J1 in the 48th minute … and so back to what I was looking at with seconds to go in the season.

… an FC Tokyo corner in the 90th minute came across. The shot was well-saved by Motohiro Yoshida in the Cerezo goal. The “second ball” fell to Konno who hit it on the bounce, his left foot shot finding its way through a forest of legs to make the score 2-2 and, with one swing of a leg Cerezo dropped from 1st to 5th and Gamba – who eventually won 4-2 at Frontale – were champions.

I looked at the stadium clock as the ball went in – 89 minutes 57 seconds – and then I looked at the man in the suit who had put his white gloves back on and put the trophy back in the box!

Later that night the party arrived at Banpaku…

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Beer was sprayed, my shirt was signed, and I still have the “parka” 8and the signed shirt) from that night!

I’ll be in Tokushima tomorrow, looking forward to another waste of beer! But there’ll be no enumeration of as yet unborn poultry … a win and the J1 Championship is Gamba’s. Period. But a draw or a loss, and that man in the suit, wearing the white gloves may yet be cursing his luck again!

How it ended:

1 Gamba Osaka 60 pts GD +24
2 Urawa Reds 59 pts GD +28
3 Kashima Antlers 59 pts GD +22
4 JEF United 59 pts GD +14
5 Cerezo Osaka 59 pts GD +8

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May 6th, game 10, J1 – Another All-in-One J1 Round-Up This Weekend….

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First, the results:

Vegalta Sendai 0-1 Shimizu S-Pulse
KashIwa Reysol 2-5 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Yokohama F.Marinos 2-1 Consadole Sapporo
Jubilo Iwata 2-2 Urawa Reds
Nagoya Grampus 2-3 Kawasaki Frontale
Cerezo Osaka 1-2 Vissel Kobe
Omiya Ardija 1-0 Gamba Osaka
Albirex Niigata 0-2 FC Tokyo
Kashima Antlers 0-0 Sagan Tosu

JSoccer.com featured game – Vegalta Sendai 0-1 Shimizu S-Pulse

It was 1st against 2nd in Sendai – a real six-pointer for S-Pulse, hoping to end Vegalta’s unbeaten campaign, and end it they did. As I predicted right here, and am proud of it! S-Pulse coach Afshin Ghotbi is getting together the right blend of youth, enthusiasm, grit and experience and making it into a team that can win the Championship. I know, because he told me so himself!
Today the Shizuoka team started with the Tiny Twins up front – Takagi and Omae, persisted with Hayashi in goal – who must now feel that spot is his own, even with a national team keeper on the bench – and were boosted by the return of Alex Brosque after suspension.
After a bright start the game was delayed for 45 minutes when a lightning storm lit up the sky and hailstones rained down upon the heads of the players!
Upon the restart, just after the half hour mark, a Sekiguchi volley gave keeper Hayashi problems but he got in the way of Wilson’s follow-up. Moments later a Takagi deep cross was delicately volleyed by Omae, but was an easy stop for the Sendai keeper, also Hayashi! In the 39th minute, the same combination broke the deadlock as Takagi’s inswinging cross was met perfectly by Omae who headed the ball down and past the keeper to make it 1-0 at the break.
Despite end to end action and half chances for both teams, the score remained the same into the 68th minute when Jong-a-Pin was shown his second yellow card for bringing down Wilson on the edge of the area….. S-Pulse had their work cut out for the final 20 minutes if they were to hold on to the points! Bit hold on they did, with Hayashi making saves from Muto and Wilson in the final minutes to end Sendai’s unbeaten run, and cut their lead at the top of J1 to within one win. Look out for S-Pulse to be taking over the reins an week now!

KashIwa Reysol 2-5 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Sanfrecce kept apace with S-Pulse, hoping for a shot at the top, by thrashing Reysol, away! Goals came from Hisashi Sato – hitting the nine goal mark for the season already, with a goal in each half – putting Hiroshima 2-0 in the lead before Reysol seemed to have got back into he game through Junya Tanaka – with a goal the likes of Didier Drogba or Robin van Persie would have been proud of a minute after coming on as a substitiute – and Jorge Wagner. And then, with five minutes to go, Takahagi got on the end of a Mikic cross to take Sanfrecce into the lead again and the game was put away with two goals in additional time by Ishihara.

Yokohama F.Marinos 2-1 Consadole Sapporo
Oguro spurned three decent chances before Saito cleaned up his third mistake and Nakamura blasted home the loose ball. Furuta equalised for the away team before Taniguchi headed home the winner in the 78th minute to make it three wins-in-row Marinos.

Jubilo Iwata 2-2 Urawa Reds
Jubilo got their goals on a brace of headers from Baek. Makino scored a reflexive equaliser before a fine drag back, turn, and perfectly placed shot from Haraguchi gave Reds the lead. Baek’s second gave Jubilo the point.

Nagoya Grampus 2-3 Kawasaki Frontale
Tasaka opened the scoring for Frontale, Kennedy blasted a left foot rocket from 25 yards to equalize and Kengo Nakamura supplied Ohshima for the header to make it 2-1. All this up to the 14th minute! Ohshima scored his second on the stroke of half time, slipping the ball through the keeper’s legs at the near post after another fine ball from Nakamura. Half time 1-3.
In the 70th minute Fujimoto’s deflected shot pulled the deficit back to one goal but the away team held on for the valuable win.

Cerezo Osaka 1-2 Vissel Kobe
Vissel made it two wins in a row under interim coach Adachi through a Yoshida PK and a fine left footed grass cutter from Nozawa, while Cerezo scored through a Kim PK. Vissel keeper Tokushige denied Fujimoto from point blank range in the closing minutes as Vissel held on for their 5th win of the season.

Omiya Ardija 1-0 Gamba Osaka
Kurata struck the bar from close range and Abe stung the keeper’s fingers with a long range blast in the first half, before Endo missed a point blank, but admittedly bouncing and difficult header in the 2nd half. Gamba could have sewn up the points before a Carlinhos shot ricocheted fortunately, for Omiya anyway, over the centre backs, and Cho and Higashi fought over the scraps before the Korean slotted in the winning goal through the legs of the onrushing Kimura in the Gamba goal. Sasaki created space brilliantly with an overhead flick and turn on the right wing and his cross just evaded Sato when it seemed a goal was on the cards. It was not Gamba’s day!

Albirex Niigata 0-2 FC Tokyo
After a goalless first half Kajiyama volleyed home the opening goal from a pinpoint cross from the right wing just after the restart and Yazawa sealed the points after a defensive mistake left him wide open in the 71st minute.

Kashima Antlers 0-0 Sagan Tosu
A goalless first half, with little action to speak of gave way to a more open 2nd half with Koroki spurning a breakaway chance in the 50th minute for Antlers, before Toyoda created space intelligently on the turn in the 61st minute, but is shot went narrowly wide. The same player was denied by the keeper in the 68th minute too, before Antlers’ sub Okamoto saw a header cleared off the line by the Tosu defence with the final play of the game.

In the Mix, Reports

J1 Round-Up, May 3rd, Matchday 9

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J1 Round-Up, May 3rd, Matchday 9

Here are the results:

Consadole Sapporo 1-0 Cerezo Osaka
Vissel Kobe 3-0 Omiya Ardija
Kawasaki Frontale 4-3 Jubilo Iwata
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0-1 Albirex Niigata
Sagan Tosu 1-1 Vegalta Sendai
Urawa Reds 1-2 Yokohama F. Marinos
Shimizu S-Pulse 3-0 Kashima Antlers

JSoccer.COMment:
Cerezo proved once and for all how inconsistent they are by giving Cosadole Sapporo their first win of the season! Yusuke Kondo scored the winner in the 25th minute and Consadole hold on for the three points.

Vissel Kobe fired coach Wada, put Adachi in charge for a couple of games while they work out finances with Akira Nishino, travel arrangements with Stuart Baxter, or work up enough courage to approach Pep Guardiola! (I also suggested that Michael Laudrup be considered!). The new coach will be happy to know that Vissel played with freedom and confidence and destroyed Omiya Ardija with ease! Goals from Ogawa, lee and Mogi (his first touch) sealed the points for Vissel.

Frontale found their goalscoring touch under new coach Kazama, but almost let Jubilo back into the game late on. Jubilo are being found out after their start seemed better than they deserved? Yajima scored two for Frontale.

Sanfrecce gave Albirex their first win of the season, just when it seemed Sanfrecce would make a run at Sendai on top. Were Sanfrecce bad, or did Albirex finally come good? A bit of both, it seems!

Tosu held unbeaten Vegalta to a draw, just as predicted on this very site in the previews. Is that the beginning of the end for Sendai? Will S-Pulse take them out this weekend and send them on a downward spiral? Watch this space!

Reds gave Marinos an unexpected second win in-a-row on Thursday. Saito scored a lovely goal (does he ever score simple ones!!?), Makino matched his brilliance with one of his own to make it 1-1, but old soldier Marquinos came on as a late sub and confounded us all with the winner!

S-Pulse staked their claim to be title contenders with a 3-0 drubbing of resurgent Antlers. Ito popped one in at close range very early on, then Takagi scored a screamer, and Omae another well taken volley to round out the scoring and send the away team back to Kashima under a cloud.

Note that FC Tokyo v. Kashiwa Reysol and Gamba Osaka v. Nagoya Grampus – postponed die to ACL commitments – will be played on June 27

Previews

Consadole Sapporo v. Cerezo Osaka – PREVIEW – May 3rd

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Consadole Sapporo v. Cerezo Osaka – Even Inconsistent Cerezo won’t Fail against Bottom Club!

Cerezo Osaka – DF Takahashi out for at least two more weeks.

Cerezo Osaka (P8 W4 D1 L3 GD +3) showed their good side for most of the game last week going 3-0 up against Jubilo Iwata before it ended 3-2. They are the most inconsistent team ever, it seems but surely they can’t fail against a Consadole Sapporo (P8 W0 D1 L7 GD -9) who have lost seven straight games since their opening day draw.

The youngsters of Cerezo Osaka, led by Kiyotake and Kim still need guidance – hence the inconsistency and, if both of those players move to Europe in the summer transfer window, as has been posited by various parts of the press, Cerezo wil have to rebuild again – somethign they are getting used to after losing Kagawa, Inui and Ienaga in recent times. But that’s the future, for today EXPECT a WIN for CEREZO OSAKA!

Consadole have four wins to Cerezo’s three wins in seven J2 meetings. There have been no draws between these two teams and this will be their first ever meeting in J1.

Reports

Kashiwa Reysol 1-1 Sagan Tosu – April 28th

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The home team welcomed back Leandro Domingues and Hiroki Sakai after suspension last week and took the lead seconds before half time as Kitajima guided home a corner via a defender’s shoulder to give Reysol the lead at the break. Kobayashi got the point-saving goal after the defence had made a mess of an inswinging free kick. Reysol’s season continues to be very average, while Sagan Tosu continue to confound the critics.