Tag Archives: Kataoka

In the Mix, Previews

J1 Preview – Nagoya Grampus vs Omiya Ardija at Mizuho Athletic Stadium – Oct.6, Matchday 28

Leave a comment

Team News
Nagoya Grampus – Kennedy has a recurrence of his back injury and is very doubtful, MFs Nakamura and Isomura out injured, reserve GK Takagi out.
Omiya Ardija – MF/FW Slatan is suspended. DF Kataoka out injured.

Head to Head – In 17 meetings in J1 or the Nabisco Cup since 2005 Grampus have 9 wins to Ardija’s 4, and 4 games have ended in a draw.

Match Preview – Nagoya won three in-a-row after their 5-0 defeat by Gamba Osaka and looked to have turned the corner, then they lost to Sanfrecce (top team, fair enough) and, last week succumbed 5-0 to Albirex! With Kennedy probably out again, with a recurrence of his back injury, they will need to dig deep into the reserves of confidence to come back, but come back I think they can. It’s time for Tulio to be the hero again! Nothing less than a win will keep Grampus in with a hope of hitting the top 3 for an ACL 2013 spot.
Omiya Ardija are on a four game unbeaten run – two wins and two draws – that has pulled them out of the bottom three but, discounting a 5-0 win over Consdaole in that time, the team have scored only 23 goals in their other 26 games and do not look like improving on that tally any time soon. If they keep grinding out the low-scoring points they could be safe yet again, but I don’t fancy them today! EXPECT a WIN for NAGOYA GRAMPUS!

Previews

J1 Preview – Sat. Sept.15th – 18:30 Omiya Ardija vs Sagan Tosu at Kumagaya

Leave a comment

Omiya Ardija – DF Kataoka is out for a month
Sagan Tosu – DF Kitani still out.

6 wins for Ardija, 1 for Tosu and 2 draws, all in J2 since 2003 except for this season’s 1-1 draw in Tosu.

Omiya Ardija find themselves in a must-win game today, and in the next ten, too! They managed to hold Urawa Reds in the Saitama Derby last week, even going down to ten men early on, but anything can happen in Derby matches… can they beat the mean defence of Sagan Tosu, especially as Sagan will be looking to get back on the winning track after losing out in a shock to Kamatamare Sanuki – at home – last week in the Emperor’s Cup.

Ardija are now showing a much worse goal difference than Albirex and Gamba, which may hurt them on the final day – they need to score more goals, concede less goals and, of course, rack up some points, fast, if they are to have any chance of continuing their run in the top division. I can not see this happening, certainly not against one of the meanest defences in the J.League and a team who were stung last week and will be looking to make amends.

Neither team has suspension or major injury problems, but Omiya are getting enough from their new players, while the great hope for this season, Cho, is struggling with consistency, also. Carlinhos seems to have settled in and Higashi is back from London 2012 firing on all cylinders – he scored the equaliser last week. But two players do not a team make!
EXPECT a WIN for SAGAN TOSU!