Keita Lands in Tokushima

To no-one's surprise, Sugimoto joins Tomohiro Tsuda at Tokushima Vortis for next year. Tsuda is still on loan, but Vortis will have a couple of rapid whirlpools for at least one season. Let's hope it is enough to sweep them into J1.


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Football Japan name Asian Cup squad - Channel NewsAsia

Zaccheroni names former Grampus stars Keisuke Honda and Maya Yoshida in his final squad of 23 for the upcoming Asian Cup. So the only current Grampus player who may make the trip to Qatar is Josh Kennedy, who could miss it if his back does not respond to treatment in time.

Football Japan name Asian Cup squad - Channel NewsAsia

Countdown to Emperor's Cup Clash

Merry Christmas to you all!

It is now only a few hours to the Emperor's Cup quarter-final game against Kashima.
It will be interesting to see who plays. Tulio, Josh Kennedy, Danilson and Magnum will all be absent, so it will be a good test of our depth, especially if we come away from Kashima Stadium with another win. Time for some Christmas firecrackers from Mu Kanazaki and Keiji Tamada, me thinks.

Vortis' Bae Seung Jin Out for 6 Months

Tokushima Vortis have lost their influential Korean defender for 5-6 months. Seung Jin had an operation on the persistent dislocated shoulder injury that had troubled him over the latter half of the season and will miss the early part of next season.

Grampus Extend Danilson Loan (No Transfer Yet)

Nagoya have announced that they have extended the loan of Columbian midfielder Danilson from Consadole Sapporo. The two clubs may well have worked out a full transfer had it not been for a broken foot that sees Dani fly back to Columbia for treatment later this week.

Grampus Win Race to Sign Nagai

Nagoya have announced the signing of Japan U-21 striker, and Golden Boot winner at the recent Asian Games, Kensuke Nagai. He will join the team from next season, after having played for Vissel this year despite still being at university. (The league allows exceptional players at university to train and occasionally play with a pro team.) This us a good start to strengthening the attack for next year.

Vissel Axe Four

Vissel Kobe have also announced the list of players who they will not be resigning next year.

They are: GK Tatsuya Enomoto; DFs Teruaki Kobayashi and Daisuke Tomita; and FW Kazuki Ganaha.

Grampus Cut Magnum & Keita

Nagoya have announced that they will not be renewing the contracts of Magnum and Keita Sugimoto. No real surprise about either. Magnum has dodgy hamstring and Keita is fast, but not quite skilful enough for J1. Sugimoto would be great signing for a J2 team or as a super-sub for J1 team.

Since we have the ACL next year, I assume we will be keeping everyone else and adding some depth, especially in the forward area. After Josh and Tamada, we are getting pretty thin.

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Location:Newton Square,West Bromwich,United Kingdom

Japan News Another Source

For another source of Japan related news, apart from those listed in the left, try the Japan section of the World Cup Blog.

Narazaki J.League MVP

Grampus custodian Seigo Narazaki was officially selected as the League MVP at the J.League Awards last night. No surprise, since his fine performances in several games was vital to our title run. The League's official (3-5-2) Best Eleven is as shown below.

GK: Seigo Narazaki (Grampus)
DF: Tulio (Grampus)
DF: Takahiro Masukawa (Grampus)
DF: Tomoaki Makino (Sanfrecce)
MF: Kengo Nakamura (Frontale)
MF: Marcio Richardes (Albirex)
MF: Kengo Fujimoto (S-Pulse)
MF: Danilson (Grampus)
MF: Yasuhito Endo (Gamba)
FW: Ryoichi Maeda (Jubilo)
FW: Josh Kennedy (Grampus)

At least Endo takes his rightful place in the eleven, although Ienga can feel a bit aggrieved that the overrated Kengo Nakamura despite Cerezo finishing 6 points ahead of Frontale. Personally, I think the j3PLUS eleven listed yesterday was a more thoughtful selection.

Grampus Dominate Best 11

As is only to be expected, Nagoya Grampus players dominate the J1 Best Eleven selected by the Japanese football column J3PLUS+. However, some of the choices come as a nice surprise. No players from Gamba or the Antlers.

GK: Seigo Narazaki
DF: Tomoaki Makino (Sanfrecce)
DF: Tulio
DF: Teruyuki Moniwa (Cerezo) Why did FC Tokyo let him go?
DF: Shohei Abe
MF: Danilson
MF: Yong Gi Ryang (Vegalta)
MF: Marcio Richardes (Albirex)
MF: Akihiro Ienaga (Cerazo)
FW: Ryoichi Maeda (Jubilo)
FW: Josh Kennedy

I Believe in Miracles...

... you sexy things Kyoto. Thank you. Jay and Alan will be delirious for weeks.

For those who weren't glued to the results, maybe like me you were listening to Radio 4's TMS as we mangle the Aussies again, Kyoto eased past the Gasmen 2-0 to send them crashing into J1, and the Saitama Chokers collapsed again, allowing Vissel to romp to a 4-0 away win. I am sorry to see FC Tokyo go down, they are a better team than that, but rather them than Kobe.

Meanwhile, over at Toyota Stadium, Josh Kennedy bagged one of our two goals that saw us set a new record of 23 wins in a season, and finish joint top scorer for the season. Do he and Maeda get one golden boot each? :-)

FIFA 'picks' Qatar and Russia

FIFA, surprise, surprise, have opted to give the World Cup to Russia and Qatar. Choices that will do nothing to dispell the whiff of corruption and dirty deals at the heart FIFA decisions.

BBC: Russia & Qatar will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups

The Age: Claims of bribes ignored by FIFA

The Telegraph: The £66m 'bribe' shadow hanging over Fifa