Masaya and Pixie Emerge Victorious in Tough Test of Character

The Nagoya manager was forced to employ young side-back Masaya Sato in an unfamiliar central defensive position against Gamba last night. The youngster emerged on the winning side, in his first league start for the club. A result that suggests that Masaya should get to start when he does play, rather than come on as a substitute.

It would certainly be easier for Sato to start games, rather than have to adjust to the pace of a game when coming on midway through the game, and he has certainly earned the right to get occasional starts to gain experience. Although he is a side-back, he first and foremost needs to be able to defend. If he can gain that experience as an occasional central defender, it should stand the team in good stead later in the season when the tough schedule demands that Pixie juggle the defensive lineup.

Vissel Come Up Short Against Gasmen

Vissel Kobe sank closer to the relegation zone on Saturday, as they were eventually outclassed by FC Tokyo. Although they started brightly, and for 20 minutes or so they managed to hold their own, once the visitors got into their stride, it was all one way traffic towards the Vissel goal.

A decent crowd of 15,000 turned up to watch Kobe take on high-flying Tokyo, in Masahiro Wada's first game in charge. It was to prove a harsh lesson for the new manager, as the lack of match practice for Ganaha and Botti became apparent as the game wore on. Both the underused Ganaha and the returning Botti look as though they need another game or two to fully adjust to J1 level again. Kobe fans will certainly hoping they do so soon, before the club become engulfed in a full fledged relegation battle.

Vissel
Tatsuya Enomoto
Yosuke Ishibitsu, Kunie Kitamoto, Tsuneysu Miyamoto, Toshihiko Uchiyama
Kenji Baba (Park Kang Jo 56), Botti (Alan Bahia 85), Hideo Tanaka, Yoshito Okubo
Kazuki Ganaha (Akihito Kusonose 64), Hiroto Mogi

FC Tokyo
Shuichi Gonda
Yuhei Tokunaga, Bruno Quadros, Yasuyuki Konno, Yuto Nagatomo
Takuji Yonemoto (Jo Kanazawa 84), Yohei Kajiyama, Naohiro Ishikawa, Naotake Hanyu (Tatsuya Suzuki 73)
Cabore (Shingo Akamine 78), Sota Hirayama
Scorers: Ishikawa 50, Cabore 55

Another Brazilian Jumping Ship for the Middle East?

In a repeat of last year's poaching of Bare by UAE's Al-Ahli, Nagoya forward Davi looks set to join a team in Qatar or the UAE. (This follows the recent resignation of Vissel's Caio Junior to take up a post at Al-Gharafa, also in Qatar.) Maybe the Arab countries think that by splashing their petrodollars around, their local teams will improve and one of their countries might stand a chance of qualifying for a World Cup, one of these years. :-)

Since Davi almost jumped ship even before he even touched down in Nagoya, it is no surprise that he and his agent have been scheming to set-up a lucrative move to the Middle East. However, despite the team not playing a style the makes the best of his talents, Davi does work hard for the team but tends to try and do too much by himself. The arrival of Josh Kennedy should free Davi to play his natural game, if decides to stay and make help us win this year's ACL.

Kennedy Roars into Nagoya

Australia's 'The Roar' has a sobering view on Joshua Kennedy's arrival in Nagoya. While it is true that Josh may well find it harder to adjust to Japanese football than he expects, the fact that his family is here, and the fact that he already speaks a smattering of Japanese suggest that he intends to give his all for the Grampus cause. The Grampalogue wishes him and his family a warm welcome and looks forward to seeing him prove the doubters wrong. :-)

Pixie Facing First Real Test as Manager

Nagoya manager, Dragan Stojkovic, is facing his first real test as a manger, after last night's 0-3 home loss to Kashima. A result that sees the team fall to its fourth league loss in a row, and drop out of contention for even an ACL berth (top three finish). It is time for some harsh lessons, for some of the so-called regulars.

While the lack of depth in the squad made a degree of fatigue entirely predictable, the departure of Bajalica (to look after his sick mum in Serbia) and injuries to Tamada and Magnum exacerbated the team's tiring schedule. A situation made even more distressing by the complete loss of form by Naoshi Nakamura. With Kennedy already in Japan and preparing for his debut (the moment his visa comes through), and hopefully and replacement for Bajlica, the team should be in a position to bounce back up the table in a week or two. In the meantime, however, it could time to inject some fresh blood into the team by giving the likes of Hanai, Fukushima and Sato a run in the first team. The club, and the youngsters themselves, are not going find out if they can make the grade by sitting on the bench all the time.

As for last night's game itself, despite the loss, the game saw signs of the team adjusting to a pattern geared towards utilizing newcomer Josh Kennedy effectively. Keiji Tamada switching to a role on the left side of midfield, with Davi and Yuki Maki forming the forward line. Although this formation created a couple of chances, the team was overwhelmed by a rampant Kashima team the exploited the space they were allowed by a lethargic Nagoya defense to devastating effect. (Marquinhos alone should have had a hat-trick, hitting the post and the bar in addition to his goal.)

Grampus
Seigo Narazaki
Hayuma Tanaka, Maya Yoshida, Takahiro Masukawa, Shohei Abe (Akira Takeuchi HT)
Yoshizumi Ogawa, Naoshi Nakamura (Kei Yamaguchi HT), Keiji Yoshimura (Keita Sugimoto 65), Keiji Tamada
Yuki Maki (Tomohiro Tsuda 84), Davi

Kashima Antlers
Hitoshi Sogahata
Atsuto Uchida, Daiki Iwamasa, Masahiro Inoha
Park Joo Ho, Takashi Aoki, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masashi Motoyama (Koji Nakata 80), Takuya Nozawa
Shinzo Koroki (Yuya Osako 86), Marquinhos (Danilo 76)
Scorers: Koroki 22, Nozawa 43, Marquinhos 53

Junior quits Vissel Kobe | espnstar.com

Junior quits Vissel Kobe | espnstar.com


The unanswered question is, will Caio will take the useless Marcel as part of his luggage. :-)